Few people have heard of it, yet many consider John Blankenbaker's KENBAK-1 to be the first commercial personal computer.
Dave Smith's Blinding Mopho Synthesizer
By James Grahame
Dave Smith of Sequential Circuits fame has released the Mopho Keyboard, a mustard yellow monophonic analog synth with semi-weighted 32 note keyboard. It features the same voice architecture as his Mopho and Tetra desktop modules, with two oscillators, sub-octave generators, a selectable 2 or 4-pole lowpass filter, and a handful of envelope generators and LFOs.
However, by far its best feature is the expanded front panel. The original Mopho desktop module used multi-function knobs, whereas nearly every function gets its own dedicated knob or switch on the keyboard version. This subtle change makes all the difference in the world to me, because it means that tweaking a patch will be lightning fast and much more intuitive.
The Mopho keyboard measures a mere 19 inches wide by 11 inches deep and weighs under 10 lb, so it won't break your back when you're schlepping it to a gig or friend's house. Available online for just under $800 with free shipping.
