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Vintage FM synths

FM synthesis builds a sound by letting one oscillator bend the pitch of another, and it's the sound of a lot of 1980s electric piano and bass. John Chowning developed it at Stanford from 1967, and Yamaha licensed his algorithm in 1973. The DX7 brought it to everyone in 1983. It has six oscillators per voice, 16 voices and MIDI, and it sold more than 200,000 units, so there are lots around. Its E Piano 1 preset is all over that decade's power ballads. The 1987 TX81Z is a rack module with no keys, and it was the first FM synth of its era to offer waveforms besides the sine wave. Its preset basses made its name. On either one, check that the internal patches survive switching it off and on.