That, if you don't know, is the mighty Yamaha DX7, really the first digital synthesizer ever to be made affordable.
Well it was affordable if you were a professional musician or had wealthy parents. I wasn't and didn't but when I was 18 and lugging my Korg Delta - all I could afford - around the occasional pub and working men's club gig this was the synth I wanted. Hell it was the synth everyone wanted and as a consequence you just need to hit one of the main bank presets, hit a key and you're back in the 80's - that tubular bell "bongggg" (preset #26) has for example graced every Enya recording ever made, that electric piano (the DX7 was very good at metallic percussive sounds) is all over "Hard Habit to Break" by Chicago. I've spent the weekend poking around on this and going "oooh isn't that what Kraftwerk used on..." or sounding like 80's backing music from Colin Baker era Dr Who (it also appears the BBC radiophonic workshop never bothered pressing any of the presets above #6!)
Mind you one thing I had forgotten about was synths of that era are very heavy, the DX7, like my old Korg, was metal cased and built to take a lot of "on the road" punishment. Unlike my more modern kit like my 90's era Kawai K1-II or the Korg Triton this keyboard comes with a weightlifting course.
I love it to bits and I haven't even started programming it yet. It's the keyboard I always wanted as a kid and now I have a lovely example. Mrs Dracunculus says she got away easy with my mid life crisis and she's very pleased I didn't buy one of Yamaha's other products that have two wheels and do 0 to 60 in five nanoseconds.
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