A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing a variety of sounds by generating and combining signals of different frequencies. Oberheim Electronics is a company founded in 1973 by Tom Oberheim (a former design engineer at Maestro which manufactured audio Synthesizers and a variety of other An electronic musical instrument is a Musical instrument that produces its sounds using Electronics. Frequency is a measure of the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit Time. A modern digital synthesizer uses a frequency synthesizer microprocessor component to calculate mathematical functions, which generate signals of different frequencies. A frequency synthesizer is an electronic system for generating any of a range of frequencies from a single fixed timebase or oscillator. A microprocessor incorporates most or all of the functions of a Central processing unit (CPU on a single Integrated There are three main types of synthesizers, which differ in operation: analog, digital and software-based. An analog synthesizer is a Synthesizer that uses analog circuits and Analog computer techniques to generate sound electronically A digital synthesizer is a Synthesizer that uses Digital signal processing (DSP techniques to make musical sounds A software synthesizer also known as a softsynth or virtual instrument is a Computer program for Digital audio generation Synthesizers create electrical signals, rather than direct acoustic sounds, which are then amplified through a loudspeaker or set of headphones. In the fields of communications, Signal processing, and in Electrical engineering more generally a signal is any time-varying or spatial-varying quantity For the Marty Friedman album see Loudspeaker (album A loudspeaker, speaker, or speaker system is an electroacoustical Headphones (also known as earphones, earbuds, stereophones, headsets) are a pair of small Loudspeakers or less commonly a single

Synthesizers are typically controlled with a piano-style keyboard, in which each key functions as a switch to turn electronic circuits on and off. A musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers or keys on a Musical instrument, particularly the piano An electronic circuit is a closed path formed by the interconnection of Electronic components through which an Electric current can flow Although keyboards are the most common control interface, other devices such as saxophone-style wind controllers, MIDI-equipped electric guitars, drum pads or computers are used to control synthesizers. A wind controller sometimes referred to as a "wind synth" or "wind synthesizer" can loosely be defined as an electronic wind instrument A computer is a Machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions. ^[1] Synthesizers can produce a wide range of sounds, which can either imitate other instruments or generate unusual new timbres.

The first electric synthesizer was invented in 1876 by Elisha Gray, who is best known for his development of a telephone prototype. Elisha Gray (August 2 1835 &ndash January 21 1901 was an American electrical engineer and is best known for his development of a telephone prototype in 1876 in The modern telephone is the result of work done by many people all worthy of recognition of their contributions to the field ^[2][3] Robert Moog created a revolutionary synthesizer which was used by Wendy Carlos's Switched-On Bach (1968) a popular recording which introduced many musicians to the sound of synthesizers. Dr Robert Arthur Moog (ˈmoʊɡ to rhyme with "rogue" ( May 23, 1934 &ndash August 21, 2005) was an American pioneer of Switched-On Bach is a musical album by Wendy Carlos (then Walter Carlos and Benjamin Folkman, released in 1968 by CBS Records. In the 1970s, the development of miniaturized solid-state components allowed synthesizers to become self-contained, portable instruments, which made them easier to use in live performances. By the early 1980s, companies such as Yamaha began selling compact, modestly priced synthesizers such as the DX7, and MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) was developed, which made it easier to integrate and synchronize synthesizers with other electronic instruments. The Yamaha DX7 was a Synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1986, based on FM synthesis developed by MIDI ( Musical Instrument Digital Interface, ˈmɪdi is an industry-standard protocol that enables Electronic musical instruments Computers

Contents 1 Operation 2 Types of synthesis 2.1 Wavetable 2.2 Physical modeling 2.3 Digital 2.4 Fingerboard 2.5 Software 3 History 3.1 Analog 3.2 Modular 3.3 Popular 3.4 Modern 4 MIDI control 5 Impact on the music industry and culture 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links

Operation

Main article: Sound synthesis

A modern digital synthesizer uses a frequency synthesizer microprocessor component to calculate mathematical functions, which generate signals of different frequencies. A frequency synthesizer is an electronic system for generating any of a range of frequencies from a single fixed timebase or oscillator. A microprocessor incorporates most or all of the functions of a Central processing unit (CPU on a single Integrated These frequencies are played through an output device such as a loudspeaker or set of headphones. In most conventional synthesizers, recordings of real instruments consist of several components. These sounds represent the acoustic responses of different parts of the instrument. These include the sounds produced by the instrument during different parts of a performance, or the behavior of the instrument under different playing conditions (changes in pitch, intensity of playing, fingering). The distinctive timbre, intonation, and attack of a real instrument can therefore be created by mixing these components in a way that resembles the natural behavior of the actual instrument. In Music, timbre (ˈtæm-bər' like timber, or, from Fr timbre tɛ̃bʁ is the quality of a Musical note or sound that distinguishes different Intonation, in Music, is a musician's realization of pitch accuracy or the pitch accuracy of a musical instrument ADSR envelope is a component of many Synthesizers samplers and other Electronic musical instruments. Nomenclature varies by synthesizer methodology and manufacturer, but the components are often referred to as oscillators or partials. Oscillation is the repetitive variation typically in Time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of Equilibrium) or between two or more different states A higher-fidelity reproduction of a natural instrument can be typically achieved using more oscillators, but increased computer power and human programming is required. Most synthesizers use between one and four oscillators by default.

The device used to trigger musical sounds in the synthesizer is called the controller. Performers often play a synthesizer by depressing keys on a musical keyboard; however, a number of other controllers are used, including saxophone-style MIDI wind controllers and MIDI guitar synthesizer controllers. A musical keyboard is the set of adjacent depressible levers or keys on a Musical instrument, particularly the piano MIDI ( Musical Instrument Digital Interface, ˈmɪdi is an industry-standard protocol that enables Electronic musical instruments Computers A wind controller sometimes referred to as a "wind synth" or "wind synthesizer" can loosely be defined as an electronic wind instrument Most electronic keyboards use a keyboard matrix circuit in which the rows and columns are made up of wiring. Most electronic keyboards used in Synthesizers Electronic organs and Digital pianos use a keyboard matrix circuit to connect the switches for each On electric and electronic keyboards, there is an electric switch under each key. Depressing a key connects a circuit, which causes the tone generation mechanism to be triggered.

Types of synthesis

There are three main types of synthesizers: analog, digital and software. An analog synthesizer is a Synthesizer that uses analog circuits and Analog computer techniques to generate sound electronically A digital synthesizer is a Synthesizer that uses Digital signal processing (DSP techniques to make musical sounds A software synthesizer also known as a softsynth or virtual instrument is a Computer program for Digital audio generation In addition, some synthesizers rely upon combinations of these three types and are known as hybrid synthesizers.

Wavetable

Wavetable synthesis uses a digital recording of an existing sound. Wavetable synthesis is a technique used in certain digital music Synthesizers to implement real-time Additive synthesis and Direct digital synthesis with In digital recording, the analog signal of Video or Sound is converted into a stream of Discrete numbers representing the changes in Air These are known as samples, replayed at a range of pitches. ^[4] Sample playback replaces the oscillator circuit found in other synthesizers. An electronic oscillator is an Electronic circuit that produces a repetitive electronic signal often a Sine wave or a Square wave. ^[5] Most music workstations process sounds using effects such as filters, low-frequency oscillation, and ring modulators. A music workstation is piece of electronic musical equipment providing the facilities of a Sound module, a Music sequencer The term low-frequency oscillation (LFO is an audio signal usually below 20 Hz which creates a pulsating rhythm rather than an audible tone Ring modulation is a signal-processing effect in electronics related to Amplitude modulation or frequency mixing, performed by multiplying two signals where one Sample playback commonly replays samples at a faster speed, instead of changing the pitch. For example, to alter the frequency of a sound one octave higher, it is played at double speed; inversely, to shift the frequency of the sound one octave lower, it is played at half-speed. In Music, an octave ( is the the use of which is "common in most musical systems Instruments dedicated to recording and playing samples are known as samplers. A sampler is an electronic musical instrument closely related to a Synthesizer.

Due to the nature of digital sound storage, anti-aliasing and interpolation techniques are used to achieve a natural-sounding waveform. In Digital signal processing, anti-aliasing is the technique of minimizing the distortion artifacts known as Aliasing when representing a high-resolution signal In the mathematical subfield of Numerical analysis, interpolation is a method of constructing new data points within the range of a Discrete set of This is especially important if more than one note is played, or if arbitrary tone intervals are used. The calculations on sample-data must be very precise (for high quality, around 64 bits), especially if various parameters are needed to create a specific sound. If too many parameters are used, excessive calculations need to be made to avoid the rounding errors of the multiple calculations taking place.

Wavetable synthesis is used in certain digital music synthesizers to implement real-time additive synthesis and direct digital synthesis with minimum hardware. Additive synthesis is a technique of audio synthesis which creates Musical Timbre. Direct Digital Synthesis (DDS is an electronic method for digitally creating arbitrary Waveforms and frequencies from a single fixed source Frequency. The technique was first developed by Wolfgang Palm in 1978, and has since been used in other synthesizers built by Yamaha, Korg and Waldorf Instruments. is a Japanese Multinational corporation that manufactures electronic Musical instruments and Electronic tuners The company is one of the ^[6] It is commonly used in low-end MIDI instruments such as educational keyboards, and low-end sound cards. MIDI ( Musical Instrument Digital Interface, ˈmɪdi is an industry-standard protocol that enables Electronic musical instruments Computers A sound card (also known as an audio card is a Computer Expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to/from a computer under ^[4]

Physical modeling

Physical modeling synthesis is the synthesis of sound by using a set of equations and algorithms to simulate a physical source of sound. In Sound synthesis, physical modelling synthesis refers to methods in which the Waveform of the Sound to be generated is computed by using a Mathematical When an initial set of parameters is run through the physical simulation, the simulated sound is generated. Although physical modeling was not a new concept in acoustics and synthesis, it wasn't until the development of the Karplus-Strong algorithm and the increase in DSP power in the late 1980s that commercial implementations became feasible. Karplus-Strong string synthesis is a method of Physical modelling synthesis that loops a short waveform through a filtered delay line to simulate the sound of a hammered or plucked Digital signal processing ( DSP) is concerned with the representation of the signals by a sequence of numbers or symbols and the processing of these signals

Digital

Digital synthesizers generate a digital sample, corresponding to a sound pressure, at a given sampling frequency (typically 44,100 samples per second). In the most basic case, each digital oscillator is modeled by a counter. For each sample, the counter of each oscillator is advanced by an amount that varies depending on the frequency of the oscillator. For harmonic oscillators, the counter indexes a table containing the oscillator's waveform. For random-noise oscillators, the most significant bits index a table of random numbers. The values indexed by each oscillator's counter are mixed, processed, and then sent to a digital-to-analog converter, followed by an analog amplifier.

To eliminate the difficult multiplication step in the envelope generation and mixing, some synthesizers perform all of the above operations in a logarithmic coding, and add the current ADSR and mix levels to the logarithmic value of the oscillator, to effectively multiply it. To add the values in the last step of mixing, they are converted to linear values. Some digital synthesizers now exist in the form of software synthesizers, which synthesize sound using conventional computer hardware, usually a sound card. A software synthesizer also known as a softsynth or virtual instrument is a Computer program for Digital audio generation Typical PC hardware A typical Personal computer consists of a case or chassis in a tower shape (desktop and the following parts Motherboard A sound card (also known as an audio card is a Computer Expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to/from a computer under Others use a specialized digital signal processor. A digital signal processor ( DSP or DSP micro) is a specialized Microprocessor designed specifically for Digital signal processing, generally

Fingerboard

A fingerboard synthesizer is a synthesizer with a ribbon controller or other fingerboard-like user interface used to control parameters of the sound processing. A ribbon controller is a User interface used to control parameters of Electronic musical instruments, primarily used with Analogue synthesizers (See A ribbon controller is similar to a touchpad. A touchpad (also trackpad) is a Pointing device consisting of specialized surface that can translate the motion and position However, most ribbon controllers only register linear motion. Although it could be used to operate any sound parameter, a ribbon controller is most commonly associated with pitch control or pitch bending. A variable speed pitch control (or vari-speed) is a control on an audio device such as a turntable, Reel-to-reel, tape deck or CD Portamento is a Musical term primarily denoting a vocal slide between two pitches and its emulation by instruments such as the violin and in 16th century

Older fingerboards used resistors with a long wire pressed to the resistive plate. |- align = "center"| |width = "25"| | |- align = "center"| || Potentiometer |- align = "center"| | | |- align = "center"| Resistor| | Modern ribbon controllers do not contain moving parts. Instead, a finger pressed down and moved along it creates an electrical contact at some point along a pair of thin, flexible longitudinal strips whose electric potential varies from one end to the other. Different fingerboards instruments were developed like the Ondes Martenot, Hellertion, Heliophon, Trautonium, Electro-Theremin, Fingerboard-Theremin and the The Persephone. The ondes Martenot (IPA maʀtəno French for "Martenot waves" also known as the ondium Martenot, Martenot and ondes musicales) is an early The trautonium is a monophonic electronic Musical instrument invented ca The Electro-Theremin, often called the Tannerin is an Electronic musical instrument developed by trombonist Paul Tanner and amateur Inventor The Persephone is an analog Fingerboard synthesizer from the year 2004 in the tradition of the first ribbon controlled instruments from the 1920s.

A ribbon controller is used as an additional controller in the Yamaha CS-80 and CS-60, the Korg Prophecy, the Kurzweil synthesizers, Moog synthesizers and many others. The Yamaha CS-80 was a polyphonic Analog synthesizer released in 1977 The Korg Prophecy is considered one of the earliest (mid-nineties "virtual analog" (a Kurzweil Music Systems is a company that produces Electronic musical instruments for professionals and home users The term Moog (ˈmoʊg as in 'vogue' Synthesizer can refer to any number of Analog synthesizers designed by Dr Ribbon controllers can serve as a main MIDI controller instead of keyboard (Continuum). The Continuum Fingerboard is a music performance controller developed by Lippold Haken, a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois

Software

The earliest digital synthesis was performed by software synthesizers on mainframe computers using methods exactly like those described in digital synthesis, above. A software synthesizer also known as a softsynth or virtual instrument is a Computer program for Digital audio generation Music was coded using punch cards to describe the type of instrument, note and duration. The formants of each timbre were generated as a series of sine waves, converted to fixed-point binary suitable for digital-to-analog converters, and mixed by adding and averaging. The data was written slowly to computer tape and then played back in real time to generate the music.

Today, a variety of software is available to run on modern high-speed personal computers. DSP algorithms are commonplace, and permit the creation of fairly accurate simulations of physical acoustic sources or electronic sound generators (oscillators, filters, VCAs, etc). Some commercial programs offer quite lavish and complex models of classic synthesizers--everything from the Yamaha DX7 to the original Moog modular. The Yamaha DX7 was a Synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1986, based on FM synthesis developed by Other programs allow the user complete control of all aspects of digital music synthesis, at the cost of greater complexity and difficulty of use.

History

Analog

Main article: analog synthesizers

The first electric synthesizer was invented in 1876 by Elisha Gray ^[2], who is best known for his development of a telephone prototype. An analog synthesizer is a Synthesizer that uses analog circuits and Analog computer techniques to generate sound electronically The trautonium is a monophonic electronic Musical instrument invented ca Elisha Gray (August 2 1835 &ndash January 21 1901 was an American electrical engineer and is best known for his development of a telephone prototype in 1876 in The modern telephone is the result of work done by many people all worthy of recognition of their contributions to the field The "Musical Telegraph" was a chance by-product of his telephone technology. Gray accidentally discovered that he could control sound from a self vibrating electromagnetic circuit and in doing so invented a basic single note oscillator. The Musical Telegraph used steel reeds whose oscillations were created and transmitted, over a telephone line, by electromagnets. Gray also built a simple loudspeaker device in later models consisting of a vibrating diaphragm in a magnetic field to make the oscillator audible.

Other early synthesizers used technology derived from electronic analog computers, laboratory test equipment, and early electronic musical instruments. An analog computer (spelt analogue in British English is a form of Computer that uses continuous physical phenomena such as electrical mechanical An electronic musical instrument is a Musical instrument that produces its sounds using Electronics. Ivor Darreg created his microtonal 'Electronic Keyboard Oboe' in 1937. Ivor Darreg ( May 5 1917 – Feb 121994 was a leading proponent of and Composer of microtonal or " Xenharmonic " music Microtonal music is Music using microtones — intervals of less than an equally spaced Semitone. Another early synthesizer was the ANS synthesizer, constructed by the Russian scientist Evgeny Murzin from 1937 to 1958. The ANS synthesizer is a photoelectronic musical instrument created by Russian engineer Evgeny Murzin from 1937 to 1957 Evgeny Murzin or Eugeny Murzin is a Russian audio engineer and inventor of ANS synth Only one model was built, which is currently stored at the Lomonosov University in Moscow. Moscow (Москва́ romanised: Moskvá, IPA: see also other names) is the Capital and the largest city of ^[7]

In the 1950s, RCA produced experimental devices to synthesize both voice and music. RCA Corporation, founded as Radio Corporation of America, was an electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986 The Mark II Music Synthesizer, housed at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in New York City in 1958, was only capable of producing music once it had been completely programmed. The RCA Mark II Sound Synthesizer (nicknamed Victor) was the first programmable Electronic music Synthesizer and the flagship The Computer Music Center ( CMC) at Columbia University is the oldest center for electronic and Computer music research in the United States The City of New York ^[3] The vacuum tube system had to be manually patched to create each new type of sound. This article is about the electronic device not an evacuated pipe used for experiments in Free-fall. It used a paper tape sequencer punched with holes to control pitch sources and filters, similar to a mechanical player piano, but capable of generating a wide variety of sounds. Punched tape or paper tape is a largely obsolete form of Data storage, consisting of a long strip of paper in which holes are punched to store data The player piano is a self-playing Piano, containing a pneumatic mechanism that plays on the piano action pre-programmed Music via perforated paper rolls In 1959, Daphne Oram at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop produced a novel synthesizer using her "Oramics" technique, driven by drawings on a 35 mm film strip. Daphne Oram ( 31 December 1925 - 5 January 2003) was a pioneering British composer and Electronic musician She was the creator of Oramics is a Drawn sound technique developed beginning in 1962 by musician Daphne Oram after receiving a grant from the Gulbenkian Foundation. ^[8] This was used for a number of years at the BBC. Hugh Le Caine, John Hanert, Raymond Scott, the composer Percy Grainger (with Burnett Cross), and others built a variety of automated electronic-music controllers during the late 1940s and 1950s. Hugh Le Caine ( May 27, 1914 - July 3, 1977) was a Canadian Physicist, Composer and instrument builder Raymond Scott (born Harry Warnow, 10 September 1908 &mdash 8 February 1994) was an American composer band leader pianist engineer George Percy Grainger (8 July 1882&ndash20 February 1961 was an Australian born Composer, Pianist and champion of the Saxophone and the

By the 1960s, synthesizers were developed that could be played in real time but were confined to studios because of their size. These synthesizers were usually configured using a modular design, with standalone signal sources and processors being connected with patch cords or by other means, and all controlled by a common controlling device.

Some early analog synthesizers were monophonic, producing only one tone at a time. A few, such as the Moog Sonic Six, ARP Odyssey and EML 101, were capable of producing two different pitches at a time when two keys were pressed. The ARP Odyssey was an analog Synthesizer introduced in 1972 Responding to pressure from Moog Music to create a portable affordable (the Polyphony (multiple simultaneous tones, which enables chords), was only obtainable with electronic organ designs at first. Polyphony is the property of an Electronic musical instrument which describes how many notes it can sound at one time This article describes musical chords in traditional Western styles Popular electronic keyboards combining organ circuits with synthesizer processing included the ARP Omni and Moog's Polymoog and Opus 3. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, DIY (Do it yourself) designs were published in hobby electronics magazines (notably the Formant modular synth, a DIY clone of the Moog system, published by Elektor) and kits were supplied by companies such as Paia in the US, and Maplin Electronics in the UK. Elektor is a monthly magazine about all aspects of Electronics, first published as "Elektuur" in the Netherlands in 1960, and now published worldwide

Modular

Main article: modular synthesizer

Most early synthesizers were experimental modular designs. The modular synthesizer is a type of Synthesizer consisting of separate specialized modules connected by wires (patch cords to create a so-called patch. Don Buchla, Hugh Le Caine, Raymond Scott and Paul Ketoff were among the first to build such instruments, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Don Buchla (1937—) is a pioneer in the field of sound Synthesizers releasing his first units months after Robert Moog 's first synthesizers Hugh Le Caine ( May 27, 1914 - July 3, 1977) was a Canadian Physicist, Composer and instrument builder Raymond Scott (born Harry Warnow, 10 September 1908 &mdash 8 February 1994) was an American composer band leader pianist engineer Buchla later produced a commercial modular synthesizer, the Buchla Music Easel. Buchla & Associates Inc is a manufacturer of electronic musical instruments notably Synthesizers and unique MIDI controllers ^[9] Robert Moog, who had been a student of Peter Mauzey and one of the RCA Mark II engineers, created a revolutionary synthesizer that could be used by musicians. Dr Robert Arthur Moog (ˈmoʊɡ to rhyme with "rogue" ( May 23, 1934 &ndash August 21, 2005) was an American pioneer of Peter Mauzey is an Electrical engineer associated with the development of Electronic music in the 1950s and 1960s at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center Moog designed the circuits used in his synthesizer while he was at Columbia-Princeton. The Moog synthesizer was first displayed at the Audio Engineering Society convention in 1964. Moog modular synthesizer refers to any of a number of monophonic analog Modular synthesizers designed by the late electronic instrument pioneer Dr Established in 1948 the Audio Engineering Society (AES draws its membership from amongst engineers scientists manufacturers and other organizations and individuals with an interest ^[10] Like the RCA Mark II, it required more experience to set up new sounds, but it was smaller and more intuitive than what had come before. Less like a machine and more like a musical instrument, the Moog synthesizer was at first a curiosity, but by 1968 had caused a sensation.

Moog also established standards for control interfacing, with a logarithmic 1-volt-per-octave pitch control and a separate pulse triggering signal. This standardization allowed synthesizers from different manufacturers to operate simultaneously. Pitch control is usually performed either with an organ-style keyboard or a music sequencer, which produces a series of control voltages over a fixed time period and allows some automation of music production. A music sequencer (also MIDI sequencer or just sequencer) is software or hardware designed to create and manage computer-generated music Other early commercial synthesizer manufacturers included ARP, who also started with modular synthesizers before producing all-in-one instruments, and British firm EMS. ARP Instruments Inc was an early Electronic music company founded by Alan Robert Pearlman. Electronic Music Studios (London Ltd (usually abbreviated to EMS is a Synthesizer company formed in 1969 by Dr

Micky Dolenz of The Monkees bought the third Moog synthesizer in existence. George Michael Dolenz Jr (born March 8, 1945) is an American Actor, Musician, Television director and theatre For the group's self-titled album see The Monkees (album. For the TV series see The Monkees (TV series. They were the first band to release an album featuring music from a Moog with Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. in 1967. Pisces Aquarius Capricorn & Jones Ltd was the fourth album by The Monkees, released on November 14, 1967, when the Monkees were exerting ^[11] It also became the first album featuring a synthesizer to hit #1 on the charts. During the late 1960s, hundreds of other popular recordings used Moog synthesizer sounds. The Moog synthesizer even spawned a subculture of record producers who made novelty "Moog" recordings, depending on the odd new sounds made by their synthesizers (which were not always Moog units) to draw attention and sales.

Popular

In 1970, Moog designed an innovative synthesizer with a built-in keyboard and without modular design - the analog circuits were retained, but made interconnectable with switches in a simplified arrangement called "normalization". The Minimoog is a monophonic Analog synthesizer, invented by Bill Hemsath and Robert Moog. Though less flexible than a modular design, normalization made the instrument more portable and easier to use. This first pre-patched synthesizer, the Minimoog, became highly popular, with over 12,000 units sold. The Minimoog is a monophonic Analog synthesizer, invented by Bill Hemsath and Robert Moog. ^[12] The Minimoog also influenced the design of nearly all subsequent synthesizers, with integrated keyboard, pitch wheel and modulation wheel, and a VCO->VCF->VCA signal flow. The Minimoog is a monophonic Analog synthesizer, invented by Bill Hemsath and Robert Moog.

In the 1970s miniaturized solid-state components allowed synthesizers to become self-contained, portable instruments, which soon began to be used in live performances. Electronic synthesizers had quickly become a standard part of the popular-music repertoire. The first movie to make use of synthesized music was the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969. James Bond 007 is a Fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve Novels and two Short story On Her Majesty's Secret Service, released in 1969, is the sixth Spy film in the James Bond series, and the only one to star George After the release of the film, a large number of movies were made with synthesized music. A few of them, such as 1982's John Carpenter's "The Thing", used only synthesized music in their scores. The Thing is a 1982 science fiction and Horror film directed by John Carpenter, written by Bill Lancaster and starring ^[13]

Modern

By 1976, the first true music synthesizers to offer polyphony had begun to appear, most notably in the form of the Yamaha GX1, CS-50, CS-60 and Yamaha CS-80 and the Oberheim Four-Voice. The Yamaha GX-1, along with its predecessor the Electone GX-707, was an analog Polyphonic Synthesizer developed by Yamaha as a test bed The Yamaha CS-80 was a polyphonic Analog synthesizer released in 1977 These early instruments were very complex, heavy, and costly. Another feature that began to appear was the recording of knob settings in a digital memory, allowing the changing of sounds quickly. When microprocessors first appeared on the scene in the early 1970s, they were expensive and difficult to apply.

The first practical polyphonic synth, and the first to use a microprocessor as a controller, was the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 introduced in late 1977. Sequential Circuits Inc (SCI was a California -based Synthesizer company that was founded in the early 1970s by Dave Smith and sold to Yamaha Corporation The Prophet-5 was an analog Synthesizer manufactured by Sequential Circuits in San Jose California between 1978 and 1984. ^[14] For the first time, musicians had a practical polyphonic synthesizer that allowed all knob settings to be saved in computer memory and recalled by pushing a button. The Prophet-5 was also physically compact and lightweight, unlike its predecessors. This basic design paradigm became a standard among synthesizer manufacturers, slowly pushing out the more complex and recondite modular design. One of the first real-time polyphonic digital music synthesizers was the Coupland Digital Music Synthesizer. The Coupland Digital Music Synthesizer is a 16-voice polyphonic real-time instrument with a full 88 key keyboard introduced in the 1970’s It was much more portable than a piano but never reached commercial production.

The Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument) was the first polyphonic digital sampling synthesizer. The Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument was the first polyphonic digital sampling Synthesizer. A sampler is an electronic musical instrument closely related to a Synthesizer. ^[15] It was designed in 1978 by the founders of Fairlight, Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie, and based on a dual microprocessor computer designed by Tony Furse in Sydney, Australia. Fairlight is a digital audio company based in Sydney Australia. A microprocessor incorporates most or all of the functions of a Central processing unit (CPU on a single Integrated The Fairlight CMI gave musicians the ability to modify volume, attack, decay, and special effects like vibrato. Waveforms could also be modified on a computer monitor using a light pen. waveformogg|right|a sine square and sawtooth wave at 440 hz]] Waveform means the shape and form of a signal such as a Wave moving in a solid liquid or gaseous A visual display unit, often called simply a monitor or display, is a piece of Electrical equipment which displays images generated from the Video A light pen is a Computer Input device in the form of a light-sensitive wand used in conjunction with a the computer's CRT TV set or monitor ^[16] It rose to prominence in the early 1980s and competed in the market with the Synclavier from New England Digital. The Synclavier System was an early Synthesizer and sampler, manufactured by New England Digital. New England Digital Corp (1976–1992 based in White River Junction Vermont, was best known for its signature product the Synclavier System The first buyers of the new system were Herbie Hancock, Peter Gabriel, Richard James Burgess, Todd Rundgren, Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran, producer Rhett Lawrence, Stevie Wonder and Ned "EBN" Liben of Ebn Ozn, who acted as Fairlight's New York expert liaison to the American musician community. Herbert Jeffrey Hancock ("Herbie" born April 12 1940 is a Jazz Pianist and Composer. Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950 in Chobham, Surrey, England) is an English Musician and Songwriter. Richard James Burgess is a studio drummer music-computer programmer recording artist record producer composer published author manager marketer and inventor Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948 in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, United States) is an American Musician Nick Rhodes (born Nicholas James Bates in Moseley, West Midlands, England, 8 June 1962 is the keyboardist for Duran Duran Duran Duran are an English Pop rock band famous for a long series of popular singles, albums and vivid Music videos for which they've won two James Everette Lawrence is a Record producer and songwriter He is originally famous for producing the Grammy Stevie Wonder (born Stevland Hardaway Judkins on May 13 1950 name later changed to Stevland Hardaway Morris) is an Ēbn-Ōzn was a 1980s duo comprised of Ned "EBN" Liben ( Synthesizer) and Robert "OZN" Rosen ( organ, vocals ^[17]

The Kurzweil K250, first produced in 1983, was also a successful polyphonic digital music synthesizer. The Kurzweil K250 aka "Kurzweil 250" "K250" or "K-250" manufactured by Kurzweil Music Systems was the first combined live performance and studio ^[18] It was noted for its ability to reproduce several instruments synchronously; the Kurzweil K250 also had a velocity-sensitive keyboard. It was priced at US$ 10,000. The United States dollar ( sign: $; code: USD) is the unit of Currency of the United States; it has also been ^[19]

Since the early 1980s, most new synthesizers have been digital. Japanese manufacturers Yamaha and Casio both played a large part as manufacturers of digital synthesizers during the 1980s and 1990s. John Chowning, a professor at Stanford University, exclusively licensed his patent covering FM synthesis to Yamaha in 1975. John M Chowning (born 1934 in Salem New Jersey) is an American musician inventor and professor best known for his work at Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly known as Stanford University or simply Stanford, is a private Research university located in A 220 Hz carrier tone modulated by a 440 Hz modulating tone with ^[20] Yamaha subsequently released their first FM synthesizers, the GS-1 and GS-2, both of which were costly and heavy. Yamaha soon followed with the GS series, which used a pair of smaller, preset versions - the CE20 and CE25 Combo Ensembles. These were targeted primarily at the home organ market and featured four-octave keyboards. ^[21] Yamaha's third generation of digital synthesizers became their most popular. These consisted of the DX7 and DX9 (1983). The Yamaha DX7 was a Synthesizer manufactured by the Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1986, based on FM synthesis developed by Both models were compact, reasonably priced, and dependant on custom digital integrated circuits to produce FM tonalities. The DX7 was the first mass market all-digital synthesizer. ^[22] It became indispensable to many music artists of the 1980s, and demand soon exceeded supply. ^[23] The DX7 sold over 200,000 units within three years. ^[24]

After the introduction of the DX series, Bo Tomlyn, original DX7 project manager Mike Malizola, and Chuck Monte founded Key Clique, Inc, which sold thousands of ROM cartridges with new FM/DX7 sounds to DX7 owners. A ROM cartridge is a removable cartridge that contains ROM devices and commonly Flash memory devices to allow some read-write capability This led to the demise of the heavy, electro-mechanical Rhodes piano during the 1980s, until its comeback in the 1990s. A Rhodes piano is an electromechanical Musical instrument, a brand of Electric piano. Yamaha later licensed its FM technology to other manufacturers. By the time the Stanford patent expired, almost every personal computer in the world contained an audio input-output system with a built-in 4-operator FM digital synthesizer. A personal computer ( PC) is any Computer whose original sales price size and capabilities make it useful for individuals and which is intended to be operated

Following the success of Yamaha's licensing of Stanford's FM synthesis patent, Yamaha signed a contract with Stanford University in 1989 to develop jointly digital waveguide synthesis. Digital waveguide synthesis is the synthesis of audio using a digital Waveguide. As such, most patents related to the technology are owned by Stanford or Yamaha. The first commercial physical modeling synthesizer was Yamaha's VL-1 in 1994. ^[25] Analog synthesizers have also revived in popularity since the 1980s. In recent years, the two trends have sometimes been combined as analog modeling synthesizers, or digital synthesizers that model analog synthesis using digital signal processing techniques. An Analog Modeling Synthesizer is a Synthesizer that emulates the sounds of traditional Analog synthesizers using Digital signal processing components New analog instruments now also accompany the large number from the digital world.

MIDI control

Main article: Musical Instrument Digital Interface

Synthesizers became easier to integrate and synchronize with other electronic instruments and controllers with the introduction in 1983 of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface). MIDI ( Musical Instrument Digital Interface, ˈmɪdi is an industry-standard protocol that enables Electronic musical instruments Computers MIDI ( Musical Instrument Digital Interface, ˈmɪdi is an industry-standard protocol that enables Electronic musical instruments Computers ^[26] First proposed in 1981 by Dave Smith of Sequential Circuits, the MIDI standard was developed by a consortium now known as the MIDI Manufacturers Association. Dave Smith is known as the pioneer of the first polyphonic and microprocessor-controlled synthesizer the industry-changing Prophet 5, and later the driving force behind the Sequential Circuits Inc (SCI was a California -based Synthesizer company that was founded in the early 1970s by Dave Smith and sold to Yamaha Corporation ^[27] MIDI is an opto-isolated serial interface and communication protocol. In Electronics, an opto-isolator (or optical isolator, optocoupler, photocoupler, or photoMOS) In Telecommunication and Computer science, serial communication is the process of sending data one Bit at one time sequentially over a Communication In the field of Telecommunications, a communications protocol is the set of standard rules for data representation signaling authentication and error detection required to ^[27] It provides for the transmission from one device or instrument to another of real-time performance data. This data includes note events, commands for the selection of instrument presets (i. e. sounds, or programs or patches, previously stored in the instrument's memory), the control of performance-related parameters such as volume, effects levels and the like, as well as synchronization, transport control and other types of data. MIDI interfaces are now almost ubiquitous on music equipment and are commonly available on personal computers (PCs). A personal computer ( PC) is any Computer whose original sales price size and capabilities make it useful for individuals and which is intended to be operated ^[27]

The General MIDI (GM) software standard was devised in 1991 to serve as a consistent way of describing a set of over 200 tones (including percussion) available to a PC for playback of musical scores. General MIDI or GM is a specification for Synthesizers which imposes several requirements beyond the more abstract MIDI standard ^[28] For the first time, a given MIDI preset would consistently produce an instrumental sound on any GM-conforming device. The Standard MIDI File (SMF) format (extension . MIDI ( Musical Instrument Digital Interface, ˈmɪdi is an industry-standard protocol that enables Electronic musical instruments Computers A filename extension is a suffix to the name of a Computer file applied to indicate the encoding convention ( File format) of its contents mid) combined MIDI events with delta times - a form of time-stamping - and became a popular standard for exchange of music scores between computers. In the case of SMF playback using integrated synthesizers (as in computers and cell phones), the hardware component of the MIDI interface design is often unneeded.

OSC, OpenSound Control, is a proposed replacement for MIDI which was designed for networking. OpenSoundControl (OSC is a protocol for communication among computers sound synthesizers and other multimedia devices that are optimized for modern networking technology In contrast with MIDI, OSC is fast enough to allow thousands of synthesizers or computers to share music performance data over the internet in realtime. In Computer science, real-time computing (RTC is the study of hardware and software systems that are subject to a "real-time constraint"—i

Impact on the music industry and culture

The synthesizer has had a large impact on modern music over the past forty years. ^[29] The most significant influence of the instrument came during the 1970s and 1980s. Wendy Carlos's Switched-On Bach (1968), recorded using Moog synthesizers, influenced numerous musicians of that era. Switched-On Bach is a musical album by Wendy Carlos (then Walter Carlos and Benjamin Folkman, released in 1968 by CBS Records. The term Moog (ˈmoʊg as in 'vogue' Synthesizer can refer to any number of Analog synthesizers designed by Dr Switched-On Bach is one of the most popular classical music recordings ever made, and the first to go Platinum. ^[30] During the late 1960s, hundreds of other popular recordings used Moog synthesizers. The Moog synthesizer even spawned a subculture of record producers who made novelty "Moog" recordings, depending on the odd new sounds made by their synthesizers (which were not always Moog units) to draw attention and sales.

The synthesizer's notable influence during the late 1970s and 1980s lead to mainstream popularity amongst renowned music artists. Among the first major artists to fully use the synthesizer were Wendy Carlos,^[30] Stevie Wonder, Peter Gabriel, Kraftwerk, Ultravox and Yellow Magic Orchestra. Wendy Carlos (born Walter Carlos, November 14 1939 is an American Composer and electronic Musician. Stevie Wonder (born Stevland Hardaway Judkins on May 13 1950 name later changed to Stevland Hardaway Morris) is an Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950 in Chobham, Surrey, England) is an English Musician and Songwriter. Kraftwerk (ˈkʁaftvɛɐk German for " power plant " or " Power station " is an influential Electronic music band from Ultravox (formerly Ultravox!) were a British New Wave band that rose to prominence in the late 1970s/early 1980s Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO is an influential Japanese Electropop band formed in 1978 English musician Gary Numan was influenced by Kraftwerk, Ultravox and David Bowie. Gary Numan (born Gary Anthony James Webb on 8 March 1958 is an English singer composer and musician Numan's 1979 hit Are 'Friends' Electric? used synthesizers heavily. " Are 'Friends' Electric? " is a 1979 song by Gary Numan, released under the name Tubeway Army as a single and on the album Replicas ^[31] Numan continued to use synthesizers throughout most of his career, including the 1980 hit Cars. " Cars " is a 1979 song by Gary Numan, released as a single from the album The Pleasure Principle. ^[32]

The influences of synthesizers on the New Romantic movement in the United Kingdom during the 1980s were evident from its usage by Nick Rhodes, keyboardist of Duran Duran. New Romantic was a short- lived Fashion and music movement that occurred primarily in the United Kingdom and Ireland during the very early 1980s Nick Rhodes (born Nicholas James Bates in Moseley, West Midlands, England, 8 June 1962 is the keyboardist for Duran Duran Duran Duran are an English Pop rock band famous for a long series of popular singles, albums and vivid Music videos for which they've won two At the time, the band used the Roland Jupiter-4 and Jupiter-8 synthesizers. The Roland Jupiter 4 was an Analog synthesizer manufactured by the Roland Corporation of Japan between 1978 and 1981 The Jupiter-8, Roland 's flagship Analog synthesizer of the early 1980s is an eight-voice polyphonic synth and is considered one ^[33] The emergence of Synthpop, a subgenre of New Wave, can be largely credited to the synthesizer. Synthpop is a subgenre of New Wave and Pop music in which the Synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument It lasted from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s. The influences of synthesizer technology and Germanic ambience of Kraftwerk and of David Bowie during his Berlin period (1976-77) were both crucial in the development of the synthpop genre. ^[34] By 1981, many artists had adopted the synthpop sound and experienced chart success, such as Depeche Mode, Visage, OMD and Ultravox. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (often abbreviated to OMD) are a Synthpop group whose founding members are originally from the Wirral Peninsula ^[34] At this time, Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet were classed as leaders of the genre. Spandau Ballet were a popular British band in the 1980s Initially inspired by a mixture of Funk and Synthpop, the group eventually mellowed into a Many other acts followed, including Soft Cell, Culture Club, Eurythmics and Blancmange. Soft Cell are an English Synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s Culture Club were a Grammy Award -winning British pop group that formed in the early 1980s Eurythmics (often incorrectly referred to as The Eurythmics) is a British Musical duo, formed in 1980 by Annie Lennox and Dave Blancmange, (bləˈmɒnʒ or /bləˈmɑːndʒ/ also known as shape) is a sweet Dessert commonly made with Milk or Cream and Sugar ^[34] At this time, synthesizers were one of the most important instruments within the music industry.

The synthesizer introduced many recognizable sounds in the 1980s. OMD's Enola Gay (1980) used a distinctive electronic percussion and synthesized melody. " Enola Gay " is a song by British Synthpop band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (normally abbreviated to OMD Soft Cell used a fast tempo (150 bpm) and synthesized melody in their 1981 hit Tainted Love. Soft Cell are an English Synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s " Tainted Love " is a Song composed by Ed Cobb, formerly of The Four Preps, which was originally recorded by Gloria Jones. ^[35] Other chart hits include Depeche Mode's Just Can't Get Enough (1981),^[35] and The Human League's Don't You Want Me. Depeche Mode (dəˌpɛʃˈmoʊd are an English Electronic music band formed in 1980 in Basildon, Essex. " Just Can't Get Enough " is the third UK single by Depeche Mode originally released in September 1981. " Don't You Want Me " is a song by the British Synthpop group The Human League, from their 1981 album Dare!. ^[36] Typically, the sounds varied between artists and songs, but all were distinctively produced using synthesizers. ^[37]

See also

• Computer music
• Electronic keyboards
• Guitar/synthesizer
• Keytar
• List of synthesizer manufacturers
• List of classic synthesizers
• Modular synthesizer
• Musical instrument
• Software synthesizer

Notes

References

• Gorges, Peter (2005). Programming Synthesizers, ISBN 978-3-934903-48-7.

• Schmitz, Reinhard (2005). Analog Synthesis, ISBN 978-3-934903-01-2.

• Shapiro, Peter (2000). Modulations: A History of Electronic Music: Throbbing Words on Sound, ISBN 1-891024-06-X.

External links

• Vintagesynth — Vintage Synth Explorer
• Progsounds — Online Synthesizer Resource
• Synth Museum — Vintage Synth Resource
• 120 years of Electronic Music — Machines used from 1870-1990
• Principles of Sound Synthesis at Salford University

The University of Salford is a Plate glass university based in Salford Greater Manchester, England, with approximately 20000 registered students

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