Minneapolis, 1984. A young musician called The Kid takes the stage at First Avenue, a converted Greyhound bus depot turned nightclub. The room is small, dark, and packed. Purple light cuts through the haze. Behind him, an Oberheim OB-Xa synthesizer glows orange and black on its stand, and a Linn LM-1 drum machine sits on a riser, its red LEDs pulsing with programmed rhythms that sound like nothing anyone has heard before.
Purple Rain isn't really a drama — it's a gear showcase disguised as one. Every performance scene is built around the equipment. The synthesizers aren't background props; they're co-stars. The film's concert sequences were shot at First Avenue with real audiences, and the gear visible on stage is the same gear that created the Minneapolis Sound on record.
What Prince did with these machines changed the trajectory of pop music. The shimmering synth pad on "1999," the stabbing chords on "Jump" — that was the OB-Xa. The mechanical-but-human drum patterns that defined the era — that was the LM-1, one of only 500 ever made.
The Oberheim OB-Xa is the synthesizer that defined the early 1980s. Its eight-voice polyphonic architecture and distinctive filter sweep became the sonic signature of the Minneapolis Sound. Prince used it on virtually every recording from 1980 to 1985, layering its warm, aggressive pads beneath his vocals and guitar work. The OB-Xa was notoriously unreliable and difficult to program, which is partly why it sounds like nothing else — the musicians who mastered it developed a vocabulary that couldn't be replicated on more user-friendly instruments.
The Linn LM-1 was one of the first drum machines to use digitally sampled sounds from real drums. Roger Linn built approximately 500 units between 1980 and 1983, and they ended up in the hands of Prince, Michael Jackson, Peter Gabriel, and Stevie Wonder. The LM-1's slightly lo-fi, crunchy samples became one of the most recognizable drum sounds in pop history. Prince programmed his own patterns, often in irregular combinations that felt both mechanical and deeply funky.
The custom Cloud guitar — that distinctive symbol-shaped instrument — was built by local Minneapolis luthier Dave Rusan. It's one of the most visually iconic instruments in rock history, and replicas regularly sell for thousands on the collector market.
I never wanted to be a sideman. I wanted to be the whole band.— Prince, on why he learned to play every instrument
Purple Rain swept the culture in 1984. The film grossed over $68 million, the album spent 24 consecutive weeks at number one, and the title track became one of the most performed songs in rock history. But the gear story is what makes it essential for this page: Prince proved that one person with the right synthesizer, drum machine, and guitar could replace an entire band.
The Oberheim OB-Xa now trades for $8,000 to $15,000 on the vintage market, driven partly by the Prince association and partly by the fact that its analog circuitry produces sounds that digital emulations still can't fully capture. The Linn LM-1 is even rarer — with only 500 made, working units command $5,000 to $10,000. Cloud guitar replicas range from $3,000 to $6,000 depending on the builder.
For collectors, the Purple Rain gear represents a specific moment when synthesizers and drum machines stopped being novelties and became the primary instruments of pop music. Prince didn't just use this gear — he defined what it could do.
The eight-voice analog polysynth that created the Minneapolis Sound. Warm, aggressive pads and the signature filter sweep heard on '1999,' 'When Doves Cry,' and throughout Purple Rain.
One of the first drum machines with digitally sampled real drum sounds. Only ~500 units ever made. The crunchy, punchy drum patterns that defined early '80s pop and R&B.
Behringer's faithful recreation of the OB-Xa voice architecture at a fraction of the vintage price. Analog circuitry, 16 voices, modern MIDI.
View on Amazon →Software emulation of the LinnDrum sound with modern sequencing. All the original samples, none of the five-figure price tag.
View on Amazon →Modern drum machine with classic analog-modeled sounds and sampling capability. The spiritual successor to the machines Prince used.
View on Amazon →
