Kevin Boone writes about the Yamaha DX7, which changed everything when it turned up in the mid-1980s: "the 'Electric Piano 1' preset alone appeared in over 60% of album releases of 1986.

For better or worse, this synthesizer was king in the 1980s music scene. Sure, there had been synthesizers before, but none acheived the sudden popularity of Yamaha’s DX7. “Take on Me?” ...