he
history of the synthesizer dates back to about 60 years ago. Yes, that
is correct. Around that time, some famous avant garde composer whose name I have yet to confirm (I think it was Vladimir
Ussachevsky, or Morton Subotnick or...one of those legendary dudes. I
think it was actually Beethoven as the title of this book suggests, but
who can be sure? I mean, as Woody Allen says, "What can we really
know, and how do we know we really know it?" I think it was him that
said that. It could have been...) had envisioned a machine that would
be able to duplicate any instrument, AND some nonexistent ones as well!
Of course that was a dream of a visionary. It was not until the "space
age" that such a machine was invented. I use the term "space
age" because it was our trek beyond the atmosphere that necessitated
the invention of the silicon chip which made everything from LCD watches
to desktop computers, as well as the synthesizer, even possible.
The early synthesizers were quite crude compared to today's full featured
models. They consisted of several independent modules that were wired
up manually, or "patched" in a particular series to create
a given sound (patch is a term that remains in use today, though it
has nothing to do with actually patching anything to anything as it
once did). These separate modules consisted of an oscillator or tone
generator which created one of three basic waveforms: sine, square,
or sawtooth. This module was then patched through one of several other
modules or devices to (creatively) alter the initial tone. A device
such as a high-pass or low-pass filter was used to de-emphasize or enhance
specific characteristics of the initial tone. Also used was an envelope
filter which adjusts the three principle qualities of all sound: the
attack, sustain and decay. Also used were devices to alter the ambience
and/or "distance" of a sound such as reverb and tape delay
units. Initially these early synthesizers were not accessed or triggered
with a conventional keyboard as they are today. Thus their use was much
more abstract.
Some of the early musical pieces created using this type of "antique"
electronic gear with which I became familiar are Silver Apples Of The
Moon by Morton Subotnick. This is a very "outside" piece.
It is not so much music concrete (conventional music, that is), but
more a soundscape. These early electronic music composers were classically
trained and respected in those circles and were considered by many at
the time to be fools to even deal with these machines of evil, these
bastards of instruments, these synthesizers. But, visionaries such as
these are always searching for new ways to express themselves no matter
what their critics had to say about it. This is a great mindset. Very
worthwhile indeed when it comes to one's own art. Though your critics
may not be from the New York Times, their yays or nays to your creations
can be just as weighty on the ego.
But back to the synthesizer itself. As I had mentioned these early
machines had no keyboards, though that was to change pretty quickly.
Once the rock musicians of the late sixties and early seventies demonstrated
an interest in the synthesizer, several companies sprang up to fulfill
the need. Among them: Moog, Arp, Oberheim and many others manufactured
dozens of models. Many of their early models were only monophonic meaning
they could play but one note at a time. One had tremendous control over
the characteristics of that one note, but still, it was just one note.
I believe the first real breakthrough came around 1978 or so when the
first affordable polyphonic (capable of playing multiple notes simultaneously,
not unlike that of a piano) units became available. I remember my first
polyphonic synth. It was a Roland Juno 6. It could do eight notes at
the same time and ran around $1000.00. A real deal considering only
a year or two earlier they carried a price tag of $3,000.00 and up for
a half-decent polyphonic unit. Still these units were analog. This means
that they still used those same oscillators, filters and envelope generators
to manipulate the basic sine, square and sawtooth waves to approximate
a trumpet or a flute or a timpani etc. Even a moderately trained ear
knew when it was hearing a synthesizer. That too was soon to change.
Today's synthesizers are jam packed full of several hundred digitally
sampled instruments. This means that for the flute patch for example,
a recording studio was booked and a flute player was hired to play every
third of fourth note within their range. These notes were recorded digitally
(no analog tape hiss to degrade the sound) and then later "burned
in" to a microchip. This chip is inside each synthesizer. When
the flute patch is called up and a key pressed, the synthesizer then
outputs those authentic flute notes recorded in the studio. Hence, the
actual instrument. No longer oscillators "faking" the sound
of a flute. This is the culmination of ___'s dream. An instrument that
faithfully emulates all other instruments-AND some that do not exist.
In this case, the notes well below the range of the conventional flute
for example. Sort of like a baritone flute. In other words, though the
lowest note an actual flute can play is a C3 (the third "C"
up from the lowest note on a conventional piano), the synth takes those
notes that were recorded in the recording studio and interpolates the
characteristics of those notes to as high as the human ear will recognize,
and to as low. Low enough in fact that you can hear the actual cycles
or clicks. That's LOW. Some of my favorite sounds for composing synthetic
music are these notes that are beyond the range of the actual instrument.
We now have a synthesizer that can duplicate any conventional instrument.
Popular synthesizer models can play up to 32 notes at a time. But here's
where the real good stuff kicks in. Some units can play up to 16 different
instruments at the same time. In other words, those 32 notes can be
played by up to 16 different instruments simultaneously! You might ask
how could someone play all those notes and instruments simultaneously?
With the aid of a computer sequencer. The computer can sequence or literally
record these sixteen different "tracks" or "parts"
as they are called that the synthesizer can output. This gives you literally
the power of both a sixteen track recording studio and an entire symphony
orchestra at your fingertips. That's hot. At this point we must take
a step back to fully understand the technology at hand.
When the first monophonic (one note at a time) keyboard triggered
synthesizers became available, it wasn't long after that one could "sequence"
or "program" a series of notes. This meant that instead of
playing the notes or recording them, the performance information can
be stored and called up to play, in real time (meaning it is happening
RIGHT NOW as opposed to being played back on tape) by the touch of a
button. These early sequencers were quite crude and one had to be very
patient in wading through all the mucky-muck involved in programming
such a device. With the advent of the desktop computer, all that changed.
Much of the tedium of the early sequencer was replaced with a "user-friendly"
visual interface. It provided more of a "what you see is what you
get" effect when it came down to sequencing. In fact, it more resembles
a multi-track recorder than a sequencer.
To easily understand how this combination of computer/sequencer and
synthesizer work together, think of the synthesizer as a player piano
and the computer as the music roll with the little holes punched through
it. To create one of these music rolls, someone had to play the piece
of music while some machine punched holes into the paper which corresponded
to each note the musician was playing. For a note of short duration,
a small hole was punched. For a note of longer duration, a larger hole
was punched. Thus, when a player piano is playing, it is playing in
what is termed "real time". It is not a recording. This is
the same thing the computer does with the synthesizer only in multiples
of sixteen, and, with incredible control over such minute details as
volume, modulation (vibrato, pitch bend, etc.), tempo, on-board signal
processing such as reverb and chorus etc. It is truly a monster system.
It is a musicians dream come true. A composer could not want for more
other than to have an actual orchestra at his/her disposal. This could
be not only quite expensive, but very impractical at 1:00AM if you chose
to compose at that hour.
The beauty part of all this is the very affordable cost for a setup
of the type I've been raving about. It's about $2,500.00 altogether.
Around $1000.00 for a decent synth and about $800-$1200.00 for a low-end
Mac and about $350.00 for the proper software. Not that bad considering
it gives you, the composer, the capability of an entire symphony orchestra,
and so very much more.
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