Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Digital synthesizer
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
== History == The very earliest digital synthesis experiments were made with [[computer]]s, as part of academic research into sound generation. In 1957, the first [[programming language]] for [[computer music]], [[MUSIC-N|MUSIC]], was developed by [[Max Mathews]] on an [[IBM 704]] at Bell Labs in 1957.<ref name="Roads1980"> {{cite journal | last1 = Roads | first1=Curtis | author-link=Curtis Roads | last2 = Mathews | first2=Max | author-link2=Max Mathews | date = Winter 1980 | title = Interview with Max Mathews | journal = [[Computer Music Journal]] | volume = 4 | issue = 4 | pages = 15β22 | doi = 10.2307/3679463 | jstor = 3679463 }}</ref> It generates digital audio waveforms through direct synthesis. [[File:EMS MUSYS-3 (1970) system diagram.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Electronic Music Studios|EMS]] MUSYS-3 (1970) (based on {{harvnb|Nunzio|2014}})]] {{circa|1969}}, [[Electronic Music Studios|EMS]] MUSYS 3 system was developed by Peter Grogono (software), David Cockerell (hardware and interfacing) and [[Peter Zinovieff]] (system design and operation) at their London (Putney) Studio. The system ran on two mini-computers, Digital Equipment [[PDP-8]]'s. These had a pair of fast [[Digital-to-analog converter|D/A]] and [[Analog-to-digital|A/D]] converters,<ref name=Cockerell2013> {{citation | first = David |last=Cockerell | title = Interview β David Cockerell | url = http://www.radionz.co.nz/concert/programmes/hopefulmachines/audio/201812323/interview-david-cockerell | format = interview | date = 1 October 2013 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171021163619/http://www.radionz.co.nz/concert/programmes/hopefulmachines/audio/201812323/interview-david-cockerell | archive-date = 21 October 2017 }}<br/>on {{citation | title = These Hopeful Machines | url = http://www.radionz.co.nz/concert/programmes/hopefulmachines | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171021111715/http://www.radionz.co.nz/concert/programmes/hopefulmachines | archive-date = 21 October 2017 }}<br/>as a corner of radio program {{citation | title = Sound Lounge | publisher = [[Radio New Zealand]] | quote = {{smaller|[Q] ''...<!-- By the time you get to something like -->Chronometer [3], as I understand it, the sounds of the clock mechanisms and all the rest of it were effectively sampled by an ADC, stored and manipulated by the computer and then spat out again. What was the breakthrough ...<!-- that got you from this one second of sound to being able to put together a piece like that? -->'' [A] ''Peter kept buying the latest computers that came out and of course the memory increased. Then I built him a hard disc recorder so that one could store some of the sounds on this hard disc. ...''<!-- [Q] ''And you devised a filter and oscillator bank to deal with the inputs and outputs of that. ... It's a kind of vocoding idea rather than a sampling idea as weβd think of it now.'' [A] ''Indeed, That's exactly the principle of the vocoder.'' -->}} }} </ref><ref name=Nunzio2014>{{cite book | first = Alex Di | last = Nunzio | date = 16 May 2014 | chapter = The structure | chapter-url=http://www.musicainformatica.org/topics/musys.php | title = MUSYS | work = musicainformatica.org / musicainformatica.it | quote = ''figure 2'' A summary that shows the position of the two PDP computers within the MUSYS system, and all the devices connected to them. | access-date=21 October 2017 | archive-date=21 October 2017 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171021111945/http://www.musicainformatica.org/topics/musys.php | url-status = bot: unknown }} ({{citation |title=figure 2|url=http://www.musicainformatica.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/schema-musys-computer-music-system.png }}) </ref> 12,000 (12k) bytes of [[core memory]] ([[Random-access memory|RAM]]), backed up by a hard drive of 32k and by tape storage (DecTape).<ref name=Hinton2002> {{cite web |first = Graham |last = Hinton |title = The Putney Studio (1970) |url = http://emssynthesisers.co.uk/emsstory.html#putney |date = 27 December 2002 |work = EMS: The Inside Story |publisher = [[Electronic Music Studios]] |location = [[Cornwall]], UK |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160513142559/http://emssynthesisers.co.uk/emsstory.html#putney |archive-date = 13 May 2016 }} </ref><ref name=Grogono1973> {{cite journal | first = Peter | last = Grogono | date = 1973 | title = MUSYS: Software for an electronic music studio | journal = Software: Practice and Experience | volume = 3 | issue = 4 | doi = 10.1002/spe.4380030410 | issn = 1097-024X | pages = 369β383 | s2cid = 206507040 | quote = {{smaller|1=[SUMMARY]'' MUSYS is a system of programs used to create electronic music at the computer studio of Electronic Music Studios, London. This paper describes the programming language employed by composers, and the implementation of its compiler and of other programs in the system. It is shown that by the use of a macrogenerator, an efficient and useful system can be built from simple software on a small computer.''}} }} </ref><ref name=Grogono2014> {{cite web | first = Peter | last = Grogono | date = 2014-11-27 | title = Electronic Music Studios (London) Ltd. | url = https://users.encs.concordia.ca/~grogono/Bio/ems.html | publisher = Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science, [[Concordia University]] | archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20210515172629/https://users.encs.concordia.ca/~grogono/Bio/ems.html | archivedate=2021-05-15 }} (See also: {{cite web | title = The Mouse Programming Language | url = https://users.encs.concordia.ca/~grogono/Mouse/mouse.html | archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20210515171905/https://users.encs.concordia.ca/~grogono/Mouse/mouse.html | archivedate=2021-05-15 }}) </ref> <!-- EMS equipment was used to control the world's first digital studio (EMS London (Putney) Studio), and their --> The earliest digital sampling was done on that system during 1971β1972 for [[Harrison Birtwistle]]'s "''Chronometer''" released in 1975.<ref name=Cockerell2013/><ref name=Hall2015> {{citation | first = Tom |last = Hall | date = 2015 | chapter = Before The Mask: Birtwistle's electronic music collaborations with Peter Zinovieff | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vTFvBwAAQBAJ&q=Grogono%2C%20Peter%3B%20Musys%3A%20Software%20for%20an%20Electronic%20Music%20Studio%20in%20Software%3A%20Practice%20and%20Experience&pg=PA75 | editor1 = Beard, David |editor2=Gloag, Kenneth |editor3=Jones, Nicholas | title = Harrison Birtwistle Studies | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]] | isbn = 978-1-107-09374-4 | pages = 63β94 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171220052939/https://books.google.com/books?id=vTFvBwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA75&pg=PA75&dq=Grogono%2C%20Peter%3B%20Musys%3A%20Software%20for%20an%20Electronic%20Music%20Studio%20in%20Software%3A%20Practice%20and%20Experience | archive-date=20 December 2017 }}</ref><ref name=Birtwistle|1975> {{cite AV media | first = Harrison | last = Birtwistle | author-link=Harrison Birtwistle | title = Chronometer | date = 1975 }} on {{cite AV media | title = The Triumph Of Time / Chronometer (Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Series #8) | url = https://www.discogs.com/en/Harrison-Birtwistle-The-Triumph-Of-Time-Chronometer/release/1559264 | medium = Vinyl, LP, Album | publisher = Argo | location = UK | id = ZRG 790 }} ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmi3PT6-Tvo video] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171220052939/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmi3PT6-Tvo |date=20 December 2017 }} on YouTube) * According to {{harvnb|Cockerell|2013}}, this piece was "''realized in 1971β72 by Peter Zinovieff at the Putney studio''". </ref> In 1972β1974, [[New England Digital|Dartmouth Digital Synthesizer]] was developed by [[Dartmouth College]] Professors [[Jon Appleton]] and Frederick J. Hooven, in association with NED co-founders Sydney A. Alonso and Cameron W. Jones. In 1977, [[Bell Labs Digital Synthesizer]] was developed by Hal Ales at [[Bell Labs]].<ref>Hal Alles, [https://web.archive.org/web/20100626174957/http://timara.con.oberlin.edu/~jtalbert/CMS/Alles1.pdf "A Portable Digital Sound Synthesis System"], ''Computer Music Journal'', Volume 1 Number 3 (Fall 1976), pg. 5-9</ref> In 1977,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://emusician.com/tutorials/electronic_century4/|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091002070017/http://emusician.com/tutorials/electronic_century4/|archive-date = 2009-10-02|title = Electronic Musician Magazine}}</ref> [[New England Digital]] (NED) released the [[Synclavier]], the first commercial synthesizer to use purely digital sound generation and also the world's first commercial FM synthesizer.<ref name="Synclavier Early History">{{Cite web|url=http://www.500sound.com/synclavierhistory.html|title = Synclavier Early History}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mixonline.com/technology/1978-new-england-digital-synclavier-383609/383609|title = 1978 New England Digital Synclavier|date = September 2006}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.root-sounds.com/products/synclavier/index.shtml|title = Root-sounds}}</ref> [[Image:Fairlight green screen.jpg|thumb|Fairlight CMI series II (1982), exhibited at [[NAMM Show]]]] Early commercial digital synthesizers used simple hard-wired digital circuitry to implement techniques such as [[additive synthesis]] and [[FM synthesis]]. {{citation needed span|Other techniques, such as [[wavetable synthesis]] and [[physical modeling]], only became possible with the advent of high-speed microprocessor and digital signal processing technology.|date=April 2023|reason=wavetable synthesis was implemented in 1979 by PPG and it was regarded as a method to reduce the computational complexity of additive synthesis.}} Two other early commercial digital synthesizers were the [[Fairlight CMI]], introduced in 1979, and the New England Digital [[Synclavier]] II, introduced in 1979 as an upgrade to the original Synclavier.<ref name="Synclavier Early History"/> The Fairlight CMI was one of the earlier sampling synthesizers,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.anerd.com/fairlight/fairlightstory.htm|title = Fairlight the Whole Story}}</ref> while the Synclavier originally used FM synthesis technology licensed from Yamaha,<ref name=mixmag2006>{{cite journal |title= 1978 New England Digital Synclavier |url= http://www.mixonline.com/news/news-products/1978-new-england-digital-synclavier/383609 |date= September 1, 2006 |journal= Mix |publisher= Penton Media}}</ref> before adding the world's first 16-bit, real-time hard drive streaming sampler later in 1982.<ref name="Synclavier Early History"/> The Fairlight CMI and the Synclavier were both expensive systems, retailing for more than $20,000 in the early 1980s. The cost of digital synthesizers began falling rapidly in the early 1980s. [[E-mu Systems]] introduced the [[E-mu Emulator|Emulator]] sampling synthesizer in 1982 at a retail price of $7,900. Although not as flexible or powerful as either the Fairlight CMI or the Synclavier, its lower cost and portability made it popular. [[Image:Clavia Nord Lead 2x.jpg|thumb|The Clavia Nord Lead is a popular virtual analog synth]] With the addition of sophisticated sequencers on board, now added to built-in effects and other features, the '[[music workstation|workstation]]' synthesizer had been born. These always include a multi-track [[Music sequencer|sequencer]], and can often record and play back samples, and in later years full audio tracks, to be used to record an entire song. These are usually also ROMplers, playing back samples, to give a wide variety of realistic instrument and other sounds such as drums, string instruments and wind instruments to sequence and compose songs, along with popular keyboard instrument sounds such as electric pianos and organs. As there was still interest in [[analog synthesizer]]s, and with the increase of computing power, over the 1990s another type of synthesizer arose: the [[analog modeling synthesizer|analog modeling]], or "virtual analog" synthesizer. These use computing power to simulate traditional analog waveforms and circuitry such as envelopes and filters, with the most popular examples of this type of instrument including the [[Nord Lead]] and [[Access Virus]]. Digital synthesizers can now be completely emulated in software ("[[Software synthesizer|softsynth]]"), and run on conventional PC hardware. Such soft implementations require careful programming and a fast CPU to get the same [[Latency (engineering)|latency]] response as their dedicated equivalents. To reduce latency, some professional [[sound card]] manufacturers have developed specialized Digital Signal Processing ([DSP]) hardware. Dedicated digital synthesizers have the advantage of a performance-friendly user interface (physical controls like buttons for selecting features and enabling functionality, and knobs for setting variable parameters). On the other hand, software synthesizers have the advantages afforded by a rich graphical display. With focus on performance-oriented keyboards and digital computer technology, manufacturers of commercial electronic [[musical instrument|instrument]]s created some of the earliest digital [[synthesizer]]s for studio and experimental use with computers being able to handle built-in sound synthesis algorithms.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/183802/electronic-instrument/53839/Digital-synthesizers-the-music-workstation-and-MIDI#ref=ref111959 |title=Electronic Instruments |website=EncyclopΓ¦dia Britannica}}</ref> === In Japan === [[File:Yamaha GS1 Synthesizer with (in 1980) pioneering FM technology, photomontage with open and closed cover.jpg|thumb|The GS-1 (1980) was the first commercial digital synthesizer by Yamaha based on FM synthesis. For $16,000, the buyer also got a [[desktop computer]] for programming it.]] In 1973,<ref name=yamaha2014>{{cite web |ref={{sfnref|Yamaha|2014}} |title= [Chapter 2] FM Tone Generators and the Dawn of Home Music Production |url= http://usa.yamaha.com/products/music-production/synthesizers/synth_40th/history/chapter02/ |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141023140056/http://usa.yamaha.com/products/music-production/synthesizers/synth_40th/history/chapter02/ |archivedate=2014-10-23 |work= Yamaha Synth 40th Anniversary - History |year= 2014 |publisher= Yamaha Corporation}}</ref> the Japanese company [[Yamaha Corporation|Yamaha]] licensed the patent for [[frequency modulation synthesis]] (FM synthesis) from [[John Chowning]], who had experimented with it at [[Stanford University]] since 1971.<ref name="holmes_257">{{cite book |title=Electronic and experimental music: technology, music, and culture |first=Thom |last=Holmes |edition=3rd |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-415-95781-6 |chapter=Early Computer Music |page=257 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hCthQ-bec-QC&pg=PA257 |access-date=2011-06-04}}</ref> Yamaha's engineers began adapting Chowning's algorithm for use in a commercial digital synthesizer, adding improvements such as the "key scaling" method to avoid the introduction of distortion that normally occurred in analog systems during [[frequency modulation]], though it would take several years before Yamaha were to release their FM digital synthesizers.<ref name="holmes_257-8">{{cite book |title=Electronic and experimental music: technology, music, and culture |first=Thom |last=Holmes |edition=3rd |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|year=2008 |isbn=978-0-415-95781-6 |chapter=Early Computer Music |pages=257β258 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hCthQ-bec-QC&pg=PA257 |access-date=2011-06-04}}</ref> In the 1970s, Yamaha were granted a number of patents, under the company's former name "Nippon Gakki Seizo Kabushiki Kaisha", evolving Chowning's early work on FM synthesis technology.<ref name="patent">{{cite web| url = https://patents.google.com/patent/US4018121| title = U.S. Patent 4,018,121}}</ref> Yamaha built the first prototype digital synthesizer in 1974.<ref name=yamaha2014/>{{verification failed|date=April 2023|reason=}} Released in 1979,<ref name="vail">{{cite book |author=Mark Vail |title=The Synthesizer: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding, Programming, Playing, and Recording the Ultimate Electronic Music Instrument |page=277 |publisher= [[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref> the [[Casio VL-1]] was the first low budget digital synthesizer,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zo0XAQAAIAAJ |title=Impact of MIDI on electroacoustic art music, Issue 102 |page=26 |publisher=[[Stanford University]] |author=Alex Igoudin|year=1997 }}</ref> selling for $69.95.<ref name="vail"/> Yamaha eventually commercialized their FM synthesis technology and released the company's first FM digital synthesizer in 1980, the Yamaha GS-1, but at an expensive retail price of $16,000.<ref>{{cite book |title=The computer music tutorial |author=Curtis Roads |publisher=[[MIT Press]] |year=1996 |isbn=0-262-68082-3 |page=226 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nZ-TetwzVcIC&pg=PA226 |access-date=2011-06-05}}</ref> [[File:Yamaha DX7 synthesizer - combined image with diagonal and top views.jpg|thumb|The Yamaha DX7 (1983) signalled the rise of digital synthesizers. Also due to its affordable price of around $2,000, it became a huge success with about 200,000 units sold. While being notoriously difficult to program by the user, its pre-installed sounds significantly influenced 1980s pop and rock music.]] Introduced in 1983, the [[Yamaha DX7]] was the breakthrough digital synthesizer to have a major impact, both innovative and affordable, and thus spelling the decline of [[analog synthesizers]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Yamaha DX7 |url=http://www.synthlearn.com/yamaha-dx7.html |website=synthlearn.com}}</ref> It used FM synthesis and, although it was incapable of the sampling synthesis of the Fairlight CMI, its price was around $2,000, putting it within range of a much larger number of musicians.<ref>{{Cite book |last1= Le Heron |first1= Richard B. |last2= Harrington |first2= James W. |title= New Economic Spaces: New Economic Geographies |publisher= Ashgate Publishing |year= 2005 |page=41 |isbn= 0-7546-4450-2}}</ref> The DX-7 was also known for its "key scaling" method to avoid distortion and for its recognizably bright tonality that was partly due to its high [[sampling rate]] of 57 kHz.<ref>{{cite book |title=Electronic and experimental music: technology, music, and culture|first=Thom|last=Holmes|edition=3rd|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|year=2008|isbn=978-0-415-95781-6|chapter=Early Computer Music|pages=257β259 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hCthQ-bec-QC&pg=PA257 |access-date=2011-06-04}}</ref> It became indispensable to many music artists of the 1980s,<ref>{{Cite magazine |title= Three Yamaha products that reshaped the industry mark 20th anniversary |magazine= Music Trades |pages= 70β74 |date= February 2004 |url= http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5264/is_200402/ai_n20430721 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081019204706/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5264/is_200402/ai_n20430721 |archive-date=2008-10-19}}</ref> and would become one of the best-selling synthesizers of all time.<ref name="holmes_257"/> In 1987, [[Roland Corporation|Roland]] released its own influential synthesizer of the time, the [[Roland D-50|D-50]]. This popular synth broke new ground in affordably combining short samples and digital oscillators, as well as the innovation<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar99/articles/synthfx.htm|title=Synth FX|website=Sound On Sound|access-date=2014-01-09}}</ref> of built-in digital effects (reverb., chorus, equalizer<ref>{{cite book |ref = {{sfnref|Roland|1987}} |title = Roland D-50 Owner's Manual (Basic) |url = http://media.rolandus.com/manuals/D-50_QS.pdf |format = PDF manual |publisher = Roland Corporation |date = c. 1987 |pages = 6 |quote = ... D-50 has four distinct sections: / 1. A Digital Synthesizer / 2. A Digital Equalizer / 3. A Digital Chorus section / and 4. A Digital Reverberation section. |access-date = 2014-09-01 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130531060054/http://media.rolandus.com/manuals/D-50_QS.pdf |archive-date = 2013-05-31 |url-status = dead }}</ref>). Roland called this Linear Arithmetic (LA) synthesis. This instrument is responsible for some of the very recognisable preset synthesizer sounds of the late 1980s, such as the Pizzagogo sound used on [[Enya]]'s "[[Orinoco Flow]]." It gradually became feasible to include high quality samples of existing instruments as opposed to synthesizing them. In 1988, [[Korg]] introduced the last of the hugely popular trio of digital synthesizers of the 1980s after the DX7 and D50, the [[Korg M1|M1]]. This heralded both the increasing popularisation of digital sample-based synthesis, and the rise of '[[music workstation|workstation]]' synthesizers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb02/articles/korgm1retro.asp |title=The Korg M1 |website=Sound On Sound |access-date=2014-01-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020122243/http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Feb02/articles/korgm1retro.asp |archive-date=2013-10-20 }}</ref> After this time, many popular modern digital synthesizers have been described as not being full synthesizers in the most precise sense, as they play back samples stored in their memory. However, they still include options to shape the sounds through use of [[Envelope (music)|envelopes]], [[Low-frequency oscillation|LFOs]], filters and effects such as reverb. The Yamaha Motif and Roland Fantom series of keyboards are typical examples of this type, described as 'ROMplers'; at the same time, they are also examples of "workstation" synthesizers. As the cost of processing power and memory fell, new types of synthesizers emerged, offering a variety of novel sound synthesis options. The [[Korg Oasys]] was one such example, packaging multiple digital synthesizers into a single unit.
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)