I grew up in the post-analog world, so my gear was mostly digital.
I owned a Yamaha CS01 and Suzuki SX500 which were sort-of-analog, but strictly speaking these are equipped with DCOs instead of VCOs so the purists may not be that impressed - they lack that warm 'driftiness'. The CS01 can still sound extremely 'fat' and still blows away anything emulated I've tried since (unless recorded/sampled).
The filters in the CS01 and SX500 were properly analog though. I modified those so they could get close to that oversteering/screaming TB-303 stuff that was so popular in the 90s.
From here, if you're not into digital stuff, you may want to skip to the next post
I owned a whole heap of digital gear, but funnily enough, the ones that really stuck with me were the more affordable boards;
- Yamaha CS1x; essentially a QS300 with extra waveforms. XG compatible, very versatile and those knobs just beg to be tweaked. First synth I bought new and, for what it did at the time, it was great value for money. I used it heaps.
- Kawai K1m; The table top version of the K1. I've never heard these sounds anywhere else since. Incredibly airy pads, ominous bells. This thing was incredibly simple hardware wise; 8-bit waveforms, it lacked an effects section and even filters. Yet the sounds were out of this world.
- Yamaha DJX. Don't laugh. It was marketed as a toy keyboard for wannabe techno-artists late 90s. It certainly looks like a toy. I picked one up a few years ago for a song (no pun intended). I was intrigued by its mild 'cult status' standing. The thing is, apart from my current Korg M3's Karma section, it has inspired more tracks than anything else. It just oozes fun. It's actually also a very capable MIDI controller.
- Casio SK-1. 1.25 seconds of sampling RAM. 8Khz. Awesome. Hook it up to the TV or FM-radio and start sampling. Play them in a loop at different octaves and bang! you got yourself a freaky soundscape. Or sonic mess.
Virtual analog just never really did it for me. I owned a Korg Z1 and while interesting, I all sounded too clean and perfect for me. I owned a Yamaha CS6r with AN board and found the same thing. I also owned a Yamaha EX5r which came with the same AN capability built-in, but, again found it lacking.
