Synthesizer

Synthesizers are typically played with keyboards or controlled by sequencers, software or other instruments, and may be synchronized to other equipment via MIDI.

[2] Synthesizers were initially viewed as avant-garde, valued by the 1960s psychedelic and countercultural scenes but with little perceived commercial potential.

"[3] As electricity became more widely available, the early 20th century saw the invention of electronic musical instruments including the Telharmonium, Trautonium, Ondes Martenot, and theremin.

[4] In the late 1930s, the Hammond Organ Company built the Novachord, a large instrument powered by 72 voltage-controlled amplifiers and 146 vacuum tubes.

[5] In 1948, the Canadian engineer Hugh Le Caine completed the electronic sackbut, a precursor to voltage-controlled synthesizers, with keyboard sensitivity allowing for vibrato, glissando, and attack control.

The instrument read punched paper tape that controlled an analog synthesizer containing 750 vacuum tubes.

It was acquired by the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center and used almost exclusively by Milton Babbitt, a composer at Princeton University.

[10] Instead of a conventional keyboard, Buchla's system used touchplates which transmitted control voltages depending on finger position and force.

[19] Though its high price made it inaccessible to amateurs, it was adopted by high-profile pop musicians including Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel.

[24] Digital synthesizers typically contained preset sounds emulating acoustic instruments, with algorithms controlled with menus and buttons.

[9]: 63  In 1988, the Japanese manufacturer Korg released the M1, a digital synthesizer workstation featuring sampled transients and loops.

[29] In the 2010s, new, affordable analog synthesizers were introduced by companies including Moog, Korg, Arturia and Dave Smith Instruments.

The renewed interest is credited to the appeal of imperfect "organic" sounds and simpler interfaces, and modern surface-mount technology making analog synthesizers cheaper and faster to manufacture.

[29] Early synthesizers were viewed as avant-garde, valued by the 1960s psychedelic and counter-cultural scenes for their ability to make new sounds, but with little perceived commercial potential.

[6] However, debates were held about the appropriateness of synthesizers in baroque music, and according to the Guardian they were quickly abandoned in "serious classical circles".

"[3] The Moog was adopted by 1960s rock acts including the Doors, the Grateful Dead, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and Keith Emerson.

[6]: 200  String synthesizers were used by 1970s progressive rock bands including Camel, Caravan, Electric Light Orchestra, Gentle Giant and Renaissance.

[33] With the rise of polyphonic synthesizers in the 70s and 80s, "the keyboard in rock once more started to revert to the background, to be used for fills and atmosphere rather than for soloing".

[33] In the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the Minimoog was widely used in the emerging disco genre by artists including Abba and Giorgio Moroder.

[35][36] In the 1970s, electronic music composers such as Jean Michel Jarre[37] and Isao Tomita[38][39][40] released successful synthesizer-led instrumental albums.

[42] The authors of Analog Days connect the synthesizer's origins in 1960s psychedelia to the raves and British "second summer of love" of the 1980s and the club scenes of the 1990s and 2000s.

[3] Its "E PIANO 1" preset became particularly famous,[3] especially for power ballads,[47] and was used by artists including Whitney Houston, Chicago,[47] Prince,[24] Phil Collins, Luther Vandross, Billy Ocean,[3] and Celine Dion.

[6]: 273  In 1969, Mort Garson used a Moog to compose a soundtrack for the televised footage of the Apollo 11 moonwalk, creating a link between electronic music and space in the American popular imagination.

[50] ARP synthesizers were used to create sound effects for the 1977 science fiction films Close Encounters of the Third Kind[6]: 9  and Star Wars, including the "voice" of the robot R2-D2.

[6]: 273 In the 70s and 80s, synthesizers were used in the scores for thrillers and horror films including A Clockwork Orange (1971), Apocalypse Now (1979), The Fog (1980) and Manhunter (1986).

[52] Synthesizers were used to create themes for television shows including Knight Rider (1982), Twin Peaks (1990) and Stranger Things (2016).

For a period, the Moog was banned from use in commercial work, a restriction negotiated by the American Federation of Musicians (AFM).

The gain of the VCA is affected by a control voltage (CV), coming from an envelope generator, an LFO, the keyboard or some other source.

[67] Voltage-controlled filters (VCFs) "shape" the sound generated by the oscillators in the frequency domain, often under the control of an envelope or LFO.

[69] In 1997, Mackie lost their lawsuit against Behringer[70] as copyright law in the United States did not cover their circuit board designs.