The SK-1 has been used by a few major recording artists for its simplicity and
lo-fi sound. It became very popular in the late 1990s among the
circuit bending crowd after the first guide to bending it was published by
Reed Ghazala in
Experimental Musical Instruments magazine, though the SK-1 was being modified as early as 1987 when
Keyboard Magazine published an article on adding
MIDI support. • The synthesizer was one of the first pieces of equipment that
Autechre had when they began recording music. • Musician and score composer
Michael Andrews featured a circuit bent SK-1 heavily in the
Me and You and Everyone We Know musical score. • The "Realistic Concertmate" version of the SK-1 is the primary synth used in the no wave / industrial band
Special Interest. • It was used by notable
jungle artist
DJ Hype for his seminal productions, and rapper and producer
Large Professor used it in his early years of beat-making. • Australian band
Turnstyle used the keyboard's sample function on various songs as both repetitive motifs ("Happier Than Metallica") and melodic passages ("Sad Rambo"). • Owen Ashworth used and recorded with one for
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone's second live album
In Sydney. •
Graham Lewis of
Wire used it frequently during their late-1980s period. •
Mount Eerie's
Eleven Old Songs of Mount Eerie consisted solely of
Phil Elverum's vocals and an SK-1, making use of its various effects and built-in rhythm machine. It is also featured on the cover of the
Soccer Mommy album
Collection. • Composer
Samuel Andreyev has written demanding parts for the SK-1 in several of his chamber compositions, including
Vérifications,
Iridescent Notation and
Sextet in Two Parts. •
Damon Albarn of the British band
Blur uses the SK-1 in the song "Advert", on the album
Modern Life Is Rubbish. == References ==