Instruments
Synthesizer
The basic synthesizer has proliferated into a huge variety of digitally controlled, electronically sound-generating musical instruments; it might be regarded as the grandparent to much of the popular-music sound apparatus of today. Synthesizers first appeared in the early 1950s (the first was RCA's Mark I machine of 1951), and were initially used mostly in university settings by experimental classical composers. They broke through to public consciousness in the middle 1960s with the development of the Moog synthesizer, named after its inventor, Robert A. Moog. All synthesizers are at root oscillators--generators of electronic waves--with a device, most often a keyboard, enabling the user to vary (or "modulate") the waves in various ways and to control the sound that results when the wave signal is amplified. The Moog (like its competitor the Buchla) was a so-called "analog synthesizer," but the instrument really came into its own when the microprocessor--basically a miniature computer--was added to the signal-processing machinery. The result was the "digital synthesizer," of which an early model was the Synclavier, first marketed in 1976. Since then, digitally controlled sound synthesis has been combined with myriad other forms of sound production, and has found its way to the center of contemporary musical creation.
Artist Highlights
| Artist |
Active |
Styles |
| Herbie Hancock
|
1960s - 2020s |
Fusion, Hard Bop, Jazz-Funk, Modal Music, Post-Bop, Piano Jazz, Funk, Jazz Instrument, Electro |
| Edgar Froese
|
1960s - 2010s |
Adult Alternative, Ambient, Experimental Electronic, Progressive Electronic |
| Wendy Carlos
|
1960s - 2000s |
Experimental Electronic, Microtonal, Avant-Garde Music, Film Score |
| Klaus Schulze
|
1960s - 2020s |
Ambient, Experimental Electronic, Kraut Rock, Avant-Garde Music, Alternative/Indie Rock, Space Rock |
| Hans-Joachim Roedelius
|
1960s - 2020s |
Ambient, Avant-Garde Music, Kraut Rock, Experimental, Progressive Electronic, Space Rock, Contemporary Instrumental, Experimental Electronic |
| Mark Isham
|
1970s - 2020s |
Original Score, Film Score, Film Music, Chamber Jazz, Soundtracks, Post-Bop, Progressive Electronic, Ambient |
| Brian Eno
|
1970s - 2020s |
Ambient, Art Rock, Experimental, Experimental Electronic, Alternative/Indie Rock, Experimental Rock, Glam Rock, Proto-Punk, Avant-Garde Music, Space |
| Bernie Worrell
|
1960s - 2010s |
Funk, Improvisation, Modern Creative, Post-Bop |
| Kitaro
|
1970s - 2020s |
Contemporary Instrumental, Ethnic Fusion, Progressive Electronic, Japanese Traditions, Keyboard/Synthesizer/New Age, Neo-Classical |
| Thomas Dolby
|
1970s - 2020s |
New Wave, Punk/New Wave, Synth Pop, Contemporary Pop/Rock |
| Giorgio Moroder
|
1960s - 2020s |
Disco, Soundtracks, Dance-Pop, Film Score, Pop |
| Patrick O'Hearn
|
1960s - 2020s |
Adult Alternative, Progressive Electronic, Chamber Music, Keyboard/Synthesizer/New Age, Ambient, Experimental Electronic, Concerto |
| Tomita
|
1950s - 2010s |
Progressive Electronic, Avant-Garde Music, Experimental Electronic, Japanese Traditions |
| Tim Story
|
1980s - 2020s |
Neo-Classical, Progressive Electronic, Space, Ambient, Avant-Garde Music, Electronic/Computer Music, Experimental Electronic |
| Robert Rich
|
1980s - 2020s |
Ambient, Electro-Acoustic, Ethnic Fusion, Experimental Ambient, Microtonal, Progressive Electronic, Space, Techno-Tribal, Minimalism, Dark Ambient, Experimental Electronic, Experimental |
| Keith Emerson
|
1960s - 2010s |
Art Rock, Prog-Rock, Film Score, Keyboard |
| Jan Hammer
|
1960s - 2020s |
Film Score, Fusion, Soundtracks, TV Music, Contemporary Pop/Rock, Crossover Jazz, TV Soundtracks |
| Mike Oldfield
|
1960s - 2020s |
Art Rock, Prog-Rock, Progressive Electronic, Classical Crossover, Neo-Classical, Avant-Garde Music, Experimental Electronic |
| Narada Michael Walden
|
1970s - 2020s |
Adult Contemporary, Disco, Dance-Pop, Soul |
| Michael Boddicker
|
|
Film Score, Hard Rock |