Vintage Synthesizers: Beginning of Synthesized Music

Synthesizers are electronic instruments, which are capable of delivering a varied range of sounds. Synthesizers are of different types. Synthesizers have changed its look with time. Vintage synthesizers were far more different from the modern synthesizers. Synthesizers of old times were big and they did not offer so many facilities like today.

Elisa Gray invented the first synthesizer in 1876. It was called the musical telegraph at that time. The invention of this instrument happened accidentally. Elisa Grey was also the inventor of telephone. He used a telephone technology to invent this instrument.
Once he suddenly discovered that sound can be controlled from a self-vibrating electromagnetic circuit. And from this he invented a single note oscillator.

After this some other synthesizers were also invented. The vintage synthesizers derived their technology from the early musical instruments, analogue computer and some laboratory test instrument.

In 1937 Ivor Darreg created one microtonal electronic keyboard oboe. After this Evgeny Murzin created an ANS synthesizer. A big Mark 2 Music Synthesizer was invented in 1958. It was kept at the Columbia Princeton Electronic Music center located in New York. The paradox with this synthesizer was it could only be played after preparing the full programming of the machine. There was a vacuum tube system. It had to be manually used, while creating any kind of new sound.

In 1958 Daphne Oram too made a synthesizer. It was made at BBC radio phonic Workshop. She used a technique called Oramics technique to make this instrument. BBC used this synthesizer for several years.

In the late 1940s and early 50s different automated music controllers were invented. Raymond Scott, John Hanert, Hugh Le Caine and some others invented these kinds of controllers.

By 1960, modified synthesizers were invented. They could be played at real time. But they were so big that they had to be confined inside the sound studio. Vintage synthesizers were basically made of modular devices. They were not as much updated as the modern synthesizers. They did not have many features. They normally had the piano tone. Some other tones were also available, but there were not much of them.

Vintage synthesizers were very experimental. Actually they were devices, which were made specially. The mechanics were very much dependent on the concept of modularity. Robert Moog invented a synthesizer, which was a big hit at that time. This synthesizer was very much useful for the pop musicians. The best thing about this instrument was that it was smaller than the previous ones and it looked more like an instrument than a machine.

Micky Dolenz of the band The Monkees was the first one to buy this synthesizer. They used this instrument in their fourth album, which was called Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones Ltd. This album was released in 1967. This was the first album that featured a synthesizer. The instrument became an instant hit after the release of this album.

As time moved on new experiment started taking place on synthesizers. And as a result, their new models were made. These modern ones are far more upgraded than the older ones. But we shall not forget that the vintage synthesizers were the first that paved the way to these new ones. And for that reason, we shall always remember them.