My favorite band 
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Oh yeah- loving the Fantom- even I can figure out the workflow.
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might as well just put this here. One thing I never thought about / did not understand / or I’ve gotten wrong is that there really isn’t very much midi control on an analog synth? when I went to download a MIDI implementation chart for my new crave, I found out they’re really isn’t one. because I think there’s only like four CC numbers associated with it. are all analog synths similar to this for instance your arturia up above? (well, actually I think the mini freak is kind of a digital/analog hybrid so that might not be a good example).
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Most currently produced analog hardware synths will take MIDI note on/off, usually midi time signal, and maybe a couple common CC’s like mod and pitch, but beyond that it will range from “nothing” to “some”. Some have much more complete MIDI implementations though.
The MiniFreak is a digital synth, it has a complete MIDI implementation, including controlling the analog filter via MIDI.
https://support.arturia.com/hc/en-us/articles/6316523876764-MiniFreak-MIDI-Implementation-Chart
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got it. so that ruins my plans of doing a live set with 9 analog synths each spread apart by 10 feet or so. 
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Nah just get nine PolyBrutes
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This thread made me think about all of the synthesizers I have played and owned.
I’ll start with the first synthesizer I played. It was an early Moog Modular synthesizer at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
It looked similar to these:
It was interesting to use patch cords and tune the keyboard to use it.
It was located in an electronic music lab that also included many reel to reel tape machines that we would loop together. There was also the guts of a piano with pickups attached sort of like a heavy oversized percussive harp. There was an early version of a sequencer in the small adjacent electronic music lab that could be connected by obtaining a long cord. Lots of interesting sounds were produced.
After taking electronic music classes, I wanted to buy my own synthesizer.
I found a used Moog Sonic Six suitcase synthesizer.
You can see Bob Moog standing behind one here:
Here is another photo:
This was built like a tank! Fun to play and much easier to use than a modular. (Sadly, I never had a chance to play a Mini Moog.)
My Bolsheviks of Madrid music collaboration partner, Bret Hamilton, had a Korg MS-20.
Here is a photo of one:
A fun little synthesizer that produced some great sounds.
I briefly went to graduate school at Mills College in Oakland, California.
One of the projects in the electronic music class I took involved one of the first computer and synthesizer interfaces using an ARP 2600, similar to this one:
It took hours of tedious programming to come up with a song that only lasted a few minutes, but it was still a pretty cool thing to do.
After that I put together a little home studio that included three Roland products that I could sync together with MIDI cords.
It included the following:
Roland SH-101 Synthesizer
Roland TR-606 Drumatix
Roland TB-303 Bass Line
These were much easier to use. It felt pretty good to be able to program the three of them to work together and then just push a button to have them play songs like three piece band.
Sadly, I no longer own any of these. I sure do miss them, but I still have a lot of great experiences and memories.
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Sweet, MS-20 is one of my all time faves. SH-101 also a GOAT.
We never had a 303 or 606, but we did have a 505. Sadly probably the worst of the bunch 
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My father-in-law was Herb Deutsch. He and Bob Moog collaborated to create the first Moog synthesizer. This was his workspace in his later years.
Left to right:
Moog Little Phatty
EARLY Minimoog Model D (top)
Moog Sub 37 (bottom)
Minimoog Voyager (Lunar Impact)
Moog Opus 3 (on top of road case)
Korg Triton
(Below: Herb with the prototype for the first Moog synth)
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SO COOL.
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insane 
edit: you forgot to mention the moog frenchhorn though (early prototype)
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(flugelhorn)
There’s also a Moog Theremin in there
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gesundheit
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Another herd 'o Nords:
And a couple OG’s, for the usual going rate
Plus two shots of my finger, apparently.
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Not at all a Synth guy, thought @howard might find this interesting though.
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Cool, but man, what a shit clickbait title though - the E-mu Emax isn’t a synth
Yeah, there were three main lines of samplers used a lot in electroindustrial music back then - the E-mu products (Emulator II, Emax, etc), the Ensoniq samplers (Mirage and later EPS), and the Akai S-line (S900, S1000, etc). Skinny Puppy used all three.
Our band had an EPS (though we weren’t really industrial, I was just a huge fan).
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alright, i usually could give a flying F what anybody thinks, but i actually debated whether or not to brave the angry horde over this one. sooo any hardcore synth guys (you know who you are) be prepared to throw up in your mouths some. but there is a use case for this, and frankly it’s me. somebody who wants to quickly get some synth-y sounds into their stuff. somebody that wants a simple ideas creation tool that can go anywhere with you. somebody who doesn’t yet and may not ever have the skill to do what this does for you. and yes, there are other things that can do this. plugins if you want to sit in front of a computer more. other more complicated synths if you want to figure them out. but dammit i handed this to my wife and she was making what sure sounded a lot like music on it in 9 seconds, and that to me is cool. so yep, i got one. and i ain’t mad about it. (btw orchid for those who don’t know. it’s made by someone in tame impala who looks like jesus, who i don’t really know or care about).
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So cool, just a bit expensive 
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that’s another thing everybody is saying. strangely, when i first saw it i thought it would be a LOT more than it is.
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It’s a neat idea. It’s basically Scaler 3 in a box with a more performance oriented approach.
And you can’t argue with its design. Or its instructional videos
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