The term ‘guitar synthesizer’ refers to a system consisting of a guitar controller interfaced to a synthesizer sound-module. Such instruments afford the guitar player access to not only synthesized (or sampled) emulations of guitar sounds but also to a vast array of electronic tones and instrumental simulations. In this way, the guitarist can bring techniques, such as string bending ...
The world’s first synthesizer was the American RCA Mk I, made in 1951, whose bulk occupied a laboratory. To play it, composers such as Babbitt had to tap in punched-tape instructions – there was no keyboard. In 1964, Robert Moog (1934–2005) developed the first commercially successful synthesizer. It was capable of generating a wide range of sounds ...
music than the synthesizer. Its development opened up a whole new world of seemingly endless sonic possibilities and ushered in completely new forms of music. History The birth of the synthesizer dates back to the mid-1940s when Canadian physicist, composer and instrument builder, Hugh le Caine (1914–77) built the electronic sackbut, an instrument widely regarded as the first ...
In the 1950s, the American composer Babbitt was the first composer to work on a synthesizer which the US company RCA had developed. The resulting Composition for Synthesizer (1961) was Babbitt’s first fully synthesized work. It was followed in the same year by Vision and Prayer for soprano and synthesizer, and then Ensembles for Synthesizer (1962–64). Babbitt appreciated the ...
When a beam is blocked (or ‘plucked’, to further the harp analogy) the interruption is detected by a light-sensitive cell, and a corresponding MIDI note is transmitted to a synthesizer or sampled sound source. The instrument comes in framed or non-framed varieties and is visually dramatic. The most famous exponent of the laser harp is the French musician Jean-Michel Jarre ...
violins were marketed from the 1960s onwards by manufacturers such as Fender and Yamaha while specialist instruments such as the clavinet and keyboard bass also had periods of popularity. The synthesizer grew dominant in pop music in the 1980s as it became commercially available on a large scale. Programmable drum machines such as the Roland TR808, synthesizers like the Yamaha ...
Computer music can be defined as music that is generated by, or composed and produced by means of, a computer. The idea that computers might have a role to play in the production of music actually goes back a lot further than one might think. As early as 1843, Lady Ada Lovelace suggested in a published article that ...
and recording studio equipment, began to be further extended by the use of computers. The computer enables composers to examine and modify their work in unprecedented detail. Whereas the synthesizer can control pitch and timbre with ease, the computer can go a stage further and control musical time. IRCAM in Paris is an important centre for advanced music computing ...
wrote a concerto specially for it, performed in 1971, with a computer, not with the original device. Styles & Forms | Modern Era | Classical Instruments | Synthesizer | Modern Era | Classical ...
, thereby altering the tuning of the instrument. Notable lap and pedal steel-guitar players include Jerry Byrd and B.J. Cole. Introduction | Electric & Electronic Instruments Instruments | Guitar Synthesizer | Electric & Electronic ...
specialist pick-ups, to convert the vibration of strings into MIDI information. In this way, string players can use their instruments to trigger the sounds found in all MIDI synthesizer and sampler sound sources. Introduction | Electric & Electronic Instruments Instruments | Theremin | Electric & Electronic ...
dance-music mixers and audiences. Roger Linn’s LinnDrum, launched in 1986, is an influential instrument of the second type. It makes sampled drum sounds when special pads are hit. Synthesizer The synthesizer has come a long way since the world’s first one – the American RCA Mk I, made in 1951, whose bulk occupied a laboratory. To play ...
the electronic revolution as enthusiastically as their keyboard-playing counterparts. Early Electronic Drums Early electronic drum systems included the Electro-Harmonix Space Drum and the Pearl Syncussion of 1979, a two-channel synthesizer that could be triggered from a pair of bongo-like drums fitted with electronic transducers. This groundbreaking instrument suffered from a poor reputation due to the overuse of its synthetic, ...
and groups of backing singers. Electronic instruments have always been eagerly embraced by the pop industry as soon as they have become available, and instruments such as the Minimoog synthesizer and the clavinet were incorporated in the 1960s and 1970s by groups keen to create a new ‘sound’, as were both the expressive use of feedback and new pedal effects ...
of Larry Adler (1914–2001). Concertos have been written for the instrument by Vaughan Williams, Milhaud, Arnold and many others. Styles & Forms | Contemporary | Classical Instruments | Synthesizer | Contemporary | Classical ...
AUTHORITATIVE
An extensive music information resource, bringing together the talents and expertise of a wide range of editors and musicologists, including Stanley Sadie, Charles Wilson, Paul Du Noyer, Tony Byworth, Bob Allen, Howard Mandel, Cliff Douse, William Schafer, John Wilson...
CURATED
Classical, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Country and more. Flame Tree has been making encyclopaedias and guides about music for over 20 years. Now Flame Tree Pro brings together a huge canon of carefully curated information on genres, styles, artists and instruments. It's a perfect tool for study, and entertaining too, a great companion to our music books.
David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.