Contents

1 2 Introduction The 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 The 3.1 3.2 3.3 The 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 The 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 The 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 Early Days Denis D 'or . . . . . . . Clavecin lectrique . . The Musical Telegraph The Telharmonium Electronic Age The Audion Piano The Theremin .. Ondes Martenot . . First Commercial Success The Hammond Organ . . . . Novachord . . . . . . . . . . . RCA MKII Music Synthesizer Bebe and Louis . . . . . . Transistor Revolution The end of the Tube? . Control Voltage Moog . . . Buchla .. Synthpop Digital Age Technology MUSIC I to V . . Extreme vibrato . FM-synthesis Yamaha DX7 Midi . . . . . TB-303 . . . . P ersonal Computers
4

5 5 7 8 9

12 12 13 15
18 18 19

20
21 23 23 23 24 26 27 29

29 29 30 30
31 32 33 34

7 Other Forms of Synthesis 7.1 Wavetable-synt hesis . 7.2 Granular-synthesis 7.3 Scanned synt hesis . . 7.4 Physical Modeling . . 7.5 Karplus-Strong synt hesis
8

35

35 36 36 37 38
40 44

Conclusion

A Translations A.l Sachs. A.2 Sitter ..

44 44

Introduction

Today's music is undeniably influenced by synthesizers. Finding a pop song nowadays, without any synthetic sound in it whatsoever , is no simple task. Throughout time the synthesizer has given rise to numerous genres and subgenres. Various genres even originated out of this instrument. The synthesizer has become arguably the most influential musical instrument ever, even surpassing the piano and the electric guitar. The main goal, that early synthesizer-developers had in mind, was to be able to mimic any given natural instrument and thus rendering them redundant. Did the synthesizer live up to its expectations or did it achieve even more? In order to answer this question we have to take a look at the history of the synthesizer and it's precursor, the electromechanical musical instrument, dating back as far as the 18th century. Furthermore we will be investigating the crucial inventions and revolutionary ideas that led to its success as well as the musicians and composers who made synthesizers popular.

2
2.1

The Early Days

Denis D'or

In order to tell the history of the synthesizer we need to take a look at the precursor of the synthesizer, the electrical mechanic instrument. Lets go back the 18th century where we find the inventor of the first electrical instrument, Vadav Prokop Divis. Divis was a true pioneer in the field of electrical research . He was the first person to see the potential of electricity in combination with musical instruments. Up to this point in time no one had ever seen the potential of electro acoustical effects. As his ideas were so revolutionary, he was the first person , who actually put his theory into practice. By creating the Denis D'or in 1753, he was credited by sorne as the first person cver to build an clectrical musical instrument. Unfortunately there is litt le known about how this instrument actually worked and how the use of electricity infiuenced the sound. In 1913, Curt Sachs wrote[16]: "Denis d 'or, ein elektrischer Mutationsfigel mit 1 Pedal, erf. 1730 von dem mahrischen Prediger Prokop Divis zu Prendnitz bei Znaim. [Fortfhrung von Sachs bernommen aus Schilling 1835:] Das Instrument war 5 FuBlang und 3 Fuf3breit, mit 790 Saiten bezogen, die 130 Veranderungen erleiden und dennoch in einer Zeit von Dreiviertelstunden gestimmt werden konnten. Vermoge dieser Einrichtung konnten darauf die Tone ziemlich aller Blas- und Saiteninstrumente nachgeahmt werden. Auch war ein unzeitiger und ortswidriger Scherz dabei angebracht, indem der Spieler des Instruments so oft einen elektrischen Schlag erhielt , als der Erfinder es wollte. Das einzige Exemplar, welches Diwif3verfertigte, kaufte der Pralat von Bruck, Georg Lambeck, an sich, der dann, solange erlebte, zu dessen Spiele einen besonderen Tonknstler unterhielt ." Translation in Appendix Al The only thing that is known, is that the instrument had 14 tone-registers and that it consisted of 790 snares, a pedal and a keyboard. It had an ingenious system, that allowed the player to change the tonal voices in up to 130 different ways. It did so by changing the way the snares were struck and
5

changing the way the snares were stopped (so not in an electrical way). Due to this mechanism, the instrument could mimic a wide variety of instruments which were often played in that period, including many wind and string instruments. owadays this characteristic is mostly attributed to the synthesizer. Another specifie charactcristic that is ascribed to the Denis dor is the peculiar fact that the inventor had the opportunity to give the player of the instrument an electrical shock. It is not known to which extend the electricity changed the tonal character of the instrument. Peer Sitter wrote in his work "Das Denis d 'or: Urahn der 'elektroakustischen' Musikinstrumente?" [17]: "Ortswidrige" und "lose Scherze" mit der Elektrizitiit gehorten zur Zeit der Konstruktion des Denis d 'or zu den beliebten Gesellschaftsspielen in den Salons von Adel und Brgertum. In diesem Zusammenhang reiht sich die 'elektrische' Ausstattung des Denis d'or in zahlreiche elektrische Spielereien des Barock und Rokoko ein. Unter Bercksichtigung alterer Quellen und den Erkenntnissen aus der Geschichte der Physik ist eine elektrische Beeinflussung, ein elektrostatischer Antrieb oder gar eine elektromagnetische Erregung der Saiten eher unwahrscheinlich. So ist das von Jean Baptiste de La Borde entwickelte 'Clavecin electrique' von 1761 wohl als erstes Instrument anzusehen, das mit Hilfe der Elektrizitiit Klangerzeugung betrieb. Fr eine geschichtliche Verankerung der Elektrizitiit in der Klangerzeugung ist das Denis d 'or nicht geeignet, sieht man von den klanglichen Resultaten ab, die der durch den elektrischen Schlag erschreckte Spieler unfreiwillig zustande brachte. Translation in Appendix A2 Sitter concludes that, if we do not take into consideration that the tonality of the instrument changed when the player was truck with an electrical shock, it is very unlikely that electricity had any influence on the sound of this instrument (mainly because technology was not that far advanced at that time) and that the sole role of electricity in the instrument was to give the player an electrical shock (which fits with the popularity of electric games in the Barok and Rococo time). Nevertheless it is probably the first reference of the word "electrical musical instrument" as the German theologian Johann Ludwig Fricker wrote in his work Tbingische Berichte von gelehrten Bachen

from 1754. He visited Divis in 1754 and upon seeing the Denis D'or , he wrote about a "Electrisch-Musicalische Instrument" (Electrical musical instrument) in his journal.

2.2

Clavecin lectrique

So if the Denis D'or is , technically speaking, not the first true electric instrument , than what is? Peer Sitter wrote that it is likely the "Clavesin lectrique", invented by the French Jesuit priest Jean-Baptiste Thillais Delaborde. In 1759 Delaborde, who resided in Paris, invented his instrument on paper. It was not until 1761 that he had actually built a working instrument. Unlike the Denis D'or, information is available about this instrument . All the original designs are available due to the fact that the book that Delaborde wrote, was safeguarded in the collection of King Louis the XV[6] . Delaborde had the idea to combine several discoveries into one electrical musical instrument. He used the principal of Franklins Belis (also called Gord ons Belis) to generate sound. This design consisted of two belis and a clapper placed in-between the two belis. Andrew Gordon actually discovered the principle of the electro-static bell and hereby created the first electric trans-conductor, a deviee that converts electric energy into mechanical energy. Benjamin Franklin employed this idea to build a deviee where one bell was connected to the ground and one was connected to a rod, placed on the chimney. When heavy-charged clouds would pass the rod, the clapper would start clapping the belis. With this deviee he could predict a heavy thunderstorm approaching. Delaborde used this principle as the basis for his instrument, where it was not a thunderstorm making the clapper "clap" but a generated static current. To create the electrical charge, necessary for his instrument to function , Delaborde employed a system created by Jean-Antoine Nollet (also known as Abb ollet). This system made it possible to generate static electricity, which was then stored in Leiden jars. As the system consisted of a spinning wheel, the player (or assistant) had to spin the wheel in arder to genera te the electricity that was needed for the instrument to function . The instrument consisted of 14 bells, which corresponds to 7 notes. Because of the fact that more than one bell could be played at any given time, it was capable of polyphony. It also was equipped with a key board for the player to play on. To proof that it was Delaborde who discovered and constructed the first electronic musical instrument , reconstructions of the instrument that 7

Delaborde designed were made with success, giving him the credit he deserved (Guy-Philippe Ayer in 2009[1]) . He can be seen as the true father of electrical musical instruments. Though there were varions other attempts and designs of electric use in music instruments, it was not before the end of the 19th century until any real progress was made in this field .

2.3

The Musical Telegraph

Although the roots of the synthesizer lay within the electrical musical instrument, one can only speak of a true synthesizer if the sound is generated by an electrical component (unlike the "clavecin lectrique" , which generates sound by mechanical means). It can be said that the first real synthesizer was a by-product of t he invention of the telephone. In 1874 American Elisha Gray (1835- 1901) , who is best known for contentions patent dispute with Alexander Graham Bell over the invention of the telephone, invented and patented the Musical Telegraph[5]. This deviee consisted of two telegraph keys, each with an electromagnet and a small strip of metal , called a reed. Pressing the telegraph key would close an electrical circuit causing the reed to vibrate or oscillate at a certain frequency. This frequency was determined by the resistance of the electromagnet and could be heard when amplified. The first single note oscillator was born and the frequency of the oscillator could be changed by altering the value of the resistance. As the amplifier was not yet discovered, a telegraph line and a rudimentary speaker were used to amplify the signal. The two keys could be played separately or simultaneously, making the instrument polyphonie. Since Gray used telegraph lines to send the signal to the speaker, the signal could be distributed to many sources, making it possible for multiple receivers to pick up the signal. Later on he developed a more extended version of his musical telegraph, incorporating a piano-like keyboard and more oscillators. This version made it possible to play two octaves and since every key had its own oscillator, it was full polyphonie. Gray took his instrument on tour to show it to the general public and through the use of regular telegraph lines he transmitted the signal to spots up to 200 miles away. Unfortunately the deviee was not a commercial success, mainly because Gray gave up on the idea of a musical instrument and continued on the research to send multiple telegraph signals over a single line. Nevertheless the influence of his invention on the development of ,what was later called, the synthesizer was huge. He was the first to fit a synthesizer
8

with a piano-like keyboard , something often credited to Bob Moog. The concept of an oscillator creating sound was ground-breaking and, as we will see later-on , the basis for the first commercial synthesizers in the 50's. Also the use of telegraph lines to distribute the music was an (probably not foreseen) aspect which can be seen as an early form of broadcasting music, so in a certain way this was the predecessor of the radio. At the same time, the German physicist Hermann von Helmholtz (18211894) , best known for his invention of the Helmholtz resonator, did a lot of research on acoustics and toue generation. He wrote about his theory of complex toue quality in his work "On the Sensations of Toue as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music" laying the basis for subtractive and additive synthesis. Though Helmholtz was not active in the field of synthesis , his work would be the main inspiration for the young American synthesizer pioneer Thaddeus Cahill (1867- 1934) .

2.4

The Telharmonium

At the age of 17, the young Thaddeus Cahill was enrolled in the Oberlin Academy Conservatory of Music in Ohio and it was there that he got into contact with Helmoltz work. Inspired by Helmoltz work he envisioned to build an electronic music synthesizer and to stream live music to remote locations. Or as he said in his own words[9]: Generate music electrically with toues of good quality and great power and with perfect musical expression, and to distribute music electrically generated by what we may term "original electrical generation" from a central station to translating instruments located at different points. His ambitious plan was to build a electric music instrument which could mimic many classical instruments but was played by only one or two musicians. The idea was to give the player a synthetic orchestra resembling a normal orchestra. The music would then be broadcast over telephone lines to shops, businesses and even into the homes of people. He was the first to see a market for an electrical instrument and later-on he tried to implement this business-madel. Long before the rise of the radio and cable distribution he devised a system we now call streaming media, where people could enjoy a live performance instantaneously. The opening paragraph of his patent for

the Telharmonium uses the word "synthesizing" to describe the way the Telharmonium would combine individual tones to create composite sounds, and thus we can credit Cahill for being the first to use the term "synthesizing" in this field[18] . The Telharmonium generated its sounds using a system of alternators called "rheotomes". A rheotome is an instrument which periodically interrupts an electrical curTent. Each of these rheotomes was actually a cog with a specifie number of notched teeth. As the edge of these rheotomes rotated against a wire brush, the teeth would contact the brush a certain number of times each second, resulting in the electrical oscillation of a sanie frequency. Thus each rheotome can be seen as an oscillator. Several rheotomes (one to generate a fundamental frequency along with several more to genera te harmonie averton es) would be arranged on one rota ting shaft with one shaft corresponding to one note of the chromatic scale (and controlled by one key on a piano-style keyboard) . Although the patent called for a total of 408 rheotomes , Cahill eventually devised a more efficient method in which the same rheotome would produce the fundamental frequency for one note, or a harmonie overtone for another. As we shall see later-on, the same mechanism was employed with far greater success in the Hammond Organ a few decades later. The Telharmonium keyboard was touch-sensitive, just like that of a piano (it has taken until the last 15 years or so for the same feature to be incorporated into the modern synthesizer) . The console allowed the sounds to be mixed and filtered to emulate the various brass, woodwind , and string instruments heard in orchestras. In essence the Telharmonium was an additive synthesizer. One of the novel features of the instrument was its ability to imitate familiar orchestral instruments. Performances often demonstrated this capability through the replication of oboes, fiutes , French horns , bugles, and cellas. The settings for making these sounds were not stored or programmed, but were set manually, just as one would set the stops on a pipe organ. Cahill built his first Telharmonium as a demonstration madel in 1900. In 1902, in an effort to secure financial backing, he sent Telharmonium music over a telephone line to his bankers home. This refiected Cahill's larger plan to link his instruments to homes, hotels , restaurants, and offices, each of whom would purchase subscriptions for this service. This concept predates the commercial broadcasting of music via radio, but more directly prefigures developments such as Muzak systems, cable television, and the Internet. Although predated by Gray, Cahill 's invention may represent the first successful 10

use of telephone lines to transmit music , more specifically, the Telharmonium may be considered the first in a series of efforts to transmit a live musical performance via communication lines, thus making Internet broadcasts merely the most recent example of this. Despite his effort, Cahill never succeeded in building a Telharmonium to the exact specifications set forth in his patent , but in 1906, he did complete a second model. He had foreseen for his instrument to be transported, and so created the first portable synthesizer (though 30 train-cars were needed to transport the machine, so portable might not be the best word). His business-plan was to charge subscribers to be able to listen to the Telharmonium and, although a number of subscribers was found, complaints arose concerning the Telharmonium's interference with other telephone traffic[18]. The telephone-company decided to end the contract and the lines were shut down. In an effort to save the business they tried to build their own telephonenetwork but the permissions stayed out in the beginning leaving the business with no income. When the permissions were finally granted the interest for his instrument had been largely reduced. Cahill build another model (the third Telharmonium, even bigger and bulkier then the previous two) which survived the Wall Street crash and World War I, but was finally killed off by the rise of popular radio broadcasting and amplification.

11

3
3.1

The Electronic Age

The Audion Piano

In 1906, Lee De Forest invented the audion, a vacuum-tube and the forerunner of the triode. This was a landmark in electronic history as his invention became the basis for many electronic deviees and inventions in the years to follow. Most notably in the field of wireless transmission and amplification and eventually television and computation. De Forest worked together with Cahill to broadcast his Telharmonium music wireless instead of using telephone-lines. Unfortunately the success of this joint-venture stayed out. But his audion had another potential, heterodyning, which De Forest himself exploited in the development of the Audion Piano[18]. By applying two slightly different very-high-frcquency radio-signals to an audion , a third frequency would be generated as the difference between the two ultrasonic radio-signals. By using the principle of heterodyning, an audion could be used as a variable frequency oscillator. The audible tone is called the "beat frequency" which corresponds to the note played by the performer. The Audion Piano was a simple keyboard deviee that could play one note at a time per octave (since he used one valve per octave and the valve was only capable of generating one note at a given time.) With his Audion-piano he laid the blueprints for electronic devises up until the development of semiconductors. It was the first music instrument that made use of vacuum-tubes and the heterodyning or beat-frequency technique. Another remarkable characteristic was that the instrument (and thus the sound) could be infl.uenced by body capacitance. Doing this could alter pitch and timbre, as well as creating vibrato and sliding notes. The Audion Piano used a single triode valve per octave controlled by a set of keys allowing one monophonie note to be played per octave. The output of the instrument was then sent to a set of speakers. De Forest planned a later version of the instrument that would have separate valves per key allowing full polyphony but it is not known if this instrument was ever constructed. According to De Forest, the sounds emerging from his Audion piano resembled those of "a violin, cello, woodwind, muted brass and other sounds resembling nothing ever heard from an orchestra" . This sentence suggests that early developers were mostly trying to mimic orchestral and natural instruments instead of trying to create new, electric sounds. In my opinion this is mainly because of public interest, since peo-

12

ple would not see it as a musical instrument if its sound did not resemble an already existing instrument. Around this time people like Luigi Russolo showed big interest in new, never heard sounds. In his work "Art of Noise" (Arte Dei Rumori) he calls to the general public to step away from traditional, pure music and to explore and accept noise as a form of music. He calls for freedom of music, or in his words, freeing the music from its strict rules and tonalities, and stepping away from standard music notation. In his work he lays the basis for what later-on would become "musique concrete" . His work would be a great inspiration to the father of musique concrete, Edgar Varese. The Audion piano was never brought in production and was basically developed and used by De Forest to showcase his invention.

3.2

The Theremin

De Forest was not the only one noting the musical use and the eHect of heterodyning. In Russia, electrical engineer and cellist Lev Sergeyevich Termen (Lon Theremin) was experimenting with the use of vacuum-tubes as proximity sensors. Teremin found that when he approached the tube with his hand , the sound would change[14]. This characteristic of the tube infiuenced by the capacitance of the human body was felt as a drawback by many early synthesizer-builders, but instead of seeing this as a disadvantage, he used this principle to create a controller for his instrument. With this ingenious system, Theremin freed the player of the classic keyboard. The Theremin has a large cabinet on which a pitch-antenna is mounted. It has a metal loop on the side and consist of two circuits. In the pitch circuit we find two radio-frequency oscillators. One oscillator has a fixed frequency (170 kHz) , the frequency of the other oscillator is controlled by a variable capacitor and ranges between 168kHz and 170kHz. The hand of a thereminist approaching the pitch antenna acts as the ground for this capacitor. The capacitance will change depending on the distance between the antenna and the approaching hand, resulting in a pitch change (0 kHz tot 2 kHz) . This gives the instrument a bandpass of 2kHz, but this can be more or less depending on the configuration of the second oscillator. The difference in capacitance is very small but the circuitry is sensitive enough to convert this into sufficient pitch change. By touching the metal loop on the right-side, the sound is attenuated. This is done by the volume-circuitry, consisting of a variable capacitor and an

13

oscillator. The capacitor de-tunes the oscillator which drives an attenuator in the amplification circuit. The capacitor is influenced in the same manner as the capacitor of the pitch-antenna. By touching the metalloop , the sound is completely attenuated. To play staccato, a thereminist can rapidly touch the metalloop. The prototype of his Theremin was first shown to the public at the Moscow Industrial Fair in 1920. Lenin heard of his invention and ordered a private demonstration. He was fascinated by the instrument and requested lessons to learn to play the Theremin. Lenin later commissioned 600 models of the Theremin to be built and toured around the Soviet Union which could be related to the effort to promote electricity throughout Russia. It is probably there that Lenin asked Theremin to join in the NKVD (the predecessor of the KGB) After a successful tour throughout Europe, Theremin went to America in 1927 and patented his instrument there. He made a business deal with RCA to manufacture and distribute his invention. Clara Rockmore (a young violinist who had to quit playing the violin due to medical reasons) discovered the Theremin and worked together with Theremin to further enhance the instrument. Theremin build a custom instrument to her specifications. She would later-on become the most renowned thereminist[25] . Theremin set up a laboratory in 1930 where he would further develop the Theremin and create other electronic musical instruments in collaboration with renowned composers and scientists. American composer and theorist Henry Cowell commissioned Theremin to build an instrument capable of playing multiple rhythms simultaneously. Named the Rhytmicon, this instrument was the first rhythm-synthesizer and the ancestor of the modern drum computer. It was capable of playing up to sixteen different rhythm patterns simultaneously. Another notable collaboration was with Edgar Varese who wrote compositions for the Theremin and was a big promoter of the instrument. Many composers started writing compositions for the Theremin, but most of them did not exploit the new features of the instrument, like micro-tonality. Instead they wrote pieces were the Theremin would be a substitute for a violin, cello or female opera-voice. This was probably due to the sound the Theremin produces, which resembles the sound of a violin or a female operasinger. It took new and innovative composers like Edgar Varese to write compositions for the Theremin that did exploit the new features of the instrument but it would take sorne decades before this was accepted by the general public.

14

It can be said that the Theremin was the first successful synthesizer (though not commercially successful) and even today there is still a large interest for this instrument. Later-on Bob Moog would become a big Thereminenthousiast, producing and marketing the instrument commercially. It had a great influence on the development of the first modular synthesizers.

3.3

Ondes Martenot

Around the same time in France, another milestone in synthesizer-history was reached by the French inventor and cellist Maurice Martenot (18981980). Being a radio-operator for the French army in World War II, he was fascinated by the dog-like sounds, that interfered with radio-signals. After researching the phenomena, he succeeded in manipulating these sounds and was able to "play" the radio like a musical instrument. Later-on he would adapt this phenomenon in creating his invention called the "Ondes Martenot" , constructed in 1928. The sound, design and method of soundproduction greatly resembled this of the Theremin, but the development of the two instruments was clone independently. The Ondes Martenot resembles a piano, it has a keyboard and a metal ring which slides over a metal strip. As with the Theremin, the finger of the player acts as a ground to a variable capacitor, giving the player the means to create glissando between notes and vibrato. On the left-hand side of the instrument there is a small box for controlling the dynamics and timbre. As Martenot found the sound to be thin and monotone, he adopted several techniques and incorporated a luthal. This is a kind of prepared piano, invented by the Belgian organ builder Georges Cloetens, and consisting of four registers which could be controlled independently. The addition of this luthal greatly enhanced the sound and gave the player numerous possibilities in changing the timbre of the instrument. The controls for these registers were situated on the small box on the left-hand side of the instrument[15]. Martenot's aim was to create an electric musical instrument which resembled a piano or other keyboard-like instruments, making his instrument immediately familiar to orchestral musicians. The fact that he incorporated a keyboard, was a big advantage on the Theremin. This explains why the Ondes Martenot became a bigger success than the Theremin. Later versions of the instrument incorporated microtonal tuning (up to 1/50 of a note) (as specified by the Hindu poet Rabindranath Tagore and the musician Alain 15

Danielou) and a set of speakers. Another addition was a gong which would resonate and create non-related harmonies in the same way as the luthal. The Ondes Martenot , like the Theremin, is unique in its methods of control. Being a cellist, it was Martenot's vision to bring the degree of musical expressiveness associated with the cello to his new instrument. The instrument in its later forms, can be controlled by depressing keys on the six-octave keyboard or by sliding the metal ring worn on the right-hand index finger in front of the keyboard. The position of this ring corresponds in pitch to the horizontal location along the keyboard. This allows the player to create glissando's between notes to be produced in the same manner as with the Theremin. By depressing keys or moving the ring, no sound is produced. A key, operated by the left hand and situated in the small box on the left-hand side of the instrument, controls the musical dynamics. The deeper this key is pressed, the louder the notes will sound. The way in which it is pressed, determines the attack of the note where quick taps produce staccato-like articulations. More controlled depressions are used to play legato. The small box with controls also contains flip-switches to master the instrument's timbre. These are operated in the same way as a pipe organ's stops who can be added or removed. Like organ stops, each switch has its own sound color which can be added to the chorus of other timbres. The different timbres of the instrument in 1957 consisted of[28]: Onde : A sine wave which resembles the sound of a flute Creux : A triangle wave which resembles a clarinet (since the clarinet has mainly odd harmonies) Gambe : This timbre resembles a square wave, intended to produce string-like sounds Petit gambe : As the name suggests a less rich (harmonically) timbre then Gambe Nassilard : A timbre resembling a pulse wave and sounding like a bassoon or other double-reed woodwind instruments Octaviant : A timbre with a strong first harmonie whose intensity can be changed by a slider

16

 Souffle : A timbre resembling noise The control-box contained, apart from timbre settings, flip-switches to determine to which speaker set the sound was routed . These were labeled Dl to D4. Dl being a traditional loudspeaker, D2 a loudspeaker using springs and thus producing a spring-reverb effect. D3 was the gong creating a large sounding (rich in harmonies) reverb and D4 routing the sound to a lyre (string resonator cabinet). Sorne sources state that, since 1928, around 1200 compositions are written for the Ondes Martenot , mostly by French composers. The most famous player of the Ondes Martenot , Jeanne Loriod (1928- 2001) premiered a lot of these compositions. The instrument was build until 1988 when product ion was ceased . In 2008 Jean-Loup Dierstein, with the support of Maurice Martenot's son, restarted production based on the model constructed until 1988. Another instrument called the Onda saw life in 1997 and is based on the Ondes Martenot. Although not the same as the Ondes Martenot , playing- and operational characteristics, do resemble the original instrument. The Onda-prototype was first used in concert in 2001 and has seen regular use in orchestral settings after 2005 . Both Theremin and Martenot were inventors and they build their instruments out of interest and vision. Both instruments (Theremin and Ondes Martenot) were never produced and sold on a large scale. The production of the Ondes Martenot was costly and time-consuming and the odd controls of the Theremin made that these instruments were never a commercial success. The first truly commercial successful electric musical instrument was yet to be constructed.

17

4
4.1

The First Commercial Success

The Hammond Organ

Inventor Laurence Hammond was a designer and manufacturer of docks and sorne other instruments like eyeglasses for 3D film viewing, when he bought a used piano in 1933 and committed himself to start producing electrical organs on a mass scale. Unlike Theremin and Martenot , Hammond was motivated by profit through sales. His goal was to sell organs to a mass market. As most businesspeople with a similar goal, he approached the problems of design, manufacture, marketing, and sales with a business-vision in order to reduce expenses and increase profit. This can be clearly seen in the designs of his organ. For example, after analyzing pedal boards in other organs, Hammond leveled the pedal-board in his design and removed the pedals that were played the least often. The sounds in his organ were generated by additive-synthesis using the same mechanisms as Cahill used in his Telharmonium but Hammond refined this design and new technology made it possible to reduce the size of the tone-wheels dramatically. Because amplification was now possible (through the invention of the audion by De Forest) he could use smaller tone-wheels with the same (or even better) output since the signal was amplified. Initially Hammond was aiming to market his organs at churches throughout the country. But his organ's distinctive sound was soon to be found to have just the right quality for jazz and blues and eventually for rock. Many different models followed and, taking the customers' needs into consideration, changes were made and more features were added . The Hammond organ had an unique draw-bar system of additive timbre synthesis (a system also used in the Telharmonium). A note on the organ consisted of the fundamental and a number of harmonies, or multiples of that frequency. In the Hammond organ, the fundamental and up to eight harmonies were available and controlled by means of draw-bars and preset keys or buttons. A Hammond console organ included two 61-key keyboards. There was the lower part or Great , and the upper part, or Swell, and a pedal board consisting of 25 keys. The concert models had a larger pedal board (32 keys) . He equipped his organs with an electromechanical reverb deviee using the helical torsion of a coiled spring, the spring reverb, which would later-on be copied and used in many electronic musical instruments[7]. 18

As well as being a successful home entertainment instrument, The Hammond Organ became popular with Jazz, Blues and Rock musicians up until the late 1960's and was also used by 'serious' musicians such as Karlheinz Stockhausen in "Mikrophonie II". In combination with the Leslie-speaker (a rotary speaker invented by Don Leslie (1911- 2004)) the model Hammond B3 would become a legendary piece. It is fair to say that Hammond's organ was a major success. It was everywhere. It demonstrated the existence of a mass market for electronic instruments but was limited in the variety of sounds it could produce. Technically speaking it was not a real synthesizer because it used mechanical parts (tone-wheels) instead of electrical components to generate its sound.

4.2

Novachord

In 1939 Hammond build the Novachord together with C. N. Williams. This new instrument was Hammond's first electronic vacuum-tube-based instrument. It consisted of 196 vacuum-tubes to generate and control the sound and had a 72 note keyboard and capable of polyphony. The keyboard was pressure sensitive giving the player control over the attack and timbre of the notes. Sound was produced by a series of 12 oscillators that gave a six octave range using the heterodyning technique. This technique would later become standard in many electronic keyboard instruments. The front panel of this instrument had 14 switchable rotary knobs to set the volume, timbre, resonance, bass/treble, brightness and vibrato (for witch six modulation oscillators were used) . Two foot-pedals controlled sustain and volume and a third pedal allowing control of the sustain by either foot . The final signal was passed through a preamplifier and then into a set of internai speakers. The Novachord was able to produce a range of sounds imitating orchestral instruments such as the piano, harpsichord , stringed and woodwind instruments as well as a range of its own new sounds. The Novachord's playing technique was somewhat different than playing a piano or organ. This was a big drawback and a possible explanation for the lack of interest, and more important , lack of sales of the Novachord. Adding the fact that the instrument was notoriously unstable and the fact that the vacuum-tubes needed constant tuning made the Novachord a commercial failure. Production ceased in 1942 and at that time, around 1000 Novachords were sold[REF]. After Word War II, vacuum-tube-technology had vastly improved, which could lead to a more stable instrument but the disappointing 19

sales of the first Novachord made that Hammond Co did not create a new mo del.

4.3

RCA MKII Music Synthesizer

In 1955, RCA (Radio Corporation of America) completed their Electronic Music Synthesizer, invented and developed by Harry Olson and Herbert Belar, who were both employed by RCA . The vision of these developers was to create a synthesizer, that could generate any sound known to mankind and even sounds that were previously unheard . The main goal of RCA was to develop a synthesizer which could replace a studio orchestra. The inspiration for the creation of the RCA MKII was found in "The Schillinger System of Musical Composition" 1946. Shillinger's theory stated that raudom variations of already created popular songs could be used to create new marketable songs. Olsen and Belar had the idea to create a machine which could generate new music based on patterns of already existing music. This goal was never achieved by the RCA MKII because of insufficient calculatian power and the fact that Shillinger 's theory was fiawed in that the basis of composition could not be extracted by mathematical analysis of existing music[22] . The RCA MKII was build using 750 vacuum-tubes who were housed in up to ten 19"' racks. The system's priee was around 500.000 US Dollars. Punched paper-rolls were used to program the sequencer and synthesizer in binarycode. Basically the system was a binary-code controlled analogue synthesizer. For sound-generation the system used 24 vacuum-tube oscillators. There were control sections for frequency, octave, envelope, timbre, and volume. The attack, sustain and decay could be configured, an LFO was used to control vibrato and a set of HP and LP filters was employed in the system. One of the novelties was the sequencer which gave composers the means to create patterns with strict rhythm or high tempo, things which were not possible with classical instruments played by a single person. The output of the synthesizer was sent to two speakers and to a recording deviee which stored the result of the compositions on a lacquer-coated disk. The system had not been adapted to the upcoming tape-recorders until 1959 when Milton Babbit had the dise-cutter replaced by a multi-track tape-recorder. The novelties of the RCA MKII were not fully employed in the beginning and mostly classical pieces were conducted for the synthesizer. Later-on in 1959 the RCA MKII was rented to the Princeton University where it was 20

housed in the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. New electronic composers such as Otto Luening, Vladimir Ussachevsky and most knowledgeable Milton Babbit were now able to experiment with programming complex compositions on the RCA MKII . Sinee the deviee was painstakingly diffi.cult to program, only a few selected composers had access to it and usually one persan was responsible for operating the deviee. The initial goal of the MKII was never achieved but the influence on future composers and engineers was large. In a way the MKII was the precursor of the sequeneer. Its possibilities can be compared to an integrated system, since both sequencing and sound-production was achieved by a single instrument. This resembles modern DAW's (Digital Audio Workstation). The RCA MKII could mimic a large amount of classical instruments but its sound was not very convincing. There were attempts to synthesize vocals and can be heard on the experiment LP "The sounds and music of the RCA synthesizer" which served as a demonstration on the possibilities of the RCA MKII. The sounds produeed by the RCA MKII are similar to these of the General Midi-sound in a way that they also lack realism and that they sound synthetic. As presented by RCA, the MKII could mimic any sound but the technology at that time was not advanced enough to do this realistically and it is not surprisingly that the. demonstration album was no success.

4.4

B e b e and Louis

Around the same time, American and electronic-music pioneers Bebe and Louis Baron conducted the first all-electric music score for the 1955 movie "The forbidden planet", using early electric instruments like the theremin and own-build circuitry, mostly based on ring-modulation. They approached scoring for the movie in a completely different way than the traditional method. Instead of using musical notation, they created separate circuitry for the different actors and scenes in the movie. When an actor (eg. spaceship, alien) appeared on the screen they would make the designated circuit produce the sound. Since these circuits did not have a "normal" controller, they would produce random notes and tones. This non-traditional approach to writing music was similar to other, avantgarde composers of that time like Edgar Varese, Karlheinz Stockhausen and John Cage. Cage worked with the Barons and he convinced them that their creations were to be seen as music.

21

The movie was a big success and the crowd spontaneously applauded upon hearing the sounds in the scene when the space-ship landed. Since both Bebe nor Louis were members of the American Federation of Musicians, their composition was not credited as music in the screen credit. Instead it was credited as Electronic Tonalities. This made that the film was not considered for an Oscar in the music or special effects-categories. Though not properly credited in the beginning, the film-score has gained a cult-status and even today the film contains sounds that are futuristic and unearthly.

22

5
5.1

The Transistor Revolution

The end of the Thbe?

During a time of transition in the field of electronic audio technology many new electronic music studios were constructed all over the world. The coming of the transistor in the early 1960's and the rapid adoption by mayor manufacturers meant the end of the vacuum-tube. Transistors were the building blacks of electrical circuitry and the first stage in the evolution of integrated circuits, which are now the primary building-blacks for computers and other electronic deviees. The first practical transistor was developed at Bell Labs in 1947 and was in production and put into use by the early 1950s. As transistors have many advantages over their vacuum-tube predecessors, it is clear that they quickly replaced the vacuum-tube. These advantages included small size, law power consumption, automated manufacturing process, longer life-span and less fragile then their vacuum-tube counterparts. The popularity of the transistor gave rise to a new generation of engineers trying to employ this technology to build new electronic musical instruments. Amongst others, Robert 'Bob' Moog and Donald Buchla were a part of this new generation of inventors and they would saon become legends in the history of the synthesizer.

5.2

Control Voltage

Homer W. Dudley (1896- 1987) while working for Bell Labs invented and developed around the 1930s the VODOR en later VOCODER[27]. These devices were build to synthesize the human voice. In the development of these inventions he devised a technology to control electronic components with an electrical signal, a control voltage. This control voltage differs from the voltage used to represent the audio-signal. It can be, but is not limited to, a signal in the audible range and serves mainly to control other components. This principle of a control voltage, used to direct components, would become a basis for the first modular synthesizers , where patch cards were used to connect the output of one component to the input of another. Because of this, sorne components, as there were oscillators, could be used as either signal sources or control sources. Later instruments eliminated these patch cards and provided preset connec23

tions to route the different signals to the different components. The first to implement this technology in a synthesizer was a Canadian composer and inventor Hugh LeCaine at the University of Toronto in 1945. His instrument, The Electronic Sackbut, was the first voltage-controlled synthesizer, using vacuum-tube oscillators[ref] . His invention was significant and revolutionary, but LeCain was no businessman and he never achieved commercial success with his inventions. A big ad van tage of the control voltages and the fact that they could be routed as the musician pleased was the fact that they could be connected to multiple components. For example, a control voltage generated by a keyboard could address an oscillator and a basic envelope. This made it possible for routing advanced sounds , who were previously hard or impossible to generate, to be produced.

5.3

Moog

While still a student at Cornell University in 1963, Robert Moog was developing, constructing and selling do-it-yourself transistorized Theremins. With the help of Herbert Deutsch, a composer and thereminist, Moog developed a simple VCO (voltage-controlled-oscillator) , a simple VCA (voltagecontrolled-amplifier) and a controll er to send note-on, note-off, pitch and modulation signals. These components would become the basis of his first synthesizer prototype. The principle behind it was the use of "VoltageControlled Electronic Music Modules," which he fully explained in his paper[13]. After a successful presentation of his prototype at the AES-convention in October 1964, the first orders for his newly developed synthesizer were being placed. Vladimir Ussachevsky, co-founder and director of the ColumbiaPrinceton Electronic Music Center contacted Moog asking him to develop sorne electronic components. As Moog recalls[8]: I still remember the let ter, as king us to build what amounted to two voltage- controlled amplifiers, two envelope generators , and two envelope followers. He gave the specifications for all of these things . The specifications for the envelope generator called for a four-part envelope; attack, initial decay, sustain, and release. This way of specifying an envelope is absolutely standard in todays electronic music, co ming from Ussachevskys specification. Ussachevsky wasnt interested in a keyboard. He had this
24

rack with the six modules and for a long time thats how the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center did t heir envelope shaping. In sorne of the pictures taken in the late 1960s you can see this piece of equipment right in the middle above the mixing console. With this the basics for the envelope generator were laid down and the ADSR became (and still is) the standard envelope control on many synthesizers. Moog equipped his synthesizers wit h a keyboard controller and housed the whole in a wooden cabinet. This was a strategie decision to not make the instrument futuristic looking. Moog was afraid that this would scare traditional musicians. From the beginning on, Moog listened to the input his customers gave him, tackling the tree mayor problems synthesizers had in these days. These problems were size, stability and control. Most synthesizers were too bulky to be used in a live-setting. The problem was resolved by using solid-state transistor technology. The transistor is a lot more stable then the vacuum-tube and has a larger lifespan. This greatly resolved the problem of instability and lastly controls had to be made simple. Because the circuitry was based on control voltage, controlling of the different modules was simplified and eventually presets made rapid switching between different sounds possible. The basic components of the Moog Modular Synthesizer were: A monophonie key board (5 octave) VCO (wide-range voltage-controlled-oscillators (O,OlHz to 40kHz) were used so that the VCO could also be used as a modulation source) VCA (voltage-controlled-amplifier) VCF (a revolutionary designed voltage-controlled-filter, as Moog calls the filter "the only patent I ever got that is wort h anything[9].") An envelope generator (ADSR) A ribbon-control (optional triggering deviee) Sequencer RCA patch-cords

25

In 1967, only a few people understood how to produce sounds on the Moog synthesizer. Composers, working with the Moog synthesizer, used it to spice-up the music which was played primarily by more familiar instruments. An identifiable sound that could be associated with the Moog had yet to be created and this made even the inventor question the future of his synthesizer. Moog would later say that, "There was never a notion that a synthesizer would be used by itself for anything." Little more than a year later, that opinion required serious revision when Columbia Records released Switched-On Bach (1968) by Wendy (previously Walter) Carlos. This huge success (the album would go platinum) was the necessary publicity needed for the instrument to gain popularity with musicians and the general public. While the Moog Modular Synthesizer was best suited for studio use, and mostly marketed towards schools and studios, there was an increasing demand for a portable version that could be easily used on stage. In 1969, Moogs company set another precedent by introducing the Minimoog, a simple and compact monophonie synthesizer designed for live performance situations. With sales of about 12.000 units[12], this model became the most popular and widely used synthesizer of all time.

5.4

Buchla

In the early days, Moog's biggest competitor was Don Buchla. Although his first synthesizer was released just months after Moog's, his design was arguably made earlier. Buchla developed his synthesizer independently from Moog. Commissioned by avantgarde composers Ramon Sender and Morton Subotnick, he developed a synthesizer for live performances aided by a grant of the Rockefeller-foundation. Being a musician, Buchla aimed to build a synthesizer who could create new and exciting sounds, this in contrary to Moog. His choice, not to incorporate a standard keyboard, reflects this aim. Instead he fitted his early model , the Buchla 100 with a controller consisting of various arrays of touch-sensitive plates[2] . Similar to the technology used in the Theremin, these plates could trigger sounds or could be used as a conventional keyboard. The most innovative features of the Buchla 100 were its sequencer options. The Buchla sequencers named "Multiple Arbitrary Function Generator" functioned in a manner similar to those of the Moog Modular System (see above) but offered sorne configuration options that were unique to the Buchla design. 26

Three Sequential Voltage Source generators were provided. Two accommodated up to eight programmed voltages in sequence and the third provided a sequence up to 16 voltages. Up to three outputs were available per sequencer and the controls consisted of rotary dials, one for each of the available voltage steps, arrayed horizontally in three rows.Adjusting any of the dials would set the voltage for an output pulse that could then be patched into another module as a control voltage. Having more than one sequencer provided many combinations of control sequences for the composer. Another notable module developed by Buchla is the "Source of Uncertainty". This is a random-signal generator capable of generating much more elaborate signais than the standard noise or random generators found on other synthesizer-designs. In the early 1970's he started experimenting with the new and upcoming digital technology resulting in the first digitally-controlled analog synthesizer, the madel 500. Following the success of the Moog and Buchla systems in the late 1960s, many new manufacturers entered the market with variations on the modular voltage-controlled synthesizer. J apanese manufacturers in particular designed innovative and less costly technology. Among the instrument makers to join the synthesizer wars were ARP, Oberheim, Korg, Yamaha, Roland, EMS , and Crumar, sorne of which continue to make electronic music products to this day.

5.5

Synthpop

Around the same time in Germany an experimental band called Organisation changed their name to Kraftwerk. They played synthesizer-based music and gained international success with the release of their album Autobahn in 1974, in which they used a Moog Modular Synthesizer. Another Moogsuccess was Hot Butter by Popcorn, first released on original composer Gershan Kingsley's album, "Music To Moog By" in 1969. In France, electronic composer Jean-Michel Jarre booked considerable success with his combinatian of opera and synthesizer-sounds. His later album Oxygene became a huge success[24]. In the 1970's many bands started incorporating synthesizers in their music, sorne used it for creating atmosphere's and effects as an addition to their sangs, others employed the instrument as a keyboard substituting an organ or piano. A third category of musicians like Kraftwerk, employed exclusively synthesizers to compose their music . With this a new era in musical his27

tory had begun. The synth-pop music was born and the synthesizer gained
popularity as a musical instrument .

28

6
6.1

The Digital Age

Technology

As computers became more and more available and affordable, the first steps towards digital synthesis were made. The development of the first microprocessors and single-board computers made it possible that they could be fabricated much cheaper and smaller than ever before. The interest for developers to create digital synthesizers grew.

6.2

MUSIC 1 to V

The first computer-generated sound was heard in 1957, in Bell AT&T's Acoustics & Psychology Labs at Murray Hill (New Jersey), thanks to the sound generation software Music I, which ran on an IBM 7040. Music I was written by Max V. Mathews and it was the first program to generate sounds with a computer. Mathews used it to play a 15-second composition by a colleague, ewman Guttman. Three years later, the first record of computer-generated music was released: Music from Mathematics, by J.R. Pierce and Max Mathews. This record contained, among other works, the first computer song: Bicycle Built for Two , which became famous in Stanley Kubrick's classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey, as the computer Hal 9000 's swan song. Afterward, several composers worked with these first pieces of software, including John Cage, John Chowning and Morton Subotnick[3] . In 1963, Mathews published a paper on computer music: 'The Digital Computers as a Musical Instrument '. It influenced a whole generation of musicians. Mathews and his collaborators made continued improvements to the Music I program over the next several years , resulting in a series of programs that came to be known as the Music-N series: Music II (1958), Music III (1960) , Music IV (1962). Understandably, MUSIC I was only capable of generating very basic sounds (it had a single triangle-wave digital oscillator) but Matthews continued his developments and wrote MUSIC II in 1958. This had four triangle oscillators and was capable of much more interesting sounds. Inevitably, MUSIC III followed . Completed in 1960, Matthews wrote the program for a more advanced (transistor) mainframe called the IBM 7094. In 1968, Bell Telephone laboratories released MUSIC V, a synthesis software written in Fortran (FORmula TRAl\slator). MUSIC V differed from 29

its precursors in a way that it was a modular system. It consisted of modules called unit generators. These unit generators simulated oscillators, filters , amplifiers , mixers, and other audio-modules . In the MUSIC V language, a combination of unit generators was called an instrument, a sound was called a note, and a sequence of notes was called a score. The MUSIC V system can be seen as the digital counterpart of modular analog synthesizers. Herein lay the basis for numerous modular software synthesizers to follow . With sound synthesis becoming an important direction for musical research, the field of computer music continued to grow well into the 1970's.

6.3

Extreme v ibrat o

After reading one of Mathews' articles about computer music, the young John Chowing decided to go study computer science. He was fascinated by the claim Mathews made in his article which stated that any sound that could be perceived, could be produced by a computer. Chowing contacted Mathews who gave him the compiler necessary for MUSIC IV and started doing projects about reverberation and spatialisation. In 1967 he discovered harmonie sidebands while experimenting with extreme vibrato. Unsure of what he had found he asked an engineer who confirmed his reasoning. This was the basis for FM (Frequency Modulation)-synthesis and Chowing had discovered a powerful principle for sound generation but it took him another four years before he fully realized the potential. He wrote an article for the AES journal[4] explaining his discovery. Like many great inventions there was not a lot of interest from the industry for this new technique and companies like Hammond and Wurlitzer declined. Stanford then contacted Yamaha, the biggest musical instrument company at that time. Yamaha was interested and licensed FM-synthesis. This patent was the most lucrative patent for Stanford at that momen[ll] .

6.4

FM-synt hes is

FM-synthesis builds upon creating complex sounds by arranging and cornbining the outputs of digital generators in different ways. The oscillators are usually sine-wave generators and are called "operators" . The way they are interconnected is known as an algorithm. The interactions of the Operators within the Algorithm determine the nature of the sound. Each Operator can act in two ways: as a Carrier, or as a Modulator. The carrier is the main

30

sound-source and is influenced by the modulator. The algorithm describes how the modulator influences the carrier. By changing the characteristics of the modulator and the algorithm , different sounds are obtained. More modulators and more complex algorithms yield more complex sounds. With a reasonably small set of elements , huge sonic differences can be obtainecl. Despite the efforts made by Yamaha and Chowing , they were not the first to release a commercial digital synthesizer employing FM synthesis. A company called NED (New England Digital Corporation) released their Synclavier in 1979. This instrument employed 8bit FM and additive synthesis as well as sampling on later models. It had an integrated arpeggiator and sequencer. Being the Rolls Royce of the synthesizers at that time, the instrument was priced starting at 25.000 US Dollars. The synthesizer was ground-breaking and became fairly popular, though only rich producers and musicians had the budget to buy one. Yamaha first used their new-bought technology in the GS1[20] . The GS1 had two operator-algorithms and despite its priee (12.000 Pound) there were no possibilities to alter these operators. The synthesizer being a preset instrument had considerable success. The sound was innovative and musicians started employing the instrument but sales were disappointing. Only about 100 units were sold. The GS1 is seen by many as a beta-version of later models. Afterward Yamaha released two other small FM-synthesizers named the CE-20 and CE-25. The CE-20 had only fourteen preset monophonie voices and six preset polyphonie voices but , like the GS1 , it offered vibrato, chorus and programmable velocity and pressure sensitivity. This was revolutionary and never seen on cheap keyboards at that time. The CE-25 contained twenty preset polyphonie voices. Both synthesizers were marketed as ensemble-synthesizers with sounds ranging from brass, piano, organ and bass to percussion. Though not convincingly by today's standard, they were remarkable for their possibilities/price ratio. The reason why they never became a huge success is probably due to the release of the single most popular synthesizer ever, the DX7.

6.5

Yamaha DX7

Yamaha was losing ground on the synthesizer market and other company's were having a big success with their digital synthesizers. This would all change rapidly when Yamaha released the DX7 in 1983. The DX7 is known as the first big success in digital and FM-synthesis. It had six operators and 31

32-algorithm FM synthesis that allowed programmers to create sounds of unprecedented complexity. Another feature was on-board RAM and ROMmemory making saving and expanding sounds a walk in the park. Since the DX7 was hard to program and most musicians used it as a preset-instrument, the market for expansion ROM's with new sounds was booming. Despite being the most advanced and feature-rich synthesizer at the moment (even including the newly developed MIDI-standard) its priee was aHordable, somewhere around 1.500 pound. It lacked t he sanie depth of its analogue competitors, but it made up for t his by providing a breathtaking new palette of sounds , many of which remain classics to t his day. Amange these, the now clichd DX7 piano patch, is probably the most famous one. The strength of the DX7 was undeniably t he ability to precisely mimic percussive instruments, especially metallic percussion. Furthermore, it excelled at orchestral imitations such as brass and woodwind. Taking the untreated sound from its single output and adding a lit tle chorus and reverb proved to be highly successful, adding a realism t hat no analogue synthesizer had ever approached. In contrast to its feature-rich sanie capabilities, the DX7 had a conservative look. Yamaha had given the DX7 a dean and professional appearance which was a highly successful marketing strategy. As a reply to Yamaha's FM-synthesis, Casio developed Phase Distortion Synthesis in 1984. This technique resembles FM-synthesis. In fact , the first Yamaha DX-models were using PD-synthesis instead of F M as Yamaha falsely claimed. This new technology was put into production with the making of the CZ-models of Casio, resulting in t he fact t hat Casio became a big competitor of Yamaha in the field of digital synthesizers. One big difference in the Casio system was the use of a highly flexible 8-step envelope generator, instead of the standard 4-step AD SR. Secondly, there was the use of a much more capable noise-generator who was superior to Yamaha's. By using phase-distortion to mimic analog filters rather than using real filters , Casio could eut down the cost and their CZ-models became highly aHordable.

6.6

Midi

The synthesizer revolution resulted into an organizational nightmare. Since every manufacturer used proprietary technology to control their models, it was clear that there was a need for standardization. Live-setups of synthesizers took up half the stage. With a separate controller for each synthesizer these rigs looked like a huge stack of keyboards and outboard gear. Intercon32

necting, synchronizing and controlling all these synthesizers was a painstaking work which led to a lot of frustration . In 1982 a group of manufacturers, including Yamaha, Sequential Circuits and Oberheim, decided on an industrial standard for controlling musical instruments. This would become MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) . The 180 5-pins DIN connector was used and the speed of the interface was set to 31 ,25 kbit/s . It is encoded in binary and the use of an opto-coupler prevented interference problems. Midi gives the user the possibilities to send note-on , note-off, pitch, velocity, after-touch and pitch-bend instructions. Apart from regular instructions, that are mostly sent by a midi-keyboard or sequencer, instructions to change sound-banks can be sent by midi. A System Exclusive command was foreseen to give individual manufacturers the possibilities to create custom controls for their instruments. These SysEx commands can be used to control parameters who have not been taken into the MIDI-norm like filter-controls , envelop settings and so on. The first commercial synthesizer to include MIDI was the Sequential Circuits Prophet 600. The immense popular DX7 was also equipped with a MIDI-interface. This was the end of the synthesizer-walls who were often seen on-stage in the 1970's and the early 1980's. Now musicians could use a single MIDI-controller to control a huge amount of synthesizer modules. As instruments "spoke" the same language, they could be interconnected and synchronization became a simple discipline.

6 .7

TB-303

In the early 1980's Roland released several relatively cheap analog synthesizers with a specifie goal. The first notable to be released was the TR-808 (Transitor Rhythm). The TR-808 was marketed as a tool for guitarists to practice their technique and to give them the means to create demo's without the need of a drummer. Its internai sequencer made it possible to program simple drum-loops. In 1983 Roland released the TB-303. A small monophonie bass-synthesizer with integrated sequencer whose purpose was similar to the TR-808 as it could substitute a bass-player. Together with the TR-808 a musician had all the means to practice and create demo's without the need for a drummer or bass-player. Since most musicians were looking for real-sounding drum- and bass-sounds it was not a great success. The production was stopped and only several thousand units of both models were produced. Roland was aware of the 33

fact that musicians longed for more realistic sounds and created the TR-909 which combined analog synthesis with several 6-bit samples (for the hi-hat). Though more realistic then it's precedent, the sound was still considered as inferior to the upcoming digital samplers. Seen as a commercial failure Roland killed off the production and the value of these units dropped significantly. After several years DJ 's started using the TR and TB models in their DJ-setup. The small size, reliability and sequencing-options and most importantly low priees made these machines the perfect tool for DJ 's to expand their creativity. The unique sounds coming from TB-303 when tweaking the filters became the signature-sound of new electronic music. It is safe to say that these machines were the basis of all new electronic music of today. What initially started as Acid-house evolved into house, techno, drum & bass and even hip-hop. Since priees were low, many youngsters could afford these synthesizers. With just a TB-303 and a TR-909 a musician had all the tools to create complete sangs. Electronic music was no longer experimental, avantgarde music, but became danceable and popular. At first the success was limited to small club-based scenes but not long after it became a mainstream hype .

6.8

Persona! Computers

Another big step in electronic music was the rise in popularity of Personal Computers. The most notable was the Atari ST. Being equipped with a midi-port , this PC soon became the favorite tool for upcoming producers. When at first DAW's were developed, many musicians and producers started controlling their outboard gear with a computer . In 1985 Steinberg released their PR024 (precedent of Cubase) for Atari and immediately it was a big hit. Digital recording (up to 4 tracks in 1987) became affordable and a new generation of home-studio's rose. As the computer became widespread many developers started programming software-synthesizers. A big breakthrough was the release of Steinberg's VST technology (Virtual Studio Technology) in 1996. This consists of an open framework which programmers can use to create synthesizers and other audio-programs. Since a central framework is being used, programs can be created host- and eventually platformindependent. Apple replied with creating the Audio Unit framework. A framework similar to VST but only for the Macintosh system. Digidesign 34

responds with their own proprietary frarnework by creating Audio Suite and later-on RTAS (Real Time Audio Suite). This system evolved to the current Pro Tools TDM (Time Division Multiplexing) system. The effect of open frameworks resulted in a booming market of virtual synthesizers and other audio-plugins. As many people found digital synthesizers to sound cold, developers started wit h emulating old analog circuitry in the digital domain. The virtual analog synthesizer was born. The best known manufacturer of virtual analog synthesizers is probably Arturia. They successfully modeled sorne of the most legendary synthesizers including the Moog modular Synthesizer and the Minimoog, the ARP 2600, the Yamaha CS80, the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 and Prophet VS and the Roland Jupiter8. ative Instruments modeled t he Yamaha DX7 and even build upon this design creating their FM8-software synthesizer. Many developers could now easily create software-synthesizers and other synthesizing-techniques were implemented in the software-domain.

7
7.1

Other Forms of Synthesis

Wavetable-synthesis

This technique was discovered and developed by Wolfgang Palm. As he was experimenting with the use of digital technology for sound-synthesis in the late 1970's he developed a technique were he would store small waveforms in a table. These waveforms were single-cycle waveforms in contrast to standard oscillators who produce cycling waveforms. By changing the waveform with a modulator, many new sounds could be produced. By using non-standard waveforms (wind-like or trumpet-like) evolving sounds could be created and filter-like effects could be achieved without the use of actual filters. This technique was first employed by Palm in his PPG -synthesizers[23] (PPG being his newly-formed company) . Waldorf and others would eventually start implementing this technology as the basic sound generating source or as an addition to FM or subtractive/ additive synthesis. Though it is possible to create natural sounds by using a waveform that originates from natural instrument, the strength of wavetabe-synthesis lays with long, evolving pads whose sanie characters change in time, due to the change of waveform. Like FM, wavetable-synthesis is also well suited to create harsh digital sounds and bell-like sounds. The most notable synthesizers using this

35

technique were PPG 's Wave-series and Waldorf's Microwave. Other synthesizers who are based on t his technique are Roland's "Linear Arithmetic" synthesizers like the Roland D-50 and MT-32. Vector synthesis is based on this technique but differs in t he way that the wave-table is constructed. Vector-synthesis employs a two-dimensional array to store its waveform instead of a one-dimensional array and, unlike wavetable, morphs between more than two waveforms.

7.2

Granular-synthesis

A technique which resembles wave-table-synthesis is granular-synthesis. Very small pieces of a sample are layered and modulated to create new sounds. Unlike wave-tables, these "grains" are very small ranging from lmsec to 50msec. This results in a sound-scape instead of a single torre. Mimicking acoustic sounds is not one of its strengths. A popular software synthesizer who uses a combination of granular- and wave-table-synthesis is Propellerhead's Malstrom synthesizer.

7.3

Scanned synthesis

Developed by Bill Verplank, Rob Shaw and Max Mathews (MUSIC N-series) in 1998 at Interval Research Inc. This type of synthesis is based upon wavetable-synthesis. It is basically a dynamic way to control a wave-table. It involves a slow dynamic system which vibrates at frequencies below 15Hz. These vibrations are determined by the init ial conditions, t he dynamics of the system and the actions of the performer. Humans cannat hear below 20 Hz , so to make the frequencies audible, t he dynamic system is "scanned" periodically. The scanned "shape" is converted to a sound-wave and the pitch is determined by the speed of the scanning function[26] . As this is a rather new form of synthesis t here are not many synthesizers who use this principle. The Scanned Synth Pro VST from Humanoid Sound Systems is one implementation of scanning synthesis. The sounds that scanning synthesis can produce are very versatile ranging from metallic growling to effects and moving pads. As their creators Max Mathews and Bill Verplank state[26]:
It has all the potential to, and we believe it will, become as important as existing methods such as wave table synthesis,

36

additive synthesis, FM synthesis , and physical modeling.

7.4

Physical Modeling

Physical Modeling Synthesis is based on mathematical models of acoustics and instruments. By modeling all the physical characteristics of an instrument , realistic models who produce sounds can be obtained. Aside from that it can be used to create combined or "impossible" instruments, for example one can combine the attack of a saxophone with the sustain of a piano. Or it can be used to simulate a drum with dimensions , which are impossible to obtain in real-life. Many algorithms that have been developed through the years are based on delay-lines , filters and table look-ups. Since this form of synthesis requires a huge amount of calculation-power it's only been successfully implemented during the last decades with computers becoming more and more powerfui. There were attempts to implement physical-modeling with vacuumtube computers without big success. The first successful computer generated speech (Max Mathews at Bell-Labs in 1960) was a physical model of the human voice. During the years there were different approaches to physical-modeling. The classical methodology uses several steps to madel an instrument, always based on a non-linear exciter (sound-source) and a linear resonator (part that influences the exciter) Example: the analogy to a guitar were the strings are the exciter and the body of the guitar the resonator[l] . Classical methodology defines: Physical characteristics of the instrument are defined Initial state is defined Boundaries are defined (values which cannat be exceeded) Exciton is described as a coupling between exciter and resonator Impedance must be taken into account Filters are defined based on the way the sound radiates A wave equation is constructed-based on these parameters. By solving this equation repeatedly, samples are generated at a given instance in time. Sorne other methodologies include:

37

 Difference equations (like FIR- and IIR-filters) which define the difference between two intervals in time and can thus recreate the process Mass-string paradigm (Defines how vibrating object generate soundwaves) Modal synthesis (alternative to the mass-string paradigm, represents objects as a collection of vibrating substructures) MSW (Mclntyre, Schumacher and Woodhouse. This is based on nonlinear exciters and linear resonators) Waveguide synthesis (a computational model of a medium along which waves travel) Waveguide synthesis is successfully implemented by Korg, Yamaha and others. Yamaha implemented this technology in their VL-1 synthesizer[19] which can faithfully reproduce a whole array of wind and reed instruments. They sold their technology to Korg who used it to create a string emulation the Korg STR1[21]. Both of these instruments (and many PM-synths to follow) were a success. They had a tonal character which was not seen as synthetic at the time and for the general public it is hard to hear the difference between the "real thing" and the model.

7 .5

Karplus-St rong synthesis

The KS algorithm for plucked string and drum synthesis is an efficient technique based on the principle of a delay line. This form of physical modeling starts with a wave-table filled with random values. The simplest modification is an averaging of the current sample with the previous sample. This results in bright sounds at the attack, but it changes rapidly towards a sine tone, much like a real plucked string. In practice the wavetable is reloaded with a new set of random values for each note. This makes that every note has a slightly different harmonie structure. When the length of the wavetable is large, the instrument sounds like a snare drum, when it is small, it sounds like a brushed tom. Resonating drum sounds can be achieved by loading the wavetable with a constant value instead of random values. Sorne implementations of the Karplus-Strong in the softwaredomain include several string and guitar-instruments though it's not known
38

if hardware applications were developed. Yamaha licensed t hese principles as part of a license-pack from Standford University.

39

Conclusion

Many early electric musical instruments were played in a conventional way. They were incorporated into classical orchestras and the musical pieces written for these instruments were often classical pieces. Instead of using these instruments to create new, unheard sounds and symphonies, t hey were mostly used to replace a certain classical instrument. For example the Theremin was mostly used as a substitute for the violin or in sorne cases an opera-singer's voice. The gap between inventors and musicians was large and sorne of these instruments, like the Ondes Martenot , required new playing-techniques. A lot of musicians weren't prepared to change their way of playing. This made that the rise of electronic music was a slow process. Apart from the inventors who had a vision to create something new, mostly out of interest or fascination for new, upcoming technology, here was a need for visionary composers. If nobody wrote new music for these instruments, there wouldn 't be a significant change in the way music was perceived. There is another big factor in the history of the synthesizer, and this is the commercial factor. Most of t hese early instruments were very costly, hard to build and often quite bulky. This made that they were not widely available. When an instrument is rare, it is understandable that t here are not many pieces written for it , as just a small group of musicians and composers have access to the instrument . It is fair to say that a real change in electronic music happened after the successful marketing and sales of new electronic instruments. The Hammond organ (although not a true synthesizer) was the first electronic musical instrument to know commercial success. Although the sound of the Hammond was not truly innovative (it mimics a pipe-organ) and the number of different sound was limited, its effect on the musical scene was enormous. The success-story of the Hammond organ proved that there was a market for these new instruments and in the decades to follow , this market would vastly expand. With the invention of the transistor and integrated-circuitry, new instruments could be produced cheaper, smaller and in bigger quantities. This made them more affordable for musicians. The synthesizer changed from an avantgarde instrument into a widely-spread pop-music instrument. The upsurge of the synthesizer was unstoppable. The first successful synthesizer was the Minimoog. It 's sound was a novelty and was soon incorporated into the setup of many musicians and producers. Moog himself had not foreseen for his synthesizers to become real in-

40

struments, though this evolution went rather swiftly. The sounds produced by the first modular synthesizers were synthetic and did not mimic natural instruments. In retrospect this was an advantage and contributed to the popularity of synthesizers as an instrument. As the semi-conductor technology advanced , computing became more and more popular. The digital era was a fact . The first software-synthesizers were developed and this made the synthesizers smaller and more versatile. Slowly but steadily the synthesizer became more than an instrument and with new synthesizing forms being developed , synthesizers became even more powerful and it 's ability to mimic any instrument expanded. The invention of FM-synthesis and the production of synthesizers who were based on this technique were a huge step in the history of the synthesizer. Mimicking of natural instruments became more and more convincing and a lot op producers started substituting natural instruments by synthesizers. Another big factor was the cost , it became, for example, less costly to use a synthesizer for string-ensembles in comparison with hiring and recording a real string-ensemble. With the development of physical-modeling synthesis, the gap between natural instruments and synthesizers became even smaller. This new technology is based on replicating instruments by modeling their physical characteristics thus creating sounds with stunning resemblance to the real thing. As this technology is still advancing, the future of the synthesizer is looking promising.

41

References
[1] G.-P. AYER. Clavecin lectrique, 2009. [2] Buchla.com. http:/ jwww.buchla.com/historical/b100/ buchla modular 100. [3] J . CHABABE. The electronic cent ury part iii: Computers and analog synthesizers, 2000. [4] J. M. CHOWNING. The synthesis of complex audio spectra by means of frequency modulations, journal of the audio engineering society vol. 21 n 7, 1973. [5] S. CRAB. http:/ /120years.netjmachinesjtelegraph/index.html, 2005 . [6] D. DUNN. A history of electronic music pioneers, 1992. [7] Hammond-organ.com. http:/ jwww.hammond-organ.com/ history and reference. [8] HOLMES. Moog, interview with holmes, march 4, 2001. [9] T . HOLMES. Electronic and exprimental music, 2008. [10] R. JONES. Intimate control for physical modeling synthesis, m .sc. thesis, university of victoria, 2008. [11] P. LEHRMAN. Mix magazine: A talk with john chowning, 2005. [12] MixMagazine. Robert moog, moog music minimoog synthesizer, 2006. [13] R. A. MOOG. Voltage-controlled electronic music modules , journal of the audio engineering society vol.l3 no. 3. America, 1965. [14] Moogmusic.com. http:/ /www.moogmusic.com/history.php?cat.id=2: The history of the theremin. [15] G.-W. RAES. Kursus experimentele muziek: Boekdeel 4: Organologie en experimentele instrumentenbouw. [16] C . SACHS. Real-lexikon der musikinstrumente. Germany, 1913.

42

[17] P. SITTER. Das denis d 'or: Urahn der 'elektroakustischen' musikinstrumente? [18] Sonhors.free.fr. Panorame musiques electroniques : Telharmonium, audion piano, russolo & futuristes. [19] SoundOnSound. Yamaha vll: Virtual acoustic synthesizer, 1994. [20] SoundOnSound. Yamaha gs1 & dx1: The birth, rise and further rise of fm synthesis, 2001. [21] SoundOnSound. Korg str1 & oasys v1.1, 2006. [22] Synthmuseum.com. http:/ jwww.synt hmuseum.com/rcajrca02.html. [23] Synthmuseum.com. http:/ jwww.synthmuseum .com jppgfppgwaveOl.html ppg wave information, 2000. [24] Synt.nu. http:/ jwww.synt.nu/history/ the history of synthpop. [25] Thereminvox.com. theremin. http:j jwww.thereminvox.com/ : History of the

[26] B. VERPLANK. http:/ jwww.csounds.com/scanned: Scanned synthesis. [27] Wikipedia. http:/ /en.wikipedia.org/wiki/homer_dudley. [28] Wikipedia. http: //en. wikipedia.org/wiki/ ondes_martenot.

43

A
A.l

Translations
Sachs

Denis d'or, an electric mutation piano with one pedal, invented in 1730 by the moravian preacher Prokop Divis in Prendnitz near Znaim. [continuation of Sachs' text], quoted from Schilling 1835:] The instrument was 5 feet long and 3 feet wide and was equipped with 790 strings which can be changed in 130 ways and can be tuned in three quarters of a note. Thanks to this feature , it can imitate the sounds of any wind or string instrument. It included an inappropriate and misplaced jake, giving the persan who played on it as many electric shocks as its inventor wished. The prelate of Bruck, Georg Lambeck, bought the only specimen, which was constructed by Divis. Georg Lambeck, as long as he lived , engaged a musician specifically to play on it .

A.2

Sitter

'Inapproriate' and 'loose' jokes with electricity were common society games in the salons of nobility and bourgeoisie in the times when the Denis d'or was constructed. The 'electric' equipment of the Denis d'or is part of numerous electric gimmicks of the baroque and rococo eras. taking into account older sources and the findings of the history of physics, an electrostatic engine or even an electromagnetic swinging of the strings is rather unlikely. Thus, the 'Clavecin lectrique' developed by Jean Baptiste de La Borde in 1761 is probably to be considered as the first instrument that produced sounds with the help of electricity. The Denis d'or can not be considered as putting electricity in the context of the history of sound production, a part from the sounds which its player unvoluntarily produced when he was struck by an electric shock.

44