Moog Minimoog Model D

The Minimoog Model D made the synthesizer a playable instrument by shrinking room-sized modular systems into a portable case with three oscillators and its iconic 24dB ladder filter. But the real benchmark is its sound: Stevie Wonder, Kraftwerk, Parliament, Herbie Hancock, and Gary Numan all built careers on it, making the Minimoog the most recorded synth before 1980. The ladder filter alone — fat, warm, and unmistakable — outperforms #3 Yamaha DX7's cold FM filter in warmth by a wide margin, and it remains the single most imitated circuit in synth history, with over 200 clones from brands like Behringer, Studio Electronics, and Moog itself. A 1971 original now commands $8,000 to $15,000 used, 10 times its $1,495 launch price.