Brent Mydland | Stage-used synthesizer

Property of Grateful Dead Productions

Brent Mydland

Yamaha GS 1 Synthesizer, ca. 1980s

Synthesizer (59 x 32 x 7.5”).

A rare synthesizer, played by Mydland onstage in the Grateful Dead

Released in the early 1980s, the GS-1 was in the vanguard of commercially available synths to employ frequency modulation. It was intended to be a user-friendly instrument, made for musicians to play without any experience of computers. Indeed, it resembles the familiar digital piano and the piano-weighted keyboard with aftertouch gave the unit a familiar feel for players. However, the GS-1 was expensive and its cost was beyond the wide market that Yamaha was aiming for, and only 100 or so were sold. It was soon replaced by the cheaper and truly democratic DX-7, making any example fairly rare.

REFERENCE

Photograph © Bob Minkin. To purchase a print, or view more of Bob Minkin’s work, visit https://minkinphotographystore.com