The ad read "Keyboard player needed for established band – no timewasters."

Knowing that Depeche Mode had recently lost a band member, Alan Wilder was fairly sure who he’d be auditioning for when he turned up at Blackwing studios in London in 1982. Not only would he bring strong vocals and top shelf keyboard chops to the band, the addition of Wilder to Depeche Mode in meant his Minimoog Model D would be coming along with him.

“(It) was my first synthesiser bought around 1977, pre-Mode, when I was a member of Dafne & The Tenderspots.” Wilder remembered. “It was a big deal for us at the time as it was quite expensive and we couldn’t really afford it until we secured our record deal. It added to my Wurlitzer electric piano and gave me a whole wealth of new sound possibilities.”

Having proved themselves as hitmakers since the departure of founder Vince Clarke, the band’s continued success brought them to Berlin’s legendary and palatial Hansa studios – home to some of David Bowie’s greatest records. For the track “People Are People,” co-producer Gareth Jones ran the Minimoog alongside an Arp 2600 to record its spikey bass lines. The results were , and the song not only broke the band in the U.S., but it also signaled Depeche Mode’s shift towards more industrial and experimental textures.

Even after he’d left the band, Wilder kept his Model D close for his solo work.

“The Minimoog is a machine I return to now because there are sounds in there I particularly like for a certain job. I use it for sequencer type basslines or for mid range parts — sort of bubbly synth sounds with a wide dynamic range, using velocity sensitivity.”