Korg PS-3300

Back in 1977, this beast combined three full polyphonic synth engines into one towering cabinet, delivering a staggering 144 analog oscillators across 48 keys—making it one of the rarest and most powerful polysynths ever built, with fewer than 50 originals produced.

At its heart sit three independent PSU-3301 signal generator panels, each packing a VCO with divide-down oscillators, discrete 12dB/oct lowpass and bandpass filters, ADSR envelopes, VCAs, and dual LFOs—one versatile with triangle, saw, ramp, square, and noise waves, the other triangle-focused. A central master section mixes the outputs with sample & hold, extra envelopes, voltage processors, and 67 patch points for semi-modular routing, plus those signature triple voltage-controllable resonators that create phaser sweeps, vowel formants, and wah effects via LFO mod. The 49-key keyboard (C-to-C, 7 octaves) adds aftertouch but no velocity, weighing in at a hefty 21.3 kg with wood-paneled aesthetics, modern MIDI DIN in/out/thru, USB-B, CV/gate, signal in/out (TS/XLR), and stereo headphones—all powered by AC at 65W.

Players have long praised its massive, lush tones for pads and textures, echoing in tracks by Kraftwerk, Jarre, Emerson, and Aphex Twin, though its size and complexity demand space and patience to master.