Top 10 of the 90s
The most important releases that powered this most digital of synth decades
01 ROLAND JP-8000
We begin our top 10 of the 90s with one of the most influential machines of the decade. The Roland JP-8000 was a virtual analogue synthesiser, employing digital waves and filters. By today’s standards, the filter could be regarded as harsh and whistly-sounding, but its status for providing Supersaws placed this new sound at the front of commercial music for the latter part of the decade.
02 THE PRODIGY
The Prodigy were one of the most influential acts of the 90s. Predominantly under the musical direction of Liam Howlett, they produced three highly influential albums during the 90s, culminating in the exceptionally successful The Fat of the Land, which spawned tracks such as Firestarter. Not bad for a Roland W-30, TR-909, Akai Sampler and Korg Prophecy!
03 VST - VIRTUAL STUDIO TECHNOLOGY
VST is an acronym for Virtual Studio Technology, which is generically known as a protocol for audio plugins. This technology was first released in 1996, as a specification from Steinberg, the people behind Cubase. It was the trailblazer for other plugin formats, such as Audio Unit (AU) and TDM, initially offering a series of effects-based software plugins, for inclusion within your DAW-based productions.
04 DOEPFER
Doepfer is the brand created by industry legend, Dieter Doepfer. Having released a number of musical keyboards and MIDI to CV/gate-style devices, Doepfer released the A-100 modular analogue synthesiser system in 1995. This was the blueprint for what we would now call Eurorack, spawning a huge industry from hundreds of third-party companies, creating a flexible modular synthesiser system, encompassing all forms of module.
05 SAMPLING DRUM MACHINE
While drum machines were nothing new in the 90s, their involvement in the creation of music was enormous. Previously shunned machines, such as the Roland TR-808 and 909 formed the backbone to many musical styles, with outliers influencing underground genres such as garage. The E-mu SP-12 was the sampling drum machine of choice in this arena, rubbing shoulders with the classics from Roland.
06 DAFT PUNK
Electronic pioneers Daft Punk charted a route through music that began with the album Homework in 1997. Their debut took two years to craft, culminating in two of the most iconic hits of the era, namely Da Funk and Around the World. Much like other electronic bands from the 1990s, the productions relied heavily on older vintage equipment, but the sound was the benchmark of the decade, enforced by two Frenchmen who dressed up like robots.
07 PLUGIN SYNTHS
In 1999, Steinberg updated their standardised protocol known as VST. The predictable move to VST2 paved the way for plugin instruments, the first of which was released as part of Cubase version 3.7 and branded ‘Neon’. A relatively basic subtractive synthesiser, Neon was unsurprisingly an enormous success, but access to it was obviously limited to Cubase users only. It didn’t take long for third-party companies to pick up the VST2 protocol, and the rest, as they say, is plugin synth history.
08 APHEX TWIN
Richard D James, aka Aphex Twin, began his run of albums in the 90s, beginning with Selected Ambient Works 85-92 and leading the IDM (intelligent dance music, a term he later denounced) pack. From his teens spent modding a Sinclair ZX81 for sound and playing raves, to full-on embrace of the tech that followed, James represents, in many ways, the spirit of 90s knob-twiddler-dom.
09 ROLAND GROOVEBOXES
As somebody from Roland once quipped, “we invented dance music!” Certainly from a sonic perspective, that point is difficult to dispute. It was therefore only natural that during the 90s, Roland would release a series of devices that would become known as grooveboxes. Drawing on sonic identities from the previous decade, the likes of the 303, 808 and 909, were all digitally re-packaged and placed in a box with a dedicated sequencer. So the Groovebox was born!
10 ACCESS - VIRUS
As we started our list with the classic Roland JP-8000, it only feels fitting that we should end our list with the formidable Access Virus. Its tidy desktop format, coupled with virtual analogue status and large patch capacity, made the Virus model A and B huge hits from the moment they were released. They managed to sound both clean and sharp, but exuded analogue warmth, with a recognisable capacity to easily edit sounds from the virtual analogue (VA) control interface. Still very much a classic today!