Devin Belanger’s Black Sheep Synths: The Underdogs That Changed the Game

Devin Belanger kicks things off by calling out the tired lists of synth royalty—your Prophet 5s, Minimoogs, and CS80s. Sure, they’re classics, but they’re also the safe, obvious picks. Devin’s just back from Superbooth 2026, buzzing not about the usual suspects, but about the wild inventors and the gear that dares to be different. He’s not here to stroke the egos of bestsellers; he’s here to spotlight the synths that broke the mould and, in the process, rewired the DNA of modern music.

What follows is a celebration of the underdogs—the synths that didn’t top the charts but did something far more interesting: they changed the rules. Devin’s approach is refreshingly honest. He admits these machines might not have sold by the truckload or graced every hit record, but their impact is undeniable. It’s a rallying cry for the overlooked, the misunderstood, and the gloriously weird. If you’re looking for safe, you’re in the wrong rave bunker.

Each synth Devin picks isn’t just a quirky oddball—it’s a statement. These machines represent a refusal to play by the mainstream rulebook. Take the Roland Jupiter-6: overshadowed by its flashier siblings, but packing a multi-mode filter and analog cross modulation that gives it a dystopian edge. It’s the synth equivalent of the middle child who starts a punk band in the garage.

Devin’s not just listing specs; he’s making a case for creativity over conformity. He points out that these instruments invite you to experiment, to get your hands dirty, and to find sounds you won’t get from the polished crowd-pleasers. It’s about the joy of discovery, the thrill of unpredictability, and the satisfaction of carving out your own sonic territory.

Let’s talk specifics. The Roland Jupiter-6 gets its due as a filter-twisting, cross-modulating powerhouse—one Devin would pick over the Jupiter-8 any day. Then there’s the Korg MS-20, a synth that’s both a commercial hit and a sound designer’s playground. Its dual filter system lets it swing from lush to gnarly in a heartbeat, and it’s got the street cred to back it up, thanks to artists like Jon Hopkins.

Moog’s Memorymoog is the stuff of legend and headaches. It’s massive, ambitious, and notoriously temperamental—a synth that’ll eat your patience for breakfast but reward you with a sound so big it could flatten a warehouse. Devin doesn’t sugarcoat the pain of keeping one running, but he makes it clear: this is Moog at its most daring, a last stand before the company’s bankruptcy, and a testament to what happens when you throw caution (and 18 oscillators) to the wind.

Devin keeps the parade rolling with Sequential’s Prophet VS—a synth that invented vector synthesis and tried to save the company from the DX7 onslaught. It’s ambitious, weird, and still feels ahead of its time. Dave Smith Instruments’ Poly Evolver gets a special shoutout for being a four-voice stereo monster with both analog and digital oscillators, plus a sequencer that was wild for its era. Devin’s regret at not buying one is palpable—proof that some synths haunt you long after they’re gone.

Oberheim’s Matrix 12 is the mod matrix king, bringing modular-level flexibility to a polysynth and laying the groundwork for every flagship poly you see today. But the real curveball? Elektron’s Monomachine. It’s digital, harsh, and not for the faint-hearted, but it helped birth hyperpop and proved that limitations really do breed creativity. Devin’s message is clear: these synths didn’t just make sounds—they made new genres possible.