The key difference, though, as you pointed out, was the price. These analog synths were incredibly expensive, which limited their accessibility to major artists
Nothing brings home quite how much money there was to be made in the music industry in the '80s as seeing the top bands' keyboard rigs. In the video for "The Reflex", Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes is surrounded by a Fairlight CMI, a Jupiter-8 and a Prophet-5. Adjusting for inflation, that's about $250,000 worth of equipment.
