The Korg PS-3300 is one of the biggest and rarest analog synthesizers ever made, and it has become one of the most collectable synthesizers. Less than 50 units were produced (some say as few as 20) by Korg over a 4-year period from 1977 to 1981 after which it was discontinued. The high production costs of this very complex instrument gave it a price tag that was out of reach for anyone but the wealthiest musicians of the day.
It is a much coveted synthesizer by professional musicians and collectors alike as it has a big and unique sound which has been described as an orchestra of synthesizers. It has attained near mythical status due to its rarity and the fact that it was adopted and revered by many of the artists that were the synthesizer pioneers, such as Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre, Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze, and Keith Emerson. Even Bob Moog was so impressed with the PS-3300 that after he was given a demonstration of it he is quoted as saying that it was “the best synthesizer for fat sounds”. At its release back in 1977, along with the smaller PS-3100, it was a landmark synthesizer in many respects. It was in fact the world’s first fully fledged polyphonic synthesizer where all 48 keys could be played at once and articulated independently of each other. Still to this day, the Korg PS family of synthesizers (PS-3100, PS-3200, PS-3300) remains the only fully polyphonic analog semi-modular synthesizers in existence.