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A synthesizer (also synthesiser,[1] or simply synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and frequency modulation synthesis. These sounds may be altered by components such as filters, which cut or boost frequencies; envelopes, which control articulation, or how notes begin and end; and low-frequency oscillators, which modulate parameters such as pitch, volume, or filter characteristics affecting timbre. Synthesizers are typically played with keyboards or controlled by sequencers, software or other instruments and may be synchronized to other equipment via MIDI.
Synthesizer-like instruments emerged in the United States in the mid-20th century with instruments such as the RCA Mark II, which was controlled with punch cards and used hundreds of vacuum tubes. The Moog synthesizer, developed by Robert Moog and first sold in 1964, is credited for pioneering concepts such as voltage-controlled oscillators, envelopes, noise generators, filters, and sequencers. In 1970, the smaller, cheaper Minimoog standardized synthesizers as self-contained instruments with built-in keyboards, unlike the larger modular synthesizers before it.
In 1978, Sequential Circuits released the Prophet-5, which used microprocessors to allow users to store sounds for the first time. MIDI, a standardized means of synchronizing electronic instruments, was introduced in 1982 and remains an industry standard. The Yamaha DX7, launched in 1983, was a major success and popularized digital synthesis. Software synthesizers now can be run as plug-ins or embedded on microchips. In the 21st century, analog synthesizers returned to popularity with the advent of cheaper manufacturing.
Synthesizers were initially viewed as avant-garde, valued by the 1960s psychedelic and counter-cultural scenes but with little perceived commercial potential. Switched-On Bach (1968), a bestselling album of Bach compositions arranged for synthesizer by Wendy Carlos, took synthesizers to the mainstream. They were adopted by electronic acts and pop and rock groups in the 1960s and 1970s and were widely used in 1980s music. Sampling, introduced with the Fairlight synthesizer in 1979, has influenced genres such as electronic and hip hop music. Today, the synthesizer is used in nearly every genre of music and is considered one of the most important instruments in the music industry. According to Fact in 2016, "The synthesizer is as important, and as ubiquitous, in modern music today as the human voice."[2]
As electricity became more widely available, the early 20th century saw the invention of electronic musical instruments including the Telharmonium, Trautonium, Ondes Martenot, and theremin.[3] In the late 1930s, the Hammond Organ Company built the Novachord, a large instrument powered by 72 voltage-controlled amplifiers and 146 vacuum tubes.[4] In 1948, the Canadian engineer Hugh Le Caine completed the electronic sackbut, a precursor to voltage-controlled synthesizers, with keyboard sensitivity allowing for vibrato, glissando, and attack control.[3]
In 1957, Harry Olson and Herbert Belar completed the RCA Mark II Sound Synthesizer at the RCA laboratories in Princeton, New Jersey. The instrument read punched paper tape that controlled an analog synthesizer containing 750 vacuum tubes. It was acquired by the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center and used almost exclusively by Milton Babbitt, a composer at Princeton University.[3]
Around the same period, the American engineer Don Buchla created the Buchla Modular Electronic Music System.[9] Instead of a conventional keyboard, Buchla's system used touchplates which transmitted control voltages depending on finger position and force.[5] However, the Moog's keyboard made it more accessible and marketable to musicians, and keyboards became the standard means of controlling synthesizers.[5] Moog and Buchla initially avoided the word synthesizer for their instruments, as it was associated with the RCA synthesizer; however, by the 1970s, "synthesizer" had become the standard term.[5]
In 1970, Moog launched a cheaper, smaller synthesizer, the Minimoog.[10][11] It was the first synthesizer sold in music stores,[5] and was more practical for live performance. It standardized the concept of synthesizers as self-contained instruments with built-in keyboards.[12][13]
After retail stores started selling synthesizers in 1971, other synthesizer companies were established, including ARP in the US and EMS in the UK.[5] ARP's products included the ARP 2600, which folded into a carrying case and had built-in speakers, and the Odyssey, a rival to the Minimoog.[5] The less expensive EMS synthesizers were used by European art rock and progressive rock acts including Brian Eno and Pink Floyd.[5] Designs for synthesizers appeared in the amateur electronics market, such as the "Practical Electronics Sound Synthesiser", published in Practical Electronics in 1973.[1] By the mid-1970s, ARP was the world's largest synthesizer manufacturer,[5] though it closed in 1981.[14]
1997 saw the release of ReBirth by Propellerhead Software and Reality by Seer Systems, the first software synthesizers that could be played in real time via MIDI.[8] In 1999, an update to the music software Cubase allowed users to run software instruments (including synthesizers) as plug-ins, triggering a wave of new software instruments.[26] Propellerhead's Reason, released in 2000, introduced an array of recognizable virtual studio equipment.[26]
Early synthesizers were viewed as avant-garde, valued by the 1960s psychedelic and counter-cultural scenes for their ability to make new sounds, but with little perceived commercial potential. Switched-On Bach (1968), a bestselling album of Bach compositions arranged for Moog synthesizer by Wendy Carlos, demonstrated that synthesizers could be more than "random noise machines",[6] taking them to the mainstream.[5] However, debates were held about the appropriateness of synthesizers in baroque music, and according to the Guardian they were quickly abandoned in "serious classical circles".[28]
The Minimoog took a place in mainstream African-American music, most notably in the work of Stevie Wonder,[5] and in jazz, such as the work of Sun Ra.[31] In the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the Minimoog was widely used in the emerging disco genre by artists including Abba and Giorgio Moroder.[31] Sampling, introduced with the Fairlight synthesizer in 1979, has influenced all genres of music[7] and had a major influence on the development of electronic and hip hop music.[33][34]
In the 1970s, electronic music composers such as Jean Michel Jarre[35] and Isao Tomita[36][37][38] released successful synthesizer-led instrumental albums. This influenced the emergence of synth-pop from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. The work of German krautrock bands such as Kraftwerk[39] and Tangerine Dream, British acts such as John Foxx, Gary Numan and David Bowie, African-American acts such as George Clinton and Zapp, and Japanese electronic acts such as Yellow Magic Orchestra and Kitaro were influential in the development of the genre.[29]
Gary Numan's 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars" made heavy use of synthesizers.[41][42] OMD's "Enola Gay" (1980) used distinctive electronic percussion and a synthesized melody. Soft Cell used a synthesized melody on their 1981 hit "Tainted Love".[29] Nick Rhodes, keyboardist of Duran Duran, used synthesizers including the Roland Jupiter-4 and Jupiter-8.[43] Chart hits include Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough" (1981),[29] the Human League's "Don't You Want Me"[44] and works by Ultravox.[29]
In the 1980s, digital synthesizers were widely used in pop music.[22] The Yamaha DX7, released in 1983, became a pop staple, used on songs by A-ha, Kenny Loggins, Kool & the Gang.[2] Its "E PIANO 1" preset became particularly famous,[2] especially for power ballads,[45] and was used by artists including Whitney Houston, Chicago,[45] Prince,[22] Phil Collins, Luther Vandross, Billy Ocean,[2] and Celine Dion.[46] Korg M1 presets were widely used in 1990s house music, beginning with Madonna's 1990 single "Vogue".[47]
Voltage-controlled amplifiers (VCAs) control the volume or gain of the audio signal. VCAs can be modulated by other components, such as LFOs and envelopes.[8] A VCA is a preamp that boosts (amplifies) the electronic signal before passing it on to an external or built-in power amplifier, as well as a means to control its amplitude (volume) using an attenuator. The gain of the VCA is affected by a control voltage (CV), coming from an envelope generator, an LFO, the keyboard or some other source.[65]
Voltage-controlled filters (VCFs) "shape" the sound generated by the oscillators in the frequency domain, often under the control of an envelope or LFO. These are essential to subtractive synthesis. Filters are particularly important in subtractive synthesis, being designed to pass some frequency regions (or "bands") through unattenuated while significantly attenuating ("subtracting") others. The low-pass filter is most frequently used, but band-pass filters, band-reject filters and high-pass filters are also sometimes available.[citation needed]
The filter may be controlled with a second ADSR envelope. An "envelope modulation" ("env mod") parameter on many synthesizers with filter envelopes determines how much the envelope affects the filter. If turned all the way down, the filter produces a flat sound with no envelope. When turned up the envelope becomes more noticeable, expanding the minimum and maximum range of the filter. The envelope applied on the filter helps the sound designer generating long notes or short notes by moving the parameters up and down such as decay, sustain and finally release. For instance by using a short decay with no sustain, the sound generated is commonly known as a stab. Sound designers may prefer shaping the sound with a filter instead of volume.[citation needed]