Synclavier I - the first digital synthesizer you could buy
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.ค. 2024
- One of the rarest musical instruments, the first generation Synclavier, a computer controlled synthesizer, is as flexible as you want it to be and sounds like nothing else. It is the first digital synthesizer ever sold commercially. In this video, Stefan talks about its history and includes high definition close ups of the insides and demo sounds.
Listen to some experimental music created on this Synclavier:
www.root-music.com/products/ot...
Listen to a factory preset sequence:
• NED Synclavier I Demo
Check out the Synclavier sample library for Logic Pro and NI Kontakt:
www.root-sounds.com/products/s...
Program your own music with MOXIE:
bitbucket.org/doug_collinge/m...
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casio was first digital synth everybody could buy
Actuly it was the microcorg
I did, too 😄
Man, this was amazing! Thanks for sharing such amazing, clear footage of this extremely rare gem.
They had one of these in the sound recording program at UMass-Lowell, all the wooden boxes filled with circuit boards and ribbon cables, etc.. By the time I was there in the early 90's, it was in storage - I had to ask to see it but Will Moylan let me - it was downstairs just sitting in dry storage. Keep in mind that this was around '92, a time when something like a Mac IIci or a K2000 was state of the art and (apparently) something like an ancient Sync-I was no longer cool. I asked him if I could attempt to fire it up and get sound out of it but he didn't want me messing with it (for what reason I don't know, as I was in my 30s at the time and he knew I would not have abused it in any way). As far as I know, it's still sitting there. My one regret from being in that program was not getting a chance to at least see if I could figure out how to get any sound out of it.
Sad to hear that - thanks for sharing!
pure history, amazing video!
Truly amazing instrument.
Beautiful!
incredibly underrated video
Beautiful
Excellent video! Cool edits. Thanks for making this.
Thank you - much appreciated!
Awesome close-ups and music! You can see the case was hand-made by an amateur wood-worker who should have stuck to programming. We bought the table saw at Dan and Whit's General Store. Everything was square because we did not have a belt sander.
Thanks Cameron! I actually love the case - God bless Dan and Whit's General Store :-)
Echt ein cooles Video, die Sound erinnern mich an alte Science-Fiction Serien, super!
Super cool!
Thanks 😊
Coolest thing I've seen all day.
Thanks 😊
Zappa was 1 of the very 1st to use it and Composed his Symphonies on it 😎👍🏻
Zappa used a Synclavier II. It’s well documented and he certainly knew his way around the instrument 👍
Very interesting piece of art.
Many thanks!
I think the band A-HA used both a Fairlight and a Synclavier in the production on some of their first albums.
incredible sounds at the end. such a beautiful and rare instrument too. seems a bit unfortunate that its going into a private collection instead of a studio or museum so it can be used by the public
Incredibly, there wasn't much interest! There aren't many places with resources to service such an instrument. Actually, I always wanted it in a museum where it would play algorithmic compositions.
I played one when at Brown University in 1978 at the MacColl Studio for Electronic Music. We really didn't know how to use it. I believe it's serial number was Instrument #2.
I heard Zappa got #1.
The custom software developed at your university certainly wasn’t for instant gratificationists lol. I remember asking in class after several weeks of learning how to program when this thing would finally start making music.
That was serial number #4 . I know because I worked at Brown University in the 90's and that Synclav 1 was there along with a Hazeltine 1200 computer and a wooden box 5 1/4 dual floppy drive. In the 90's that Synclav 1 system was no longer working. Only the Synclav 2 worked during my time there.
Special thanks to John Chowning for his work on FM synthesis...
Yes, he’s the man.
Hi there, I'm doing a short feature on the DX7 and development of FM and I need a good quality image of the Synclavier I to use in the video. Would you happen to have any quality photos you could share for the video? I'll be happy credit you and link to your channel if it helps. Cheers!
You can PM me via root-sounds.com
hahaha I got here after watching your video, madFame!
"the Synclavier- Stevie Wonder has it!" -Hank Shocklee, joking during a TapeOp interview
Yes, he did. Not this one, though.
Baloney! Actually the Allen Organ company invented the first digital computer musical instrument in 1971. This predated the Synclavier by 6-7 years. The Allen Digital Computer Organ was based on Rockwell Digital Technology. Allen offered offered the RMI Keyboard Computer KC-1. Introduced in 1974, the Keyboard Computer was the world's first digitized portable musical keyboard instrument. The advanced technology used in the Allen Organs was incorporated into a portable case, with it's own unique voicing. This instrument also predated the Synclavier by 3-4 years. The KC-1 was the FIRST digital SYNTHESIZER you could buy.
Thanks for your input. The RMI was earlier indeed, but it was a hybrid instrument.
There are those who would argue that the RMI keyboard computer was the first digital synth.
It’s a hybrid synth, though.
I don't know what 100kHz meant - maybe you could actually synthesize 100kHz with it, probably actually - but the 140dB dynamic range comes from the fact that there were 8-bit converters, yes, for 72 dB but the gain per channel was also controlled with another 8-bit converter, giving another 72dB. Theoretically, because all the software always used the full-scale range of the synthesis converter. However, assuming that you liked that "edgy 8-bit sound", you could ramp the gain down to inaudibility without losing any of it.
Another interesting aspect of the synthesis is that it used a unique method for clocking through the 8-bit wave tables. I can't remember the details but there was a master clock that was divided, then multiplied to get the address into the table. This algorithm produced audible artifacts in the sound, which I think also contributed to the edgy sound.
Excellent presentation, by the way!
Thanks Doug! So I gather we add 'CALL SETVOL' and CALL 'SETELIM' together for that fabulous dynamic range. Yes, I think the artifacts were actually quite pretty.
@@rootstudio247 The DACs he used were 8-bit "multiplying" DACs, which means that it was quite easy to put the extra scaling in. And they were quite cheap in those days.
MC1408 DACs if I recall correctly
@@dougcollinge6424 Yes, actually Cameron Jones has also mentioned the double scaling with dual converters in my facebook post. The entire unique architecture was part of the fun when making music with it. From a user point of view, I've never seen anything remotely like it elsewhere and probably never will.
The RMI Keyboard Computer was released in 1974.
The RMI. is a hybrid keyboard.
This was my first synth
You must be joking.
@@rootstudio247 im kidding my first synth was a kawai k11
Actually, the RMI harmonic synthesizer predates this as does the Solina string synth which is digital not analog.
The RMI predates it, yes, but it's a hybrid synth. As far as the Solina goes, it doesn't get much more analog than that.
The RMI Keyboard Computer also pre-dated the Synclavier. Jerome Markowitz’ Allen Digital Organs even pre-date Hal Alles and Doug Bayer’s work at Bell Labs. One could argue Allen Organs were the first Digital Synthesizers.
The RMI Keyboard Computer did use a super-early form of digital sampling, but in combination with analog filters and VCA (it was also limited to symmetric single-cycle waveforms). With the Synclavier, all audio processing is done "in-the-box" prior to hitting the digital-to-analog converters, making it a purely digital form of sound generation.
As far as ARP/Solina products, the closest you could find to being "digital" in terms of sound sources would actually be their Pro Soloist monosynth; it used a combination of a high-frequency oscillator and various frequency dividers as a numerically controlled oscillator (NCO), with various pulse widths being combined to form a 6-bit "staircase" sawtooth wave. That's about as close as you're gonna get, though.
The first fairlights was sold and shipped before the synclavier
The Fairlightwas great, but it came much later.
@@rootstudio247 incorrect. Where are you getting your information from? unfortunately I don't have the copies of the magazines I used to collect in those days with ads for various digital. There were several offered for sale before New England digital got their act together. There is one that sold a whole 5 models and then the parent company decided that the digital technology was too sensitive demanded that all the customers return them for a full refund. John Cage talked about having access to one of these but he couldn't afford to buy one. These could be programmed to be micro-tonal. John cage was playing with it set 124 notes per octave.
There was another one advertised and it's big selling point was the way you set up the sounds no 2 operators the would sound the same. The keyboard had four joy sticks to the left as standed but you could order it with them to the right.
The keyboard connected to the computer unit that had a monochrome screen.
I can't remember the name of either of these but they were offered for sale New England appeared on the scene.
In 1984 I saw a of a full-blown New England mega-system. The demonstrators were full of s**t and lied about this system and lied about ability to sample. They claimed that they been able to sample for quite a few years, but in an interview in keyboard magazine there was a prog-rock keyboard maestro who was saying if New England had the sampling option available for so long why did they keep telling him it wasn't ready. As they were going broke or after they are going it was quite a lot of customers complaining New England had been stealing parts from equipment sent for repairs and selling them built in to new units. Musicians who had projects they wanted to finish went to studios that advertised having new units. Several wanted to see how the new units were improved over what they had bought. So with the new owners permission they opened up these units only to find hard drive had the same serial number as theirs.
There were several musicians from England as well as the US talked about this in interviews.
I was studying electrical engineering and one of the teachers knew an owner of a fairlight mark 2 and they brought it a long to show the class. He recorded some of my singing to samples and passed it on to other users and Fairlight included it bundled samples. I don't think anyone ever used it without heavily processing it first. In those primitive days no one worried about copywrite for a 2 seconds sample.
I dropped out of that course the year. 1980. Retail units of Fairlight mk 2 out by early 1980 but their first units shipped in the late 70's.
Elvis Presley what's the first person to be showing a Fairlight in the USA. He died before delivery in 1977.
I think Stevie Wonder was the first American to receive one.
So if you're going off New England's own publicity it was pretty delusional
David, you may have more info on Fairlight than I do, but I'm not going by NED's publicity. In the video, I'm showing my own machine. It was sold in early 1978 to the university where I studied.
@@rootstudio247 Elvis died in 77 they were shipping just as he died. They sold the one that have a shift for him someone in Hollywood
Earliest date I have on the Fairlight CMI is 1979.
I had the Synclavier II but sold it to "THE WHO". Wish i hadn't
wich is not true , wolgang palm digital oscillator 1976 and in 1977 the ppg 340, there was also the bell labs Allis machine , there was the rmi harmonic synth from 1974 all predating the synclavier
Thanks for your comment - I believe the PPG 340 came in 1978 and it was hardly a commercial synth. The RMI is a hybrid synth and there were many others before 1978.
how do i buy it?
Go back to 1978 😜
I thought the Yamaha DX7 was the first digital synthesizer?
The DX7 came much later. If you’re interested in the history of FM synthesis, check out the excellent madFame video th-cam.com/video/sXt_NXjc7oY/w-d-xo.html
The DX7 is credited as being the first affordable mass market FM synth. The Synclavier could cost around 200 thousand dollars while the DX7 was just under 2 thousand at launch.
What was the point in owning one?
Mostly doing things you couldn't do with anything else, if that was your kind of thing.
The grandfather of a friend of mine had the first telephone in his town, the people asked him what was the point in owning one.
Sound design, composition, experimentation, FM programming etc.
Sorry but your wrong. The first ever commercial digital synth you could buy was the PPG sonic carrier. It was made 1974 by PPG wolfgang palm. Tangering dream bought 2.
That's actually an analog synth with digital control.
NED preceded PPG. The Sonic Carrier had analog voices. The first fully digital PPG was produced in 1979 and was called the Wave Computer 360
Actually the PPG 340/380 was the first fully digital synth from PPG in 1978 but were not made but in a very small quantities. I've bought Tangerine Dream's machine.
It´s like HAL 9000
As far as I know, there are only 2 surviving Synclavier 1s. This is one of them. The other one is owned by the (ex) furry youtuber Odin Wolf. I was able to play his at Anthrocon a few years ago. Interestingly, his was once owned by David Bowie.
I have been able to track down four of them. At least three of those are working. I am not sure about the other one.
3:15 me: He's not going to demonstrate the fucker is he?!
4:10: sure he does ;-)
This instrument cost the price of a house ….
Now a days even a used MacBook for about $200
Bucks could probably do what is was able to do … and then some ../
Yes, that processing power could easily emulate it while you’re surfing the web at the same time 😎
The first digital synth you could NOT buy , cause it seems it were the price of a house.
Well... it was expensive, but not *that* expensive. More like a decent used car.
I went to UVic and All I got was this lousy T-shirt
😆