George Mattson (born October 1954) is an American inventor, and is an early pioneer in electronic music synthesizer technology.

He is credited with the invention of the Syntar, the first fully self-contained "keytar", in 1978, and is founder and owner of Mattson Mini Modular.

In 1964, following the Great Alaskan earthquake, Mattson's father, a geologist, took a job in Anchorage, and relocated the family.

It was around this time that Mattson became interested in music, and began learning to play flamenco and classical-style guitar.

'"[2] Mattson relocated to Bend, Oregon, and moved in with his mother and step-father, where he hand-built the Syntar prototype from EML circuit modules.

[2] A month before the Moog Liberation was advertised, Mattson purchased ad space in Up Beat trade magazine touting the Syntar.

[1] In 1988, Mattson graduated from ITT Tech as class valedictorian, with an associate degree in Electronics Engineering.

He still had components of the Syntar that he'd kept through the years, and he discovered that a new generation of musicians was interested in analog synthesizers – there was a fresh market for his creation.

He worked on the design and build of the first Mattson Mini Modular system for six months before introducing it to the world on September 15, 2007.

Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins had seen a video on YouTube that featured a stack of eight Mattson Mini Modular systems.