In this episode of the I Can't Sleep Podcast, fall asleep learning about synthesizers. There's so much to learn about the epic history of synthesizers, but I doubt you'll remember any of it. Happy sleeping!
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Transcript
Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast, Where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice. I'm your host, Benjamin Boster. Today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled, Synthesizer. A synthesizer is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods, Including subtractive synthesis, Additive synthesis, And frequency modulation synthesis. These sounds may be altered by components such as filters, Which cut or boost frequencies, Envelopes, Which control articulation, Or how notes begin and end, And low frequency oscillators, Which modulate parameters such as pitch, Volume, Or filter characteristics affecting timbre. Synthesizers are typically played with keyboards or controlled by sequencers, Software, Or other instruments, And may be synchronized to other equipment via MIDI. Synthesizer-like instruments emerged in the United States in the mid-20th century, With instruments such as the RCA Mark II, Which was controlled with punch cards and used hundreds of vacuum tubes. The Moog synthesizer developed by Robert Moog, And first sold in 1964, Is credited for pioneering concepts such as voltage-controlled oscillators, Envelopes, Noise generators, Filters, And sequencers. In 1970, The smaller, Cheaper Mini-Moog standardized synthesizers as self-contained instruments, With built-in keyboards, Unlike the larger modular synthesizers before it. In 1978, Sequential circuits released the Prophet-5, Which used microprocessors to allow users to store sounds for the first time. MIDI, A standardized means of synchronizing electronic instruments, Was introduced in 1982 and remains an industry standard. The Yamaha DX7, Launched in 1983, Was a major success and popularized digital synthesis. Software synthesizers can now be run as plugins or embedded on microchips. In the 21st century, Analog synthesizers returned to popularity with the advent of cheaper manufacturing. Synthesizers were initially viewed as avant-garde, Valued by the 1960s psychedelic and countercultural scenes, But with little perceived commercial potential. Switched on Bach 1968, A best-selling album of Bach compositions, Arranged for synthesizer by Wendy Carlos, Took synthesizers to the mainstream. They were adopted by electronic acts and pop and rock groups in the 1960s and 1970s and were widely used in the 1980s music. Sampling, Introduced with the Fairlight synthesizer in 1979, Has influenced many genres, Electronic and hip-hop music. Today the synthesizer is used in nearly every genre of music and is considered one of the most important instruments in the music industry. According to FACT, In 2016, The synthesizer is as important and as ubiquitous in modern music today as the human voice. As electricity became more widely available, The early 20th century saw the invention of electronic musical instruments, Including the telharmonium, Tritonium, Ondas martinet, And theremin. In the late 1930s, The Hammond Organ Company built the Novachord, A large instrument powered by 72 voltage-controlled amplifiers and 146 vacuum tubes. In 1948, The Canadian engineer Hugh LeCain completed the electronic sacbut, A precursor to voltage-controlled synthesizers, With keyboard sensitivity allowing for vibrato, Glissando, And attack control. In 1957, Harry Olson and Herbert Bellar completed the RCA Mark II sound synthesizer at the RCA Laboratories in Princeton, New Jersey. 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. The authors of Analog Days defined the early years of the synthesizer as between 1964 and the mid-1970s, Beginning with the debut of the Moog synthesizer. Designed by the American engineer Robert Moog, The synthesizer was composed of separate modules which created and shaped sounds connected by patch cords. Moog developed a means of controlling pitch through voltage, The voltage-controlled oscillator. This, Along with Moog components such as envelopes, Noise generators, Filters, And sequencers, Became standard components in synthesizers. Around the same period, The American engineer Don Buckla created the Buckla Modular Electronic Music System. Instead of a conventional keyboard, Buckla's system used touch plates which transmitted controlled voltages depending on finger position and force. However, The Moog's keyboard made it more accessible and marketable to musicians, And keyboards became the standard means of controlling synthesizers. Moog and Buckla initially avoided the word synthesizer for their instruments as it was associated with the RCA synthesizer. However, By the 1970s, Synthesizer had become the standard term. In 1970, Moog launched a cheaper, Smaller synthesizer, The Minimoog. It was the first synthesizer sold in music stores and was more practical for live performance. It standardized the concept of synthesizers as self-contained instruments with built-in keyboards. After retail stores started selling synthesizers in 1971, Other synthesizer companies were established, Including ARP in the US and EMS in the UK. ARP's products included the ARP 2600, Which folded into a carrying case and had built-in speakers, And the Odyssey, A rival to the Minimoog. The less expensive EMS synthesizers were used by European ArtRock and Progressive Rock acts, Including Brian Eno and Pink Floyd. Designs for synthesizers appeared in the amateur electronic market, Such as the Practical Electronics Sound Synthesizer, Published in Practical Electronics in 1973. By the mid-1970s, ARP was the world's largest synthesizer manufacturer, Though it closed in 1981. Early synthesizers were monophonic, Meaning they could only play one note at a time. Some of the earliest commercial polyphonic synthesizers were created by the American engineer Tom Oberheim, Such as the OBX 1979. In 1978, The American company Sequential Circuits released the Prophet 5, The first fully programmable polyphonic synthesizer. Whereas previous synthesizers required users to adjust cables and knobs to change sounds, With no guarantee of exactly recreating a sound, The Prophet 5 used microprocessors to store sounds in patch memory. This facilitated a move from synthesizers creating unpredictable sounds to producing a standard package of familiar sounds. The synthesizer market grew dramatically in the 1980s. 1982 saw the introduction of MIDI, A standardized means of synchronizing electronic instruments. It remains an industry standard. An influential sampling synthesizer, The Fairlight CMI, Was released in 1979, With the ability to record and playback samples at different pitches. Though its high price made it inaccessible to amateurs, It was adopted by high-profile pop musicians including Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel. The success of the Fairlight drove competition, Improving sampling technology and lowering prices. Early competing samplers included the Emu emulator in 1981 and the Akai S-Series in 1985. In 1983, Yamaha released the first commercially successful digital synthesizer, The Yamaha DX7. Based on frequency modulation FM synthesis developed by the Stanford University engineer Kahn Chowning, The DX7 was characterized by its harsh, Glassy, And chilly sounds compared to the warm and fuzzy sounds of analog synthesis. The DX7 was the first synthesizer to sell more than 100, 000 units and remains one of the best selling in history. It was widely used in 1980s pop music. Digital synthesizers typically contain preset sounds emulating acoustic instruments with algorithms controlled with menus and buttons. The SYN Clavier, Made with FM technology licensed from Yamaha, Offered features such as 16-bit sampling and digital recording. With a starting price of $13, 000, Its use was limited to universities, Studios, And wealthy artists. The Roland D-50 1987 blended Roland's linear arithmetic algorithm with samples and was the first mass-produced synthesizer with built-in digital effects such as delay, Reverb, And chorus. In 1988, The Japanese manufacturer Korg released the M1, A digital synthesizer workstation featuring sampled transients and loops. With more than 250, 000 units sold, It remains the best-selling synthesizer in history. The advent of digital synthesizers led to a downturn in interest in analog synthesizers in the following decade. 1997 saw the release of Rebirth by Propellerhead Software and Reality by Sear Systems, The first software synthesizers that could be played in real-time via MIDI. In 1999, An update to the music software Cubase allowed users to run software instruments, Including synthesizers as plugins, Triggering a wave of new software instruments. Propellerhead's Reason, Released in 2000, Introduced an array of recognizable virtual studio equipment. The market for patchable and modular synthesizers rebounded in the late 1990s, In the 2000s, Older analog synthesizers regained popularity, Sometimes selling for much more than their original prices. 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 service mount technology making analog synthesizers cheaper and faster to manufacture. Early synthesizers were viewed as avant-garde, Valued by the 1960s psychedelic and countercultural scenes for their ability to make new sounds, But with little perceived commercial potential. Switched on Bach 1968, A best-selling album of Bach compositions arranged for Moog synthesizer by Wendy Carlos, Demonstrated that synthesizers could be more than random noise machines, Taking them to the mainstream. 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. Today, The synthesizer is used in nearly every genre of music. It is considered by the authors of analog days as the only innovation that can stand alongside the electric guitar as a great new instrument of the age of electricity. Both led to new forms of music, And both had massive popular appeal. According to Fact in 2016, The synthesizer is as important and as ubiquitous in modern music today as the human voice. It is one of the most important instruments in the music industry. The Moog was adopted by 1960s rock acts including The Doors, The Grateful Dead, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, And Keith Emerson. Emerson was the first major rock musician to perform with the Moog, And it became a trademark of his performances, Helping take his band Emerson, Lake, And Palmer to global stardom. According to Analog Days, The likes of Emerson with his Moog performances did for the keyboard what Jimi Hendrix did for the guitar. The portable mini-Moog 1970, Much smaller than the modular synthesizers before it, Made synthesizers more common in live performances. Early synthesizers could only play one note at a time, Making them suitable for basslines, Leads, And solos. With the rise of the polyphonic synthesizers in the 70s and 80s, The keyboard and rock once more started to revert to the background to be used for fills and atmosphere rather than for soloing. Some acts felt that using synthesizers to create sounds was cheating. Queen wrote in their album liner notes that they did not use them. The mini-Moog took a place in mainstream black music, Most notably in the work of Stevie Wonder, And in jazz such as the work of Sun Ra. In the late 1970s and the early 1980s, The mini-Moog was widely used in the emerging disco genre by artists including Abba and Giorgio Moroder. Sampling introduced with the Fairlight synthesizer in 1979 has influenced all genres of music and had a major influence on the development of electronic and hip-hop music. In the 1970s, Electronic music composers such as Jean-Michel Jarre and Ysautomita released successful synthesizer-led instrumental albums. This influenced the emergence of synth-pop, A sub-genre of new wave, From the late 1970s to the early 1980s. The work of German krautrock bands such as Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream, British acts such as John Fox, Gary Newman, And David Bowie, African-American acts such as George Clinton and Zapp, And Japanese electronic acts such as Yellow Magic Orchestra and Kitaro were influential in the development of the genre. The Roland TB-303, 1981, In conjunction with the Roland TR-808 and TR-909 drum machines became a foundation of electronic dance music genres such as house and techno when producers acquired cheap second-hand units later in the decade. 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. Gary Newman's 1979 hit Our Friends Electric and Cars made heavy use of synthesizers. OMD's Enola Gay, 1980, Used distinctive electronic percussion and a synthesized melody. Soft Cell used a synthesized melody on their 1981 hit Tainted Love. Nick Rhodes, Keyboardist of Duran Duran, Used synthesizers including the Roland Jupiter-4 and Jupiter-8. Chart hits include Depeche Mode's Just Can't Get Enough, 1981, The Human League's Don't You Want Me, And Works by Ultravox. In the 1980s, Digital synthesizers were widely used in pop music. The Yamaha DX-7, Released in 1983, Became a pop staple used on songs by A-ha, Kenny Loggins, Kool and the Gang. Its E-Piano 1 preset became particularly famous, Especially for power ballads, And was used by artists including Whitney Houston, Chicago, Prince, Phil Collins, Luther Vandross, Billy Ocean, And Celine Dion. Korg M1 presets were widely used in 1990s house music, Beginning with Madonna's 1990 single Vogue. Synthesizers are common in film and television soundtracks. 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. ARP synthesizers were used to create sound effects for the 1977 science fiction films Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Star Wars, Including the voice of the robot R2-D2. 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. Brad Fiedel used a Prophet synthesizer to record the soundtrack The Terminator, 1984, And the filmmaker John Carpenter used them extensively for his soundtracks. Synthesizers were used to create themes for television shows, Including Knight Rider, 1982, Twin Peaks, 1990, And Stranger Things, 2016. The rise of the synthesizer led to major changes in music industry jobs, Comparable to the earlier arrival of sound and film, Which put live musicians accompanying silent films out of work. With its ability to imitate instruments, Such as strings and horns, The synthesizers threatened the jobs of session musicians. For a period, The Moog was banned from use in commercial work, A restriction negotiated by the American Federation of Musicians, AFM. Robert Moog felt that the AFM had not realized that his instrument had to be studied like any other, And instead imagined that all the sounds that musicians could make somehow existed in the Moog. All you had to do was push a button that said Yasha Heifetz, And out would come the most fantastic violin player. Musician Walter Sear persuaded the AFM that the synthesizer demanded skill, And the category of synthesizer player was accepted into the union. However, Players were still subject to suspicion and hostility for several years. In 1982, Following a tour by Barry Manilow using synthesizers instead of an orchestra, The British Musicians Union attempted to ban synthesizers, Attracting controversy. That decade, A few musicians skilled at programming the popular Yamaha DX7 found employment creating sounds for other acts. Synthesizers generate audio through various forms of analog and digital synthesis. In subtractive synthesis, Complex waveforms are generated by oscillators, And then shaped with filters to remove or boost specific frequencies. Subtractive synthesis is characterized as rich and warm. In additive synthesis, A large number of waveforms, Usually sine waves, Are combined into a composite sound. In frequency modulation FM synthesis, Also known as phase modulation, A carrier wave is modulated with the frequency of a modulator wave. The resulting complex waveform can, In turn, Be modulated by another modulator, And this by another, And so on. FM synthesis is characterized as harsh, Glassy, And chilly. Phase distortion synthesis implemented in Casio's CZ synthesizers is similar to FM synthesis. In wavetable synthesis, Synthesizers modulate smoothly between digital representations of different waveforms, Changing the shape and timbre. In sample-based synthesis, Instead of sounds being created by synthesizers, Samples, Digital recordings of sounds, Are played back and shaped with components such as filters, Envelopes, And LFOs. In vector synthesis, Pioneered by the Prophet VS, Users crossfade between different sound sources using controllers such as joysticks, Envelopes, And LFOs. In granular synthesis, An audio sample is split into grains. Usually between one hundredth and one tenth of a second in length, Which are recombined and played back. In physical modeling synthesis, A mathematical model of a physical sound source is created. Components. Oscillators. Oscillators produce waveforms such as sawtooth, Sine, Or pulse waves with different timbres. Voltage-controlled amplifiers. Voltage-controlled amplifiers, VCAs, Control the volume or gain of the audio signal. VCAs can be modulated by other components such as LFOs and envelopes. A VCA is a preamp that boosts, Amplifies the electronic signal before passing it on to an external or built-in power amplifier, As well as a means to control its amplitude, Volume, Using an attenuator. 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. Filters. Voltage-controlled filters, VCFs, Shape the sound generated by the oscillators in the frequency domain, Often under the control of an envelope or LFO. These are essential to subtractive synthesis. Filters are particularly important in subtractive synthesis, Being designed to pass some frequency regions or bands through unattenuated while significantly attenuating subtracting others. The low-pass filter is most frequently used, But band-pass filters, Band-reject filters, And high-pass filters are also sometimes available. The filter may be controlled with a second ADSR envelope. An envelope modulation, EnvMod, Parameter on many synthesizers with filter envelopes determines how much the envelope affects the filter. If turned all the way down, The filter produces a flat sound with no envelope. When turned up, The envelope becomes more noticeable, Expanding the minimum and maximum range of the filter. The envelope applied on the filter helps the sound designer generating long nodes or short nodes by moving the parameters up and down, Such as decay, Sustain, And finally release. For instance, By using a short decay with no sustain, The sound generated is commonly known as a stab. Sound designers may prefer shaping the sound with a filter instead of volume. Envelopes. Envelopes control how sounds change over time. They may control parameters such as amplitude, Volume, Filters, Frequencies, Or pitch. The most common envelope is the ADSR, Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release envelope. Attack is the time taken for initial run-up of level from nil to peak, Beginning when the note is triggered. Decay is the time taken for the subsequent run down from the attack level to the designated sustain level. Sustain is the level during the main sequence of the sound's duration until the key is released. Release is the time taken for the level to decay from the sustain level to zero after the key is released. Low-frequency oscillators. Low-frequency oscillators, LFOs, Produce waveforms used to modulate parameters, Such as the pitch of oscillators producing vibrato. Arpeggiators. Arpeggiators, Included in many synthesizer models, Make input chords and convert them into arpeggios. They usually include controls for speed, Range, And mode, The movement of the arpeggio. Controllers. Synthesizers are often controlled with electronic or digital keyboards or MIDI controller keyboards, Which may be built into the synthesizer unit or attached via connections such as CV gate, USB, Or MIDI. Keyboards may offer expressions such as velocity sensitivity and aftertouch, Allowing for more control over the sound. Other controllers include ribbon controllers, Which track the movement of the finger across a touch-sensitive surface. Wind controllers, Played similarly to woodwind instruments. Motion-sensitive controllers, Similar to video game motion controllers. Electronic drum pads, Played similarly to the heads of a drum kit. Touch plates, Which send signals depending on finger position and force. Controllers designed for microtonal tunings. Touchscreen devices, Such as tablets and smartphones. And finger pads. Synthesizer clones are unlicensed recreations of previous synthesizers, Often marketed as affordable versions of famous musical equipment. Clones are available as physical instruments and software. Companies that have sold software clones include Arturia and Native Instruments. Behringer manufactures equipment modeled on instruments, Including the Mini Moog, Pro-1, And TB-303, And drum machines, Such as the TR-808. Other synthesizer clones include the Minimod, A series of Eurorack modules based on the Mini Moog, The Intelligel Atlantis, Based on the SH-101, And the XOX Hard, Based on the TB-303. Creating clones of older hardware is legal where the patents have expired. The 1997 Mackie lost their lawsuit against Behringer as copyright law in the United States did not cover their circuit board designs. MIDI, Musical Instrument Digital Interface, Is a technical standard that describes a communication protocol, Digital communication protocol, And a digital interface. MIDI, Musical Instrument Digital Interface, Is a technical standard that describes a communication protocol, Digital interface, And electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, Computers, And related audio devices for playing, Editing, And recording music. A single MIDI cable can carry up to 16 channels of MIDI data, Each of which can be routed to a separate device. Each interaction with a key, Button, Knob, Or slider is converted into a MIDI event. Which specifies musical instructions such as a note's pitch, Timing, And loudness. One common MIDI application is to play a MIDI keyboard or other controller and use it to trigger a digital sound module, Which contains synthesized musical sounds to generate sounds, Which the audience hears produced by a keyboard amplifier. MIDI data can be transferred via MIDI or USB cable or recorded to a sequencer or digital audio workstation to be edited or played back. MIDI also defines a file format that stores and exchanges the data. Advantages of MIDI include small file size, Ease of modification and manipulation, And a wide choice of electronic instruments and synthesizer or digitally sampled sounds. A MIDI recording of a performance on a keyboard could sound like a piano or other keyboard instrument. However, Since MIDI records the messages and information about their notes and not the specific sounds, This recording could be changed to many other sounds, Ranging from synthesized or sampled guitar or flute to full orchestra. Before the development of MIDI, Electronic musical instruments from different manufacturers could generally not communicate with each other. This meant that a musician could not, For example, Plug a Roland keyboard into a Yamaha synthesizer module. With MIDI, Any MIDI-compatible keyboard or other controller device can be connected to any other MIDI-compatible sequencer, Sound module, Drum machine, Synthesizer or computer, Even if they are made by different manufacturers. MIDI technology was standardized in 1983 by a panel of music industry representatives and is maintained by the MIDI Manufacturers Association, MMA. All official MIDI standards are jointly developed and published by the MMA in Los Angeles and are available for purchase by the MMA in Los Angeles and the MIDI Committee of the Association of Musical Electronics Industry AMEI in Tokyo. In 2016, The MMA established the MIDI Association, TMA, To support a global community of people who work, Play or create with MIDI. In the early 1980s, There was no standardized means of synchronizing electronic musical instruments manufactured by different companies. Manufacturers had their own proprietary standards to synchronize instruments, Such as CV-Gate, DIN-Sync and Digital Control Bus, DCB. Ikutaro Kakehashi, The president of Roland, Felt the lack of standardization was limiting the growth of the electronic music industry. In June 1981, He proposed developing a standard to the Oberheim Electronics founder, Tom Oberheim, Who had developed his own proprietary interface, The Oberheim System. Kakehashi felt the Oberheim System was too cumbersome and spoke to Dave Smith, The president of Sequential Circuits, About creating a simpler, Cheaper alternative. While Smith discussed the concept with American companies, Kakehashi discussed it with Japanese companies, Yamaha, Korg and Kawaii. Representatives from all companies met to discuss the idea in October. Initially, Only Sequential Circuits and the Japanese companies were interested. Using Roland's DCB as a basis, Smith and Sequential Circuits engineer Chet Wood devised a universal interface to allow communication between equipment from different manufacturers. Smith and Wood proposed this standard in a paper, Universal Synthesizer Interface, At the Audio Engineering Society show in October 1981. The standard was discussed and modified by representatives of Roland, Yamaha, Korg, Kawaii, And Sequential Circuits. Kakehashi favored the name Universal Musical Interface, UMI, Pronounced Yumi, But Smith felt this was a little corny. However, He liked the use of instrument instead of synthesizer and proposed Musical Instrument Digital Interface, MIDI. Robert Moog, The president of Moog Music, Announced MIDI in the October 1982 issue of Keyboard. At the 1983 Winter NAMM show, Smith demonstrated a MIDI connection between Prophet 600 and Roland JP-6 synthesizers. The MIDI specification was published in August 1983. The MIDI standard was unveiled by Kakehashi and Smith, Who received technical Grammy awards in 2013 for their work. In 1983, The first instruments were released with MIDI, The Roland JP-6 and the Prophet 600. In 1983, The first MIDI drum machine, The Roland TR-909, And the first MIDI sequencer, The Roland MS-Q700, Were released.
5.0 (25)
Cindy
April 12, 2025
I had listened to this one before, but evidently hadn’t left a review. I was a music major at Mills College which had a Buchla (sp?) synthesizer (I was told to pronounce with a long U). I took a one unit course messing around with that early synthesizer with the sensitive pressure pads instead of keyboard. Didn’t make much music, but it was a fascinating experience. Switched On Bach and its sequels by Wendy (Walter) Carlos were absolute favorites!!
Sandy
April 20, 2024
I tried to stay awake to see if the theremin was mentioned. Guess I'll never know 😴😴
Kenny
April 18, 2024
This is my favorite ‘Boster’ yet! When I walk into a local synth store, I am overwhelmed by lack of knowledge of of the equipment. Listening to this recording is so much easier to digest than reading it myself. This one actually prevented me from sleeping (in a good way) because I am so interested in the content! Bookmarked!
Lizzz
April 17, 2024
Do you ever put yourself to sleep while reading these?! Thanks again.
