They were adopted by electronic acts and pop and rock groups in the 1960s and 1970s and were widely used in 1980s music. Switched-On Bach (1968), a bestselling album of Bach compositions arranged for synthesizer by Wendy Carlos, took synthesizers to the mainstream. Synthesizers were initially viewed as avant-garde, valued by the 1960s psychedelic and counter-cultural scenes but with little perceived commercial potential.

Software synthesizers now can be run as plug-ins or embedded on microchips. The Yamaha DX7, launched in 1983, was a major success and popularized digital synthesis. 1982 saw the introduction of MIDI, a standardized means of synchronizing electronic instruments that remains an industry standard. In 1978, Sequential Circuits released the Prophet-5, which used microprocessors to allow users to store sounds for the first time. In 1970, the smaller, cheaper Minimoog standardized synthesizers as self-contained instruments with built-in keyboards, unlike the larger modular synthesizers before it. The Moog synthesizer, developed by Robert Moog and first sold in 1964, is credited for pioneering concepts such as voltage-controlled oscillators, envelopes, noise generators, filters, and sequencers. Synthesizer-like instruments emerged in the United States in the mid-20th century with instruments such as the RCA Mark II, which was controlled with punch cards and used hundreds of vacuum tubes. Composed and performed on the Synclavier II in the Bregman Electronic Music Studio, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire.

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