What Exactly is The Synthesizer?
If you grew up in the 1970's, you probably associate the synthesizer with Rick Wakeman from Yes or Rick Wright from Pink Floyd. You might have an image of one or both of them surrounded by half-a-dozen keyboards. This fortress of synthesizers probably needed a cadre of engineers to set-up and an army of roadies to transport.
As a child growing up in the 1980's, whenever I think of synthesizers I think of an effeminate looking guy with big hair, and pushed up sleeves, standing behind a keyboard and playing it with one finger. Or worse yet, a lad with jerry-curls—decked out in a brightly colored suit—playing a keyboard that he wears around his neck like a guitar.
The descendants of the synthesizers found in the aforementioned memories are some of today's most fascinating and unique instruments. Instead of striking, strumming, or blowing to produce a vibration, the performer user a keyboard to control the production of an electronic sound generated by a variety of waveform synthesis techniques.
Elisha Gray invented the first electric synthesizer in 1876. More than 50 years later, Hammond came out with the Novachoard, generally regarded as the first commercial polyphonic synthesizer (that didn't sound like a Hammond organ). The company built over a 1000 of these units between 1939 and 1942.
The first commercially available synthesizer came out in the late 1960's, the brain-child of engineer Robert Moog. In the 1970's, synthesizers became portable for musicians to take on the road and in the 1980's, the instruments became affordable to the average public. In the late 1980's and throughout the 1990's, technology rose to incorporate synthesizers with computers and eventually home PCs.
One of the first albums released to feature a Moog synthesizer was The Monkees' Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. released in 1967. The Monkees' drummer, Mike Dolenz, bought one of the first 20 Moog models available. The following year, Walter (Wendy) Carlos, with help from Benjamin Folkman, reached the top of the charts with the album Switched-On Bach. Carlos and Folkman used Moog synthesizers to perform some of the most memorable works of the legendary German composer.
The synthesizer's popularity was further increased thanks to appearances on albums by rock's greatest artists like The Beatles, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Simon and Garfunkel, Pink Floyd, and Yes.
By the time the 1970's rolled around, the instrument was not only becoming more common in mainstream music but bands arose that used the synthesizers to create "electronic music." While these synthesizer bands gathered a loyal following they failed to capture much of a mainstream audience.
In the early 1980's, the use of synthesizers, and its cousin the drum machine, dominated a new genre of music called new wave. Bands such as New Order, Soft Cell, Depeche Mode, and OMD achieved commercial success with music dominated by the synthesizer, not the guitar. They became the vanguard of a sub-genre of music called synthpop.
Other artists of the era that utilized synthesizers with great success include Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Duran Duran, Thomas Dolby, Devo, Howard Jones, Thompson Twins, Culture Club, and Tears For Fears. The instrument even helped the hard rock band Van Halen achieve their only number one single, the synth-ladden, "Jump."
Today, synthesizers are as common in rock and pop as the guitar or the drum kit. Meanwhile, bands like MGMT, The Killers, Owl City, and Phoenix have emerged to carry on the mantle established by the great synthpop groups of the 1980's.
Electronic music that utilized the synthesizer was a small niche in the 1970's, but now, in the 21st century, there are several full-fledge genres that showcase the synthesizer and electronically produce music. These genres include breakbeat, electronica, house, trance, and techno.
The synthesizer has come a long way in 50 years. The instrument began life as a novelty for rock bands but is now a major part of popular music.