![]() This generation of synthesizers often featured six or eight voice polyphony. The MIDI interface standard was developed for these systems. These used microprocessors for system control and control voltage generation, including envelope trigger generation, but the main sound generating path remained analog. In 1978, the first microprocessor-controlled analog synthesizers were created by Sequential Circuits. The Buchla Music Easel included a number of fader-style controls, switches, patch cord-connected modules, and a keyboard. Vocoders are often used to make a sound that resembles a musical instrument talking or singing. ![]() A specialized form of analog synthesizer is the analog vocoder, based on equipment developed for speech synthesis. These control signals were routed using the same types of connectors and cables that were used for routing the synthesized sound signals. Moog established standards recognized worldwide for control interfacing on analog synthesizers, using an exponential 1-volt-per-octave pitch control and a separate pulse triggering signal. Because many of these modules took input sound signals and processed them, an analog synthesizer could be used both as a sound-generating and sound-processing system.įamous modular synthesizer manufacturers included Moog Music, ARP Instruments, Inc., Serge Modular Music Systems, and Electronic Music Studios. Some synthesizers also had effects devices, such as reverb units, or tools such as sequencers or sound mixers. Additionally, they used envelope generators, low-frequency oscillators, and ring modulators. The control voltage varied frequency in VCOs and VCFs, and attenuation (gain) in VCAs. Synthesizer modules in early analog synthesizers included voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs), voltage-controlled filters (VCFs), and voltage-controlled amplifiers (VCAs). They were generally "modular" synthesizers, consisting of a number of independent electronic modules connected by patch cables into a patchbay that resembled the jackfields used by 1940s-era telephone operators. Another notable early instrument is the Hammond Novachord, first produced in 1938, which had many of the same features as later analog synthesizers.Įarly analog synthesizers used technology from electronic analog computers and laboratory test equipment. However, some individual studios and instruments achieved a high level of sophistication, such as the Trautonium of Oskar Sala, the Electronium of Raymond Scott, and the ANS synthesizer of Evgeny Murzin. While some electric instruments were produced in bulk, such as Georges Jenny's Ondioline, the Hammond organ, and the Trautonium, many of these would not be considered synthesizers by the standards of later instruments. ![]() ![]() ![]() The earliest synthesizers used a variety of thermionic-valve ( vacuum tube) and electro-mechanical technologies. The earliest mention of a "synthetic harmoniser" using electricity appears to be in 1906, created by the Scottish physicist James Robert Milne FRSE (d.1961). While 1960s-era analog synthesizers such as the Moog used a number of independent electronic modules connected by patch cables, later analog synthesizers such as the Minimoog integrated them into single units, eliminating patch cords in favour of integrated signal routing systems. Analog synthesizers also use low-pass filters and high-pass filters to modify the sound. After the 1960s, analog synthesizers were built using operational amplifier (op-amp) integrated circuits, and used potentiometers (pots, or variable resistors) to adjust the sound parameters. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s, such as the Trautonium, were built with a variety of vacuum-tube (thermionic valve) and electro-mechanical technologies. The Minimoog is one of the most popular analog synthesizers ever builtĪn analog (or analogue) synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically. ![]()
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