Over on EM411.com, minisystem wrote a post asking "Is this the world's coolest looking synth?" about Modcan's 'B Series' modular synths (above) from Toronto. He's got a point, but the truth is white synths always look cool:
What about the exceptions? The Oberheim Matrix 1000 was originaly black faced but later changed to white. The black was much better as it had better filters than the white version.
'Anonymous' wrote "It's all about how they sound, not how they look..." Right. You're BARRED. Whoever wrote this is not welcome at Music Thing. If I see you round these parts again, there will be trouble...
sure its about how it sounds, but wouldn't you rather play an amazing sounding and great looking synth (such as the beautiful beast detailed above) than a amazing sounding ugly piece of crap?
For what it's worth EMS Synthis and VCS-3s came in both Aluminum and 'Morning Mist' colour. I believe the off-white color allowed one to use a china marker and wipe it off. I believe the Aluminum ones were earlier.
And fwiw there are no substantial filter differences between different colored Matrix 1000s though there are surely some units that are more reliable or constructed better than others.
The Arp Odyssey colour and filter info is correct though the earlier white face filter being perfered has a lot to do with it sounding the most different from a Moog in comparison. Chances are anyone making comparisons owns a Moog already.
Interestingly the later original designs from several companies (Arp Quadra, EMS Polysynthi, Moog Source) were sort of playskool-ish primaries on a darker background, so maybe that will come around again after they see that French children's synth controller