Vagabond Synth Nerd’s Journal Vol. 283 - My Personal Take on the Tiny Masterpiece Analog Synthesizer TEO-5 I Got This Year and More

Summarizing 2025 and Purchasing an Oberheim Synthesizer

December 23, 2025, was the last practice day for my band, 9BOX. Our band activities have seen a variety of events and changes in members. Our previous guitarist left and a new guitarist joined. This band plays everything from standard tunes to modern electric jazz, and even when performing standards, we adapt them with our own arrangements, making the band highly flexible.

Our previous guitarist was more the type to focus on cutting rather than taking solos through improvisation. For me as a keyboardist, in a band where the guitar solos were weak, it was less burdensome and musically cohesive for the guitarist to take the improvisational solos while I supported, rather than me having to fill that role with keyboard solos. This was the setup I preferred.

During all of this, a guitarist who loves Jeff Beck joined, and the band’s direction began shifting toward rock. Speaking of Jeff Beck, there’s “Blow by Blow”, “Wired”, and “Live Wired.” Playing the kinds of tracks I’d loved from Max Middleton and Jan Hammer was something I welcomed, even though I’m not a huge rock fan. On top of that, some of the songs I had previously performed with this new guitarist in another band—the classic “Baked Potato Super Live” by the Greg Mathieson Project—were also added to our setlist.

The keyboardist on “Wired” and “Live Wired” was Jan Hammer. Jan Hammer gained attention as a keyboardist in the Mahavishnu Orchestra led by John McLaughlin, playing synthesizers almost like a guitar. The keyboardist on “Baked Potato Super Live” was Greg Mathieson, who had also been the producer and keyboardist on Larry Carlton’s classic album Nightwalk. The common thread between the two is their use of the Minimoog synthesizer in performance.

What I needed was a synthesizer capable of producing a really thick, fat sound.

That meant I needed to get a Minimoog synthesizer. The Minimoog has been a must-have for keyboardists throughout history, and countless musicians have created historic albums using its sound. Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, David Foster—many performers have used it. However, it’s monophonic, meaning it can only play one note at a time. On top of that, the Minimoog is extremely expensive and far out of my reach. Its price is around 900,000 yen, and it weighs 14.5 kilograms. Even if I could get one, it’s monophonic, so it’s not suitable for chords, and its weight alone makes it impractical to carry to a studio. But the sound… oh, the sound is incredible!

Minimoog Synthesizer, public domain (from Wikipedia)

As an alternative, I had no choice but to look for a synthesizer that could produce a thick sound like the Minimoog, was polyphonic, and fit within my budget. I already owned a synthesizer called the Take 5, released by Sequential, which I purchased from Sound House in 2021. The Take 5 is a Prophet-style synthesizer, so it has a very refined tone and is an all-around good-sounding instrument. However, when it comes to producing the really fat, thick sound of a Minimoog, it just didn’t quite deliver.

SEQUENTIAL (Dave Smith Instruments) / TAKE 5

At that time, Oberheim released the TEO-5.

OBERHEIM / TEO-5

My only option was this Oberheim TEO-5. For a while, I was using both the Take 5 and the TEO-5 in parallel, but in the end, I sold the Take 5 and went with a single Oberheim TEO-5 setup. That was in April 2025. Since then, I’ve continued using this Oberheim TEO-5.

So, how did this synthesizer TEO-5 turn out? I can honestly say it’s the best synthesizer I’ve ever purchased among the many I’ve owned. The price is respectable, and it has 44 keys and weighs 7.8 kilograms—a friendly weight for someone like me with back issues. And, the sound is phenomenal. Since it comes with built-in effects, there’s no need to bring rack-mounted effects. The Fatar keys are extremely playable, and it can even produce the classic sync sounds that the Prophet-5 is known for.

Of course, it can also get close to the Minimoog sounds that Jan Hammer plays. Compared to the Take 5, the sound is much thicker. It can also emulate the Minimoog-like tones that Greg Mathieson plays and it’s five-note polyphonic. The pad sounds are rich and smooth. If I were to wish for one thing, it would be to have one more note for six-note polyphony… but for five-note polyphony at this price, the TEO-5 is probably a great deal.

The price range isn’t likely to change anytime soon. And it’s not just about musical instruments. Pasta, bread, and cakes are all made from wheat flour, but it’s all the same. Cars have also become unbelievably expensive. I’ll put down my pen for 2025 while dreaming of a time when $1 equals around 100 yen and instruments become more affordable. I look forward to another new year! (^_^)

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