Vintage Synthesizers: Beginning of Synthesized Music

Synthesizers are electronic instruments, which areIn the late 1940s and early 50s different automated
capable of delivering a varied range of sounds.music controllers were invented. Raymond Scott,
Synthesizers are of different types. SynthesizersJohn Hanert, Hugh Le Caine and some others
have changed its look with time. Vintage synthesizersinvented these kinds of controllers.
were far more different from the modernBy 1960, modified synthesizers were invented. They
synthesizers. Synthesizers of old times were big andcould be played at real time. But they were so big
they did not offer so many facilities like today.that they had to be confined inside the sound studio.
Elisa Gray invented the first synthesizer in 1876. ItVintage synthesizers were basically made of modular
was called the musical telegraph at that time. Thedevices. They were not as much updated as the
invention of this instrument happened accidentally.modern synthesizers. They did not have many
Elisa Grey was also the inventor of telephone. Hefeatures. They normally had the piano tone. Some
used a telephone technology to invent thisother tones were also available, but there were not
instrument.much of them.
Once he suddenly discovered that sound can beVintage synthesizers were very experimental.
controlled from a self-vibrating electromagnetic circuit.Actually they were devices, which were made
And from this he invented a single note oscillator.specially. The mechanics were very much dependent
After this some other synthesizers were alsoon the concept of modularity. Robert Moog invented
invented. The vintage synthesizers derived theira synthesizer, which was a big hit at that time. This
technology from the early musical instruments,synthesizer was very much useful for the pop
analogue computer and some laboratory testmusicians. The best thing about this instrument was
instrument.that it was smaller than the previous ones and it
In 1937 Ivor Darreg created one microtonal electroniclooked more like an instrument than a machine.
keyboard oboe. After this Evgeny Murzin created anMicky Dolenz of the band The Monkees was the first
ANS synthesizer. A big Mark 2 Music Synthesizer wasone to buy this synthesizer. They used this
invented in 1958. It was kept at the Columbiainstrument in their fourth album, which was called
Princeton Electronic Music center located in New York.Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones Ltd. This album
The paradox with this synthesizer was it could onlywas released in 1967. This was the first album that
be played after preparing the full programming of thefeatured a synthesizer. The instrument became an
machine. There was a vacuum tube system. It hadinstant hit after the release of this album.
to be manually used, while creating any kind of newAs time moved on new experiment started taking
sound.place on synthesizers. And as a result, their new
In 1958 Daphne Oram too made a synthesizer. Itmodels were made. These modern ones are far
was made at BBC radio phonic Workshop. She usedmore upgraded than the older ones. But we shall not
a technique called Oramics technique to make thisforget that the vintage synthesizers were the first
instrument. BBC used this synthesizer for severalthat paved the way to these new ones. And for
years.that reason, we shall always remember them.