Family: Keyboard instruments
Photo: glacial23, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
A synthesizer creates sound electronically, from scratch. The simplest route (subtractive synthesis) goes like this: an oscillator produces a raw waveform, a filter sculpts its tone and an envelope decides how the sound rises and fades.
A short history
In the mid-1960s Robert Moog built modular synthesizers – large cabinets connected with patch cables. The breakthrough was the 1970 Minimoog: small, portable, with a keyboard, ready for the stage. Polyphonic synthesizers that could play chords followed, and digital ones arrived in the 1980s.
Fun facts
- Keith Emerson played a famous Moog solo on Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s „Lucky Man”.
- The famous riff in Van Halen’s „Jump” is played on an Oberheim synthesizer, not a guitar.
In rock and jazz
Rock: Rick Wakeman (Yes), Keith Emerson, Pink Floyd, Van Halen. Jazz and fusion: Herbie Hancock („Chameleon”), Joe Zawinul (Weather Report), Chick Corea.
Do you play this instrument? Share your experience in the comments below – tell others what is worth knowing.