Editing Digital synthesizer (section)

=== 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=257–258 |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&nbsp;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=257–259 |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= 70–74 |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.