A synthesizer (often abbreviated "synth") is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones. Synthesizers can usually produce a wide range of sounds, which may either imitate other instruments ("imitative synthesis") or generate new timbres.

Synthesizers use a number of different technologies or programmed algorithms, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Among the most popular waveform synthesis techniques are subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis, wavetable synthesis, frequency modulation synthesis, phase distortion synthesis, physical modeling synthesis and sample-based synthesis. Other sound synthesis methods, like subharmonic synthesis or granular synthesis, are not found in music synthesizers.

Synthesizers are often controlled with a piano-style keyboard, leading such instruments to be referred to simply as "keyboards". Several other forms of controller have been devised to resemble violins, guitars (see guitar synthesizer) and wind-instruments. Synthesizers without controllers are often called "modules", and they can be controlled using MIDI or CV/Gate methods.

History

The first electric synthesizer was invented in 1876 by Elisha Gray, who is best known for his development of a telephone prototype. In 1920s, Arseny Avraamov developed various systems of graphic sonic art. The Hammond Novachord was an early but unsuccessful harbinger of synth technology in the 1930s-40s. In 1949, Japanese composer Minao Shibata discussed the concept of "a musical instrument with very high performance" that can "synthesize any kind of sound waves" and is "operated very easily," predicting that with such an instrument, "the music scene will be changed drastically." In 1958, the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center developed the RCA Mark II Sound Synthesizer, the first programmable synthesizer. Prominent composers such as Vladimir Ussachevsky, Otto Luening, Milton Babbitt, Halim El-Dabh, Bülent Arel, Charles Wuorinen and Mario Davidovsky used the RCA Synthesizer extensively in various compositions.

Robert Moog introduced the first commercially available modern synthesizer in 1964. In the 1970s the development of miniaturized solid-state components allowed synthesizers to become self-contained, portable instruments. By the early 1980s companies were selling compact, modestly priced synthesizers to the public. This, along with the development of Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI), made it easier to integrate and synchronize synthesizers and other electronic instruments for use in musical composition. In the 1990s, synthesizers began to appear as computer software, known as software synthesizers.

The synthesizer had a considerable impact on 20th century music. Micky Dolenz of The Monkees bought one of the first Moog synthesizers. The band was the first to release an album featuring a Moog with ''Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.'' in 1967. It reached #1 on the charts. A few months later, both the Rolling Stones' "2000 Light Years from Home" and the title track of the Doors' 1967 album ''Strange Days'' would also feature a Moog, played by Brian Jones and Paul Beaver respectively. Wendy Carlos's ''Switched-On Bach'' (1968), recorded using Moog synthesizers, also influenced numerous musicians of that era and is one of the most popular recordings of classical music ever made, alongside the records of Isao Tomita (particularly ''Snowflakes are Dancing'' in 1974), who in the early 1970s utilized synthesizers to create new artificial sounds (rather than simply mimicking real instruments) and made significant advances in analog synthesizer programming.

The sound of the Moog also reached the mass market with Simon and Garfunkel's ''Bookends'' in 1968 and The Beatles' ''Abbey Road'' the following year, and hundreds of other popular recordings subsequently used synthesizers. Electronic music albums by Beaver and Krause, Tonto's Expanding Head Band, The United States of America and White Noise reached a sizeable cult audience and progressive rock musicians such as Richard Wright of Pink Floyd and Rick Wakeman of Yes were soon using the new portable synthesizers extensively. Other early users included Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Keith Emerson, Pete Townshend and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown's Vincent Crane.

During the 1970s, Jean Michel Jarre, Larry Fast and Vangelis released successful electronic instrumental albums. The emergence of Synthpop, a sub-genre of New Wave, in the late 1970s can be largely credited to synthesizer technology. The ground-breaking work of all-electronic German bands such as Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream, via David Bowie during his Berlin period (1976–77), as well as the pioneering work of the Japanese Yellow Magic Orchestra and British Gary Numan, were crucial in the development of the genre. Nick Rhodes, keyboardist of Duran Duran, used Roland Jupiter-4 and Jupiter-8 synthesizers. OMD's "Enola Gay" (1980) used a distinctive electronic percussion and synthesized melody. Soft Cell used a synthesized melody on their 1981 hit "Tainted Love". Other chart hits include Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough" (1981), and The Human League's "Don't You Want Me". English musician Gary Numan's 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars" used synthesizers heavily Other notable synthpop groups included Visage, Japan, Ultravox, Spandau Ballet, Culture Club, Eurythmics and Blancmange, and synthesizers became one of the most important instruments in the music industry. Other notable users include Giorgio Moroder, Howard Jones, Kitaro, Stevie Wonder, Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush, Frank Zappa, A Flock Of Seagulls and Devo.

Types of synthesis

Additive synthesis builds sounds by adding together waveforms (which are usually harmonically related). An early analog example of an additive synthesizer is the Hammond organ. Additive synthesis is also the principle of Wavetable synthesis, which is used to implement real-time synthesis with minimum hardware, commonly used in low-end MIDI instruments such as educational keyboards, and low-end sound cards.

Subtractive synthesis is based on filtering harmonically rich waveforms. Due to its simplicity, it is the basis of early synthesizers such as the Moog synthesizer. Subtractive synthesizers use a simple acoustic model that assumes an instrument can be approximated by a simple signal generator (producing sawtooth waves, square waves, etc.) followed by a filter. The combination of simple modulation routings (such as pulse width modulation and oscillator sync), along with the physically unrealistic lowpass filters, is responsible for the "classic synthesizer" sound commonly associated with "analog synthesis" and often mistakenly used when referring to software synthesizers using subtractive synthesis.

FM synthesis (frequency modulation synthesis) is a process that usually involves the use of at least two signal generators (sine-wave oscillators, commonly referred to as "operators" in FM-only synthesizers) to create and modify a voice. Often, this is done through the analog or digital generation of a signal that modulates the tonal and amplitude characteristics of a base carrier signal. FM synthesis was pioneered by Chowning, who patented the idea and sold it to Yamaha. Unlike the exponential relationship between voltage-in-to-frequency-out and multiple waveforms in classical 1-volt-per-octave synthesizer oscillators, Chowning-style FM synthesis uses a linear voltage-in-to-frequency-out relationship and sine-wave oscillators. The resulting complex waveform may have many component frequencies, and there is no requirement that they all bear a harmonic relationship. Sophisticated FM synths such as the Yamaha DX-7 series can have 6 operators per voice; some synths with FM can also often use filters and variable amplifier types to alter the signal's characteristics into a sonic voice that either roughly imitates acoustic instruments or creates sounds that are unique. FM synthesis is especially valuable for metallic or clangorous noises such as bells, cymbals, or other percussion.

Phase distortion synthesis is a method implemented on Casio CZ synthesizers. It is quite similar to FM synthesis but avoids infringing on the Chowning FM patent.

Granular synthesis is a type of synthesis based on manipulating very small sample slices.

Physical modeling synthesis is the synthesis of sound by using a set of equations and algorithms to simulate a real instrument, or some other physical source of sound. This involves taking up models of components of musical objects and creating systems which define action, filters, envelopes and other parameters over time. The definition of such instruments is virtually limitless, as one can combine any given models available with any amount of sources of modulation in terms of pitch, frequency and contour. For example, the model of a violin with characteristics of a pedal steel guitar and perhaps the action of piano hammer. When an initial set of parameters is run through the physical simulation, the simulated sound is generated. Although physical modeling was not a new concept in acoustics and synthesis, it wasn't until the development of the Karplus-Strong algorithm and the increase in DSP power in the late 1980s that commercial implementations became feasible. Physical modeling on computers gets better and faster with higher processing.

Sample-based synthesis One of the easiest synthesis systems is to record a real instrument as a digitized waveform, and then play back its recordings at different speeds to produce different tones. This is the technique used in "sampling". Most samplers designate a part of the sample for each component of the ADSR envelope, and then repeat that section while changing the volume for that segment of the envelope. This lets the sampler have a persuasively different envelope using the same note.

Analysis/resynthesis is a form of synthesis that uses a series of bandpass filters or Fourier transforms to analyze the harmonic content of a sound. The resulting analysis data is then used in a second stage to resynthesize the sound using a band of oscillators. The vocoder, linear predictive coding, and some forms of speech synthesis are based on analysis/resynthesis.

Components

Synthesizers generate sound through various analogue and digital techniques. Early synthesizers were analog hardware based but many modern synthesizers use a combination of DSP software and hardware or else are purely software-based (see softsynth). Digital synthesizers often emulate classic analog designs. Sound is controllable by the operator by means of circuits or virtual stages which may include:

Electronic oscillators – create raw sounds with a timbre that depends upon the waveform generated. Voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) and digital oscillators may be used. Additive synthesis models sounds directly from pure sine waves, somewhat in the manner of an organ, while Frequency modulation and Phase distortion synthesis use one oscillator to modulate another. Subtractive synthesis depends upon filtering a harmonically rich oscillator waveform. Sample-based and Granular synthesis use one or more digitally recorded sounds in place of an oscillator.

ADSR envelopes - provide envelope modulation to "shape" the volume or harmonic content of the produced note in the time domain with the principle parameters being attack, decay, sustain and release. These are used in most forms of synthesis. ADSR control is provided by ''Envelope Generators''.

Voltage-controlled filter (VCF) – "shape" the sound generated by the oscillators in the frequency domain, often under the control of an envelope or LFO. These are essential to subtractive synthesis.

Low frequency oscillation (LFO) – an oscillator of adjustable frequency that can be used to modulate the sound rhythmically, for example to create tremolo or vibrato or to control a filter's operating frequency. LFOs are used in most forms of synthesis.

Other sound processing effects such as ring modulators may be encountered.

Voltage-controlled amplifier (VCA) – After the signal generated by one (or a mix of more Voltage-controlled oscillators), modified by filters and LFOs, and the signal's waveform is shaped (contoured) by an ADSR Envelope Generator, it then passes on to one or more voltage-controlled amplifiers (VCA) where. The VCA is a preamp that boosts (amplifies) the electronic signal before passing on to an external or built-in power amplifier, as well as a means to control its volume using an attenuator that affects a ''control voltage'' (coming from the keyboard or other trigger source), which affects the gain of the VCA.

ADSR envelope

When an acoustic musical instrument produces sound, the loudness and spectral content of the sound change over time in ways that vary from instrument to instrument. The "attack" and "decay" of a sound have a great effect on the instrument's sonic character. Sound synthesis techniques often employ an envelope generator that controls a sound's parameters at any point in its duration. Most often this is an "ADSR" (Attack Decay Sustain Release) envelope, which may be applied to overall amplitude control, filter frequency, etc. The envelope may be a discrete circuit or module, or implemented in software. The contour of an ADSR envelope is specified using four parameters:

Attack time is the time taken for initial run-up of level from nil to peak, beginning when the key is first pressed.

Decay time is the time taken for the subsequent run down from the attack level to the designated sustain level.

Sustain level is the level during the main sequence of the sound's duration, until the key is released.

Release time is the time taken for the level to decay from the sustain level to zero after the key is released.

An early implementation of ADSR can be found on the polyphonic 1938 Hammond Novachord (which predates the first Moog synthesizer by over 25 years). A seven-position rotary knob set ADS for all 72 notes; a footpedal controlled release. The ADSR was specified by Vladimir Ussachevsky (then head of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center) in 1965 while suggesting improvements for Bob Moog's pioneering work on synthesizers.

A common variation of the ADSR on some synthesizers, such as the Korg MS-20, was ADSHR (attack, decay, sustain, hold, release). By adding a "hold" parameter, the system allowed notes to be held at the sustain level for a fixed length of time before decaying. The General Instruments AY-3-8912 sound chip included a hold time parameter only; the sustain level was not programmable. Another common variation in the same vein is the AHDSR (attack, hold, decay, sustain, release) envelope, in which the "hold" parameter controls how long the envelope stays at full volume before entering the decay phase. Multiple attack, decay and release settings may be found on more sophisticated models.

Certain synthesizers also allow for a "delay" parameter, which would come before the "attack". Modern synthesizers like the Dave Smith Instruments Prophet '08 have DADSR (delay, attack, decay, sustain, release) envelopes. The delay setting determines how long there is silence after a note is hit, before the attack is heard. Some software synthesizers such as Image-Line's 3xOSC (included for free with their DAW FL Studio) have DAHDSR (delay, attack, hold, decay, sustain, release) envelopes.

Some electronic musical instruments allow the ADSR envelope to be inverted, which results in opposite behavior compared to the normal ADSR envelope. During the attack phase, the modulated sound parameter fades from the maximum amplitude to zero then, during the decay phase, rises to the value specified by the sustain parameter. After the key has been released the sound parameter rises from sustain amplitude back to maximum amplitude.

Filter

Electronic filters are particularly important in subtractive synthesis, being designed to pass some frequency regions through unattenuated while significantly attenuating ("subtracting") others. The low-pass filter is most frequently used, but band-pass filters, band-reject filters and high-pass filters are also sometimes available.

The filter may be controlled with a second ADSR envelope. An "envelope modulation" ("env mod") parameter on many synthesizers with filter envelopes determines how much the envelope affects the filter. If turned all the way down, the filter will produce a flat sound with no envelope. When turned up the envelope becomes more noticeable, expanding the minimum and maximum range of the filter.

LFO

Low-frequency oscillation (LFO) is an electronic signal, usually below 20 Hz, that creates a rhythmic pulse or sweep, often used to create vibrato, tremolo and other effects. The abbreviation is also often used to refer to low-frequency oscillators themselves. In certain genres of electronic music, the LFO filter's cutoff is used to create a wider range of, often darker, sound such as the signature dubstep bass.

Control interfaces

Modern synthesizers often look like small pianos, though with many additional knob and button controls. These are integrated controllers, where the sound synthesis electronics are integrated into the same package as the controller. However many early synthesizers were modular and keyboardless, while most modern synthesizers may be controlled via MIDI, allowing other means of playing such as;

Fingerboards and touchpads

Wind controllers

Guitar-style interfaces

Drum pads

Music sequencers

Non-contact interfaces akin to theremins

Fingerboard controller

A ribbon controller or other violin-like user interface may be used to control synthesizer parameters. The concept dates to Maurice Martenot's 1928 Ondes Martenot (sliding a metal ring),, improved upon by Robert Moog (finger pressure). The ribbon controller has no moving parts. Instead, a finger pressed down and moved along it creates an electrical contact at some point along a pair of thin, flexible longitudinal strips whose electric potential varies from one end to the other. Older fingerboards used a long wire pressed to a resistive plate. A ribbon controller is similar to a touchpad, but a ribbon controller only registers linear motion. Although it may be used to operate any parameter that is affected by control voltages, a ribbon controller is most commonly associated with pitch bending.

Fingerboard-controlled instruments include the Hellertion, Heliophon, Trautonium, Electro-Theremin, Perspehone and the Swarmatron. A ribbon controller is used as an additional controller in the Yamaha CS-80 and CS-60, the Korg Prophecy and Korg Trinity series, the Kurzweil synthesizers, Moog synthesizers and others.

Rock musician Keith Emerson used it with the Moog modular synthesizer from 1970 onward. In the late 1980s, keyboards in the synth lab at Berklee College of Music were equipped with membrane thin ribbon style controllers that output MIDI. They functioned as MIDI managers, with their programming language printed on their surface, and as expression/performance tools. Designed by Jeff Tripp of Perfect Fretworks Co., they were known as Tripp Strips. Such ribbon controllers can serve as a main MIDI controller instead of a keyboard, as with the Continuum instrument.

Wind controllers

Wind controllers are convenient for woodwind or brass players or emulation, being designed along the lines of those instruments. These may be analog or MIDI controllers or may include built-in synthesizers. In addition to a key arrangement the controller has breath-operated pressure transducers, and may have gate extractors, velocity sensors and bite sensors. Saxophone style controllers have included the Lyricon, and products by Yamaha, Akai and Casio. The mouthpieces range from alto clarinet to alto saxophone sizes. Melodica or recorder style controllers have included the Variophon, Martinetta, Tubophon and Joseph Zawinul's custom Korg Pepe. A Harmonica style interfaces was the Millionizer.

Trumpet style controllers have included products by Steiner, Yamaha, Morrison and Akai. A breath controller may be used as an adjunct to a conventional synthesizer. The Steiner Master's Touch and products which interface to the Yamaha Breath Controller are examples. Several controllers also provide breath-like articulation capabilities.

Others

The Ondes Martenot control ''touche d’intensité'', Theremin, footpedal and lightbeam controllers are examples. Envelope following systems, the most sophisticated being the vocoder, follow the power or amplitude of an audio signial, rather than using pressure transducers. Various companies make accordion controllers that use pressure transducers on bellows for articulation. More direct articulation using the vocal tract without breath is the Talk box.

MIDI control

Synthesizers became easier to integrate and synchronize with other electronic instruments and controllers with the introduction of Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) in 1983. First proposed in 1981 by engineer Dave Smith of Sequential Circuits, the MIDI standard was developed by a consortium now known as the MIDI Manufacturers Association. MIDI is an opto-isolated serial interface and communication protocol. It provides for the transmission from one device or instrument to another of real-time performance data. This data includes note events, commands for the selection of instrument presets (i.e. sounds, or programs or patches, previously stored in the instrument's memory), the control of performance-related parameters such as volume, effects levels and the like, as well as synchronization, transport control and other types of data. MIDI interfaces are now almost ubiquitous on music equipment and are commonly available on personal computers (PCs).

The General MIDI (GM) software standard was devised in 1991 to serve as a consistent way of describing a set of over 200 tones (including percussion) available to a PC for playback of musical scores. For the first time, a given MIDI preset would consistently produce an instrumental sound on any GM-conforming device. The Standard MIDI File (SMF) format (extension .mid) combined MIDI events with delta times - a form of time-stamping - and became a popular standard for exchange of music scores between computers. In the case of SMF playback using integrated synthesizers (as in computers and cell phones), the hardware component of the MIDI interface design is often unneeded.

Open Sound Control (OSC) is another music data specification designed for online networking. In contrast with MIDI, OSC allows thousands of synthesizers or computers to share music performance data over the Internet in realtime.

Arpeggiator

An arpeggiator is a feature available on some synthesizers that automatically steps through a sequence of notes based on an input chord, thus creating an arpeggio. The notes can often be transmitted to a MIDI sequencer for recording and further editing. An arpeggiator may have controls to manipulate the order and speed in which the notes play; upwards, downwards, or in a random order. More advanced arpeggiators allow the user to step through a complex sequence of notes or play several arpeggios at once. Some allow a pattern to be sustained even if the keys are released: in this way an arpeggiated pattern may be built up over time by pressing several keys one after the other. Arpeggiators are also commonly found in sequencing software. Some sequencers expand this into a full phrase sequencer, which allows the user to trigger complex, multi-track blocks of sequenced data from a keyboard or input device, typically synchronised with the tempo of the master clock.

Arpeggiators grew from hardware sequencers of the late 1960s and early 1970s, such as the 16-step ARP Sequencer, and the sequencers of modular synthesizers and were commonly fitted to keyboard instruments through the late 1970s and early 1980s. Notable examples are the Roland Jupiter 8, Oberheim OB-Xa, Roland SH-101, Sequential Circuits Six-Trak and Korg Polysix. A famous example can be heard on Duran Duran's song "Rio", in which the arpeggiator on a Roland Jupiter-4 is heard playing a C minor chord in random mode. They fell out of favour by the latter part of the 1980s and early 1990s and were absent from the most popular synthesizers of the period but a resurgence of interest in analog synthesizers during the 1990s, and the use of rapid-fire arpeggios in several popular dance hits, brought with it a resurgence.

Imitative synthesis

Sound synthesis can be used to mimic acoustic sound sources. Generally, a sound that does not change over time will include a fundamental partial or harmonic, and any number of partials. Synthesis may attempt to mimic the amplitude and pitch of the partials in an acoustic sound source.

When natural sounds are analyzed in the frequency domain (as on a spectrum analyzer), the spectra of their sounds will exhibit amplitude spikes at each of the fundamental tone's harmonics corresponding to resonant properties of the instruments (spectral peaks that are also referred to as formants). Some harmonics may have higher amplitudes than others. The specific set of harmonic-vs-amplitude pairs is known as a sound's harmonic content. A synthesized sound requires accurate reproduction of the original sound in both the frequency domain and the time domain. A sound does not necessarily have the same harmonic content throughout the duration of the sound. Typically, high-frequency harmonics will die out more quickly than the lower harmonics.

In most conventional synthesizers, for purposes of re-synthesis, recordings of real instruments are composed of several components representing the acoustic responses of different parts of the instrument, the sounds produced by the instrument during different parts of a performance, or the behavior of the instrument under different playing conditions (pitch, intensity of playing, fingering, etc.)

Patch

A synthesizer patch (some manufacturers chose the term program) is a sound setting. Modular synthesizers used cables ("patch cords") to connect the different sound modules together. Since these machines had no memory to save settings, musicians wrote down the locations of the patch cables and knob positions on a "patch sheet" (which usually showed a diagram of the synthesizer). Ever since, an overall sound setting for any type of synthesizer has been known as a patch.

By 1978, patch memory (allowing storage and loading of 'patches' or 'programs') began to appear in synths like the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5. After MIDI was introduced in 1983, more and more synthesizers could import or export patches via MIDI ''SYSEX'' commands. When a synthesizer patch is uploaded to a personal computer which has patch editing software installed, the user can alter the parameters of the patch and download it back to the synthesizer. Because there can be no standard patch language it is rare that a patch generated on one synthesizer can be used on a different model. However sometimes manufacturers will design a family of synthesizers to be compatible.

Synth pad

A synth pad is a sustained chord or tone generated by a synthesizer, often employed for background harmony and atmosphere in much the same fashion that a string section is often used in acoustic music. Typically, a synth pad plays many whole or half notes, sometimes holding the same note while a lead voice sings or plays an entire musical phrase. Often, the sounds used for synth pads have a vaguely organ, string, or vocal timbre. Much popular music in the 1980s employed synth pads, this being the time of polyphonic synthesizers, as did the then-new styles of smooth jazz and New Age music. One of many well-known songs from the era to incorporate a synth pad is "West End Girls" by the Pet Shop Boys, who were noted users of the technique.

The main feature of a synth pad is very long attack and decay time with extended sustains. In some instances pulse-width modulation (PWM) using a square wave oscillator can be added to create a "vibrating" sound.

Synth lead

A synth lead is generally used for playing the main melody of a song, but it is also often used for creating rhythmic or bass effects. Although most commonly heard in electronic dance music, synth leads have been used extensively in hip-hop and rock songs since the 1980s. Most modern music relies heavily on the synth lead to provide a musical hook to sustain the listener's interest throughout an entire song. Heavy use of synth lead is used by artists such as Lil Jon in Snap Yo Fingas and Usher in "Yeah!" as representative of the Crunk music genre.

Bass synthesizer

The bass synthesizer (or "bass synth") is used to create sounds in the bass range, from simulations of the electric bass or double bass to distorted, buzz-saw-like artificial bass sounds, by generating and combining signals of different frequencies. Bass synth patches may incorporate a range of sounds and tones, including wavetable-style, analog, and FM-style bass sounds, delay effects, distortion effects, envelope filters. A modern digital synthesizer uses a frequency synthesizer microprocessor component to generate signals of different frequencies. While most bass synths are controlled by electronic keyboards or pedalboards, some performers use an electric bass with MIDI pickups to trigger a bass synthesizer.

In the 1970s miniaturized solid-state components allowed self-contained, portable instruments such as the Moog Taurus, a 13-note pedal keyboard which was played by the feet. The Moog Taurus was used in live performances by a range of pop, rock, and blues-rock bands. An early use of bass synthesizer was in 1972, on a solo album by John Entwistle (the bassist for The Who), entitled ''Whistle Rymes''. Stevie Wonder introduced synth bass to a wider audience in the early 1970s, notably on ''Superstition'' (1972) and ''Boogie On Reggae Woman'' (1974). In 1977 Parliament's funk single ''Flashlight'' used the bass synthesizer. Lou Reed, widely considered a pioneer of electric guitar textures, played bass synthesizer on "Families", from his 1979 album ''The Bells''.

When the programmable music sequencer became widely available in the 1980s (e.g., the synclavier), bass synths were used to create highly syncopated rhythms and complex, rapid basslines. Bass synth patches incorporate a range of sounds and tones, including wavetable-style, analog, and FM-style bass sounds, delay effects, distortion effects, envelope filters. A particularly influential bass synthesizer was the Roland TB-303, featuring a built-in sequencer and released in late 1981, and which would later become synonymous with acid house music. One of the first to utilize it was Charanjit Singh in 1982, though it wouldn't be popularized until Phuture's "Acid Tracks" in 1987.

In the 2000s, several companies such as Boss and Akai produced bass synthesizer effect pedals for electric bass players, which simulate the sound of an analog or digital bass synth. With these devices, a bass guitar is used to generate synth bass sounds. The BOSS SYB-3 was one of the early bass synthesizer pedals. The SYB-3 reproduces sounds of analog synthesizers with Digital Signal Processing saw, square, and pulse synth waves and user-adjustable filter cutoff. The Akai bass synth pedal contains a four-oscillator synthesizer with user selectable parameters (attack, decay, envelope depth, dynamics, cutoff, resonance). Bass synthesizer software allows performers to use MIDI to integrate the bass sounds with other synthesizers or drum machines. Bass synthesizers often provide samples from vintage 1970s and 1980s bass synths. Some bass synths are built into an organ style pedalboard or button board.

See also

Analytic signal

''Beauty in the Beast''

Computer music

Electronic keyboard

Electronic oscillator

Envelope detector

Guitar synthesizer

Keytar

List of classic synthesizers

List of synthesizer manufacturers

Low-frequency oscillation

Modular synthesizer

Musical instrument

Musitron

Sampler (musical instrument)

Software synthesizer

Vocaloid

References

Further reading

Gorges, Peter (2005). ''Programming Synthesizers'', Wizoobooks, Germany, Bremen, ISBN 978-3-934903-48-7.

Schmitz, Reinhard (2005). ''Analog Synthesis'', Wizoobooks, Germany, Bremen, ISBN 978-3-934903-01-2.

Shapiro, Peter (2000). ''Modulations: A History of Electronic Music: Throbbing Words on Sound'', ISBN 1-891024-06-X.

External links

Sound Synthesis Theory wikibook

Vintagesynth — Vintage Synth Explorer

Synth Museum — Vintage Synth Resource

SoundProgramming.Net - Synthesizer Manual Repository

120 years of Electronic Music — Machines used from 1870–1990

Principles of Sound Synthesis at Salford University

From "Home Sweet Home" to "Karn Evil 9" : Hagley Library Documents the Origins of the Synthesizer

Category:1953 introductions Category:Electronic musical instruments * Category:Contrabass instruments Category:Hip hop Category:Bass (sound) Category:Keyboard instruments

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name	Butch Walker
background	solo_singer
birth name	Bradley Glenn Walker
born	November 14, 1969Cartersville, Georgia, U.S.
instrument	Vocals, Guitar, Piano, Bass, Percussion, Hammond organ, Mandolin-banjo
genre	Glam metal (early)Pop punk Post-grunge Rock Pop rock Hard rock
occupation	Singer-songwriter, Musician, Producer
years active	1985–present
label	Original Signal, Dangerbird Records, Lojinx
associated acts	Marvelous 3, SouthGang Floyds Funk Revival, Floyds
website	ButchWalker.com
notable instruments	}}

Butch Walker (born Bradley Glenn Walker on November 14, 1969) is a current American recording artist, songwriter, and record producer who was also the lead guitarist for the metal band SouthGang from the late 80s to early 90s as well as the lead vocalist and guitarist for rock band Marvelous 3 from 1997 until 2001.

Career

Walker grew up in Cartersville, Georgia and stood out as a guitarist and performer in several rock bands in the 1980s including Bad Boyz and Byte the Bullet. In 1988, he took Byte the Bullet to LA and they were signed to Virgin Records within the year. The band then changed their name to SouthGang and released two albums, ''Tainted Angel'' in 1991 and ''Group Therapy'' in 1992. SouthGang was one of the first bands to tour China in the early 1990s. Southgang disbanded when Walker lost interest in continuing, but he remained on good terms with all the other members of the band.

After Southgang, Walker formed a new band with ex-SouthGang members Jayce Fincher and Mitch McLee (aka: Doug Mitchell), calling themselves Floyd's Funk Revival after Walker's birthplace, Floyd county Georgia. Walker shared lead vocals in the band with Fincher's wife, Chrystina Lloree. They released one full length album, Creamy. The album contained thirteen original tracks with Lloree taking a large share of the lead vocals and heavy reliance on guitar. The band then shortened their name to The Floyds. They released one self-titled album on the Deep South label, which contained ten original tracks along with a humorous intro piece. Bonus tracks included a cover of Duran Duran's "Rio", and a live rendition of the Shasta soda jingle from the late seventies. (See Amazon.com and TheMarvieChronicles.com) The style of both these albums was guitar-oriented, mainstream rock with mild funk influences, and was a forerunner to the more basic guitar-oriented rock approach Walker took later with Marvelous 3. Although the albums are highly regarded among the people who discovered them (see Amazon.com reviews), they failed to sell many copies, and both albums are now quite rare. They are highly coveted by fans of Butch Walker, and the few copies that surface in the used cd market today command very high prices.

In 1997, Walker, Fincher, and McLee transformed themselves again, scaling back to a trio with Walker handling all the lead vocals. They also decided to streamline their sound to more of a "power pop" type of band. Calling themselves Marvelous 3, they released the album "Math and Other Problems" on Deep South Records in 1997. They followed this in 1999 with "Hey!Album" on Elektra records and had a minor hit with the song "Freak of the Week." The next year, they released their final album, "ReadySexGo", also on Elektra. That album failed to continue the momentum created by the prior release, however, and perceiving a lack of support from their record label, they disbanded in 2001. Their final concert was on August 3, 2001 at Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park in front of their hometown fans.

Butch Walker then began a solo career, releasing the albums ''Left of Self-Centered'' in 2002, ''Letters'' in 2004 and ''The Rise and Fall of Butch Walker and the Let's-Go-Out-Tonites'' in 2006. In 2005 he played over 200 live shows across both the U.S. and Japan, and he released his first DVD, ''Live at Budokan''. At the end of 2005 he was named as ''Rolling Stone'''s producer of the year. Butch Walker was featured as a headlining artist on the MySpace-promoted Inaugural Hotel Cafe tour, supporting independent artists from the Los Angeles venue of the same name.

Butch Walker began 2008 by setting out many dates for new songs, DVDs, new albums both with the band 1969, which he is the bassist and lead singer for, and also a solo record titled ''Sycamore Meadows''. He stated that he was planning to release something on every major holiday in 2008. On February 14, 2008, an audio release of Walker's live performance in his hometown of Atlanta, GA, was released. A DVD of this show followed on March 17, 2008. The DVD and audio are titled ''Leavin' the Game on Luckie Street'' (Luckie Street is the road the venue at which the show was played, the Tabernacle in Atlanta, GA). Then working with ''Michael Chislett'' of The Academy Is... and Darren Dodd of ''The Let's Go Out Tonites'' under the name 1969 released a full-length debut album titled ''Maya'' on April 1, 2008. ''Sycamore Meadows'' was originally slated for a holiday release in the summer of 2008, but was postponed due to personal reasons until November 11, according to his MySpace blog. The first single, "The Weight of Her", and an additional track, "Ships in a Bottle", are available on iTunes. The video for "Ships in a Bottle" documents Butch walking on the grounds of his home on Sycamore Meadows Drive in Southern California after it was destroyed by the wildfires of November 2007. Both ''Maya'' and ''Sycamore Meadows'' were released on a limited run of vinyl.

An effort begun in 2009, Butch released "I Liked It Better When You Had No Heart" on February 23, 2010. It was released under the name Butch Walker & the Black Widows. Recording sessions were held at RubyRed Productions in Santa Monica, Ca. Butch's support of the record includes touring with Train beginning March, 2010, a headlining tour of the States, and opening for Pink in Europe on her Stadium Festival Tour.

Productions and Collaborations

In July 2009, Butch Walker worked with Weezer on their album "Raditude". Butch mentioned working with the band during a radio interview with 99x. He was being interviewed via phone along with Cee Lo from Gnarls Barkley who was in the actual studio. Butch co-wrote and Produced several songs on "Raditude", including the first single, "If You're Wondering if I Want You To... (I Want You To)", which hit Number 1 hit on the Modern rock Chart.

In 2007, Walker provided guest vocals on Fall Out Boy's third record ''Infinity on High'', on the track "You're Crashing, but You're No Wave", and co-produced the track "Don't You Know Who I Think I Am?" with singer Patrick Stump. He also made a brief cameo in the video for "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race".

Walker also appears in The Academy Is... videos for "Slow Down" and "We've Got a Big Mess on Our Hands" as well as the video for "So What" by Pink. He also co-wrote the songs "Breaking" and "Younglife", both of which are performed by Anberlin and co-written by them.

Walker also joined the 9th annual Independent Music Awards judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers. He was also a judge for the 8th annual Independent Music Awards.

In January 2009, post-hardcore band Saosin tapped Walker to produce their second album for Capitol Records.

In March 2009, the song "Open Happiness" debuted, a new business venture by Coca-Cola, written by Walker, and featuring Cee-Lo Green, Travis McCoy, Janelle Monae, Patrick Stump and Brendon Urie. This song has a Cantonese cover version by Joey Yung on her new album, ''A Time For Us'', and she is also filming advertisements for Coca Cola in Chinese.

Many of his songs have been hits for other artists, including Avril Lavigne, Sevendust, Injected, The Donnas, Hot Hot Heat, American Hi-Fi, Default, Gob, Midtown, Puffy AmiYumi, Pete Yorn, Fall Out Boy, Quietdrive, All-American Rejects, SR-71, The Academy Is... and recently The Cab, Saosin, NeverShoutNever!, Weezer, Dashboard Confessional and All Time Low.

Currently

Butch signed on to judge a competition called Spin's Hot Pursuit to find an unsigned band for Epic Records/Original Signal hosted on Music Nation.

Butch has been known to break his music down to the bare basics, and played a series of sold-out live shows with just acoustic guitar and vocals beginning in Fall, 2009, accompanied by friends including at various times Pink, actor Jeremy Piven, Jim Bianco, The Chapin Sisters and doctor Stephen Patt on steel guitar. Out of the shows came a tongue-in-cheek-cover of Taylor Swift's single "You Belong With Me" on banjolin, which was met with enough interest that Butch recorded a video and audio version in his studio, and as a goof, posted on youtube. The results were astounding: Taylor blogged about the video, it went viral, and then Ms. Swift invited Butch to appear with her at the Winter 2010 Grammy Awards, where he joined Taylor with singer Stevie Nicks onstage for a trio of songs.

On August 30, 2011 Butch Walker will release his second album with the Black Widows entitled The Spade. The first single released will be "Summer of '89".

Personal life

When Butch graduated high school, he says that he weighed 215 lbs but subsequently dropped to 165 lbs. In November 2007, Butch and family lost all of their possessions, including the masters to every song he had ever recorded, when the Malibu home he was renting from Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers burned down as a result of a wildfire in Southern California. Butch titled his album "Sycamore Meadows" after the street the house was on.

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Album details	Peak chart positions
		US	! width="50"	! width="50"
2002		-	-	-
2004	align="left"	171	10	137
2006		-	-	294
2008		173	7	-
2010		125	1	-
2011		-	-	-

Live albums

''This Is Me... Justified and Stripped'' (2004)

''Leavin' the Game on Luckie Street'' (2008)

EPs

''Heartwork'' (2004)

''Cover Me Badd'' (2005)

Live at Lollapalooza 2008 (2008)

''Here Comes The... EP'' (2009)

DVDs

''Live at Budokan'' (2005)

''Leavin' The Game On Luckie Street DVD'' (2008)

Featured In

"You're Crashing But You're No Wave" By Fall Out Boy (2007)

"Christmas All Over Again" by Butch Walker and Taryn Manning (2008)

"Good Times" By Tommy Lee (2005)

Produced Records

Marvelous 3 - Math And Other Problems (1997)

Marvelous 3 - Hey! Album (1998)

Marvelous 3 - Ready, Sex, Go (2000)

Injected - Burn It Black (2002)

Bowling for Soup - Drunk Enough to Dance (2002)

SR-71 - Tomorrow (2002)

Pete Yorn - Day I Forgot (2003)

Shawn Mars - Red Means Go (2003)

Gob - Foot In Mouth Disease (2003)

Default - Elocation (2003)

Sevendust - Seasons (2003)

Avril Lavigne - Under My Skin (2004)

Simple Plan - Still Not Getting Any... (2004)

Midtown - Forget What You Know (2004)

The Donnas - Gold Medal (2004)

American Hi-Fi - Hearts on Parade (2005)

Lindsay Lohan - A Little More Personal (Raw) (2005)

Wakefield - Which Side Are You On? (2005)

Pink - I'm Not Dead (2006)

PUFFY - Splurge (2006)

Family Force 5 - Business Up Front/Party in the Back (2006)

Pete Yorn - Nightcrawler (2006)

Quietdrive - When All That's Left Is You (2006)

Rock Star Supernova - Rock Star Supernova (2006)

Bowling For Soup - The Great Burrito Extortion Case (2006)

Avril Lavigne - The Best Damn Thing (2007)

The Academy Is... - Santi (2007)

The Honorary Title - Scream & Light Up the Sky (2007)

Hot Hot Heat - Happiness Ltd. (2007)

PUFFY - Honeycreeper (2007)

The Automatic - This Is A Fix (2008)

Katy Perry - One of the Boys (2008)

Pink - Funhouse (2008)

The Films - Oh, Scorpio! (2009)

Secondhand Serenade - A Twist In My Story (2009)

PUFFY - Bring It! (2009)

All Time Low - Nothing Personal (2009)

Weezer - Raditude (2009)

Saosin - In Search Of Solid Ground (2009)

Plastiscines - About Love (2009)

Dashboard Confessional - Alter the Ending (2009)

The Rocket Summer - Of Men and Angels (2010)

Never Shout Never - What Is Love (2010)

Avril Lavigne - Goodbye Lullaby (2011)

Panic! At The Disco - Vices & Virtues (2011)

References

External links

2009 Interview Podcast with Butch Walker on BackstageMusician.Com

Interview from 2002 from PlugInMusic.com

Butch Walker's Top 10 Albums of 2008

Butch Walker Production Credit List (Discography) - beatbuggy.com

Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:Lead guitarists Category:American rock guitarists Category:American rock singer-songwriters Category:American male singers Category:American pop singers Category:American record producers Category:Crush Management artists

de:Butch Walker es:Butch Walker hr:Butch Walker it:Butch Walker ja:ブッチ・ウォーカー pt:Butch Walker

name	Vince Clarke
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Vincent John Martin
born	July 03, 1960South Woodford, EnglandUnited Kingdom
instrument	Vocals, keyboards, guitar, violin, piano, bass guitar
genre	Synthpop, new wave
occupation	Musician, songwriter, remixer, DJ, producer
years active	1979–present
label	Mute RecordsReset Records
associated acts	Depeche Mode, Yazoo, The Assembly, Erasure, Robert Marlow
website	www.vinceclarkemusic.com
notable instruments	Roland Synthesizers, Moog Synthesizers, Oberheim Synthesizers, Casio CZ-101 }}

Vince Clarke (born Vincent John Martin, 3 July 1960, South Woodford, London) is an English synthpop musician and songwriter often referred to as the Benjamin Franklin of synth music. Clarke has been involved with a number of successful groups, including Depeche Mode, Yazoo, The Assembly and Erasure.

Early years

Born in South Woodford (then in Essex) and raised in Basildon, Essex, Vince Martin initially studied the violin and then the piano.

Depeche Mode

In the late-1970s, Clarke and schoolmate Andy Fletcher formed the short-lived band ''No Romance in China''. In 1979, he teamed up with Fletcher to form ''French Look'', an early incarnation of Depeche Mode. The band was renamed ''Composition of Sound'', following the addition of Martin Gore. Clarke provided vocals until 1980, when singer Dave Gahan joined the band, which was now renamed Depeche Mode. At that time, Clarke adopted his stage-name. The band initially adopted a slick synthesised electropop sound, which produced the album ''Speak and Spell'' and the Clarke-penned singles "Dreaming of Me", "New Life" and "Just Can't Get Enough" in 1981.

Clarke left Depeche Mode shortly thereafter. There were many rumoured reasons pertaining to his departure. Clarke himself has stated that he did not enjoy the direction in which the band was going. He commented on Depeche Mode's later material as being a little dark for his taste, but good nonetheless. He also commented: "Martin was a strong writer. He always had been. And I think when I left, it gave him the chance just to sort of emerge as the songwriter. I mean, he could always write songs. It's not like he just started because I left". Clarke also stated that he didn't enjoy the public aspects of success, such as touring and interviews, and found himself frequently at odds with his bandmates, particularly on the tour bus. He also stated: "I think everybody in the band, especially myself, imagined that the reason we were doing so well was because of themselves… We were pretty young and very lucky, and things had happened very quickly for us and I don't think we were really mature to handle the situation." Depeche Mode went on to achieve international stardom.

Yazoo

Clarke then teamed up with singer Alison Moyet (at the time known by the nickname of 'Alf') to form the extremely popular synthpop band Yazoo (known as Yaz in the U.S.), which produced two albums and a string of hits including "Only You", "Don't Go", "Situation", "The Other Side of Love", "Nobody's Diary" and "Walk Away from Love".

Yazoo split in 1983, and Moyet went on to have a successful solo career. Yazoo reformed in 2008 for a series of live dates to celebrate 25 years since the duo's split.

The Assembly

In 1983 Clarke teamed up with Eric Radcliffe and it was their idea to collaborate as one-off associations with different artists on each new single, under the name The Assembly, notably with singer Feargal Sharkey they scored the Top 5 hit "Never Never". In the meanwhile he founded the label Reset Records with Eric Radcliffe. During 1983 and further on in 1984, he produced four singles "The Face of Dorian Gray" "I Just Want to Dance", "Claudette" and "Calling All Destroyers" for his friend Robert Marlow, which were released on this label. They also produced an album, which was shelved but was released much later in 1999 under the name ''The Peter Pan Effect''. In 1985, another collaboration took place with Paul Quinn of Bourgie Bourgie, the result was the single "One Day" by Vince Clarke & Paul Quinn. However, the project never took off, and Clarke moved on to other projects.

Erasure

In early 1985, Clarke put an ad in ''Melody Maker'' for a singer, and one applicant was Andy Bell, who was a fan of his earlier projects. He teamed with Bell to form the group Erasure, and the duo became one of the major selling acts in British music with international hits like "Oh L'amour", "Sometimes", "Chains of Love", "A Little Respect", "Chorus", "Love to Hate You", "Take a Chance on Me" and "Always".

The band has released sixteen albums to date and have enjoyed a long string of hit singles spanning their more than two decades together, most recently topped-off by the 2005 top five hit "Breathe" taken from their ''Nightbird'' album. In 2006 Erasure produced a country-western style acoustic album consisting of mostly non-single cuts from their previous albums. This album, ''Union Street'' was preceded by the single "Boy" originally included on their 1997 ''Cowboy'' album.

On 26 January 2007, in a video message on the official Erasure website, the band announced the release of their sixteenth (thirteenth studio) album, entitled ''Light at the End of the World''. Released in the UK on 21 May 2007, with a US release the following day, it was preceded by the single "I Could Fall in Love with You", released on 2 April 2007. The second single, "Sunday Girl" was subsequently released.

The album was produced by Gareth Jones and was a more "dance oriented" effort than some of their more recent work with Clarke making reference to the new material sounding potentially a bit more like Andy Bell's 2005 solo effort ''Electric Blue''.

Erasure went on to tour with Cyndi Lauper, Deborah Harry, Margaret Cho and other artists, for the 2007 True Colors Tour of the United States, a tour which benefited gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender freedoms and rights. Erasure then went out on their own, headlining the "Light at the End of the World" tour in North America and Europe.

The band released a new EP, ''Storm Chaser'', in September 2007. The EP contains nine tracks, one of them the winner of an online fan remix contest, for the track "When A Lover Leaves You", from the ''Light at the End of the World'' album.

Clarke has stated in recent interviews that a new Erasure album is already in the works, one of a darker soundtrack nature. The resulting album, ''Tomorrow's World'' is due for release in October 2011.

Additional work

In July 1984, Clarke teamed Stephen Luscombe of Blancmange, Pandit Dinesh and Asha Bhosle. The group, West India Company, released a four track, self-titled EP.

Clarke worked with synthpop producer Martyn Ware (of Heaven 17 and The Human League) in 1999 as "The Clarke & Ware Experiment" and released the album ''Pretentious''. The duo collaborated again in 2001 for the album ''Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle'', which was created with "3D music technology" specifically designed for listening in headphones. 2001 also saw the release of the Clarke-produced album ''Erasure's Vince Clarke'' which featured ''The Peter Pan Effect,'' an album that he and Eric Radcliffe produced for his long time friend, Robert Marlow. Clarke wrote "Let's Get Together" for the pop girl group Girl Authority for their second album, ''Road Trip''. The song was originally meant to be for Depeche Mode, but was never recorded by them. Clarke also co-wrote "What Do I Want From You?" with Freeform Five, for their album ''Strangest Things'' (2005).

Also in 2001, Clarke founded Illustrious Co. Ltd. with Martyn Ware, to create new forms of spatialised sound composition using their unique 3D AudioScape system, collaborating with fine artists, educational establishments, the performing arts, live events, corporate clients and educational settings round the world.

In 2004, Clarke provided additional music for an episode of Johnny Bravo entitled "The Time of My Life".

Clarke was an essential component of a 2000 project called Family Fantastic. They produced the album ''Nice!''. In 2007 Family Fantastic released a second album, entitled ''Wonderful''.

On 21 May 2009, Clarke was awarded by an "Outstanding Song Collection" prize, during the Ivor Novello Awards ceremony of the same day, in recognition of 30 years in the music industry.

Discography

;with Depeche Mode

''Speak & Spell'' (1981, album)

*"Dreaming of Me" (1981, single)

*"New Life" (1981, single)

*"Just Can't Get Enough" (1981, single)

''The Singles 81>85'' (1985, compilation)

;with Yazoo

''Upstairs at Eric's'' (1982, album)

*"Only You" (1982, single)

*"Don't Go" (1982, single)

*"The Other Side Of Love" (1982, single)

''You and Me Both'' (1983, album)

*"Nobody's Diary" (1983, single)

;with The Assembly

"Never Never" (1983, single)

;In duet with Paul Quinn

"One Day" (1985, single)

;With Erasure

See Erasure discography

;Solo

''Lucky Bastard'' (1993, Sample CD)

;In duet with Martyn Ware

''Pretentious'' (1999, as The Clarke and Ware Experiment)

''Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle'' (2001, simply as Vincent Clarke & Martyn Ware)

;with Family Fantastic

''Nice!'' (2000)

''Wonderful'' (2008)

;In RadioActivators

"Knock on Your Door" (2001, single)

;Remixes He has remixed the following songs for artists other than Erasure:

1988 Happy Mondays – "WFL (Wrote for Luck)"

1990 Betty Boo – "24 Hours" (Oratronic Mix)

1991 Fortran 5 – "Heart on the Line" (V.C. Mix)

1991 Habit – "Power"

1992 Nitzer Ebb – "Ascend" (Anonymous Mix)

1992 The Wolfgang Press – "Angel"

1992 Betty Boo – "I'm on My Way" (The Batman and Robin Mix)

1993 The Time Frequency – "Real Love'93"

1994 Sparks – "When Do I Get to Sing "My Way""

1994 Alison Moyet – "Whispering Your Name" (A Remix)

1995 Egebamyasi – "Remont" (Vince Version)

1997 White Town – "Wanted" single

2001 Marlow – "My Teenage Dream" (Stealth Mix)

2001 Marlow – "No Heart" (Vince Clarke 2001 Dance Mix)

2002 Simple Minds – "Homosapien"

2005 Andy Bell – "Crazy" (Vince Clarke Remix)

2005 Rammstein – "Mann Gegen Mann" (Popular Music Mix)

2006 Rosenstolz – "Nichts Von Alledem (Tut Mir Leid)" (Mix Up Mix)

2006 Noirhaus – "It's Over"

2009 The Saturdays – "Issues" (Vince Clarke Remix)

2009 Marlow – "Home" (Vince Clarke's Starstruck Mix)

2009 Polly Scattergood – "Other Too Endless"

2009 Franz Ferdinand – "No You Girls" (Vince Clarke Remix)

2009 The Presets – "If I Know You" (Vince Clarke Remix)

2009 Space Cowboy – "Falling Down" (Vince Clarke Remix)

2009 A Place to Bury Strangers – "In Your Heart" (Vince Clarke Remix)

2009 Ash – "True Love 1980" (Vince Clarke Remix)

2010 Andy Bell – "Call On Me" (Vince Clarke Remix)

2010 Andy Bell – "Non-Stop" (Vince Clarke Remix)

2010 Goldfrapp – "Believer" (Vince Clarke Remix)

2011 Billie Ray Martin – "Sweet Suburban Disco" (Vince Clarke Remix)

2011 Depeche Mode – "Behind The Wheel" (Vince Clarke Remix)

Production and recording methods

When Clarke started out in the music industry in 1979, most synthesizers were analogue (digital synthesizers were rare, and would remain that way until the launch of the Yamaha DX7 in 1983 ). In order to connect analogue synthesizers, analogue drum machines and analogue sequencers together, multiple CV/Gate cables were required between each device. This system was not standardised, so interoperability between instruments from different manufacturers was not always straightforward. In addition, some manufacturers used their own proprietary interfaces. When an industry-wide standard called MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) was introduced in 1983, Clarke, like most other electronic musicians, gradually migrated to the new technology. However, he continued to prefer his older analogue instruments:

"... CV and Gate is tighter. I can hear and feel that it's tighter than MIDI – we can even prove it using 'scopes. Because everything is clocked simply, it arrives bang on the beat. The whole production starts to 'tick over'. Just look at Kraftwerk's stuff. I think that 'feel' has been lost with MIDI sequencers. No matter what you do with MIDI, the music will never sound as good as it did in the good old Futurist days. That's why our tracks sound the way they do."

For the ''Chorus'' album in 1991, he gathered together his collection of analogue synthesizers from various recording studio locations in London and set up a small studio in Amsterdam. This led Clarke to assemble an intricate patch system to more easily enable the control of his analogue instruments:

"... the secret is having a good patch system – not as in patching to the mixing desk, but in patching CV and Gate. Because we don't use MIDI at all, you have to run three or four cables between each synth module – CV, Gate, Filter, Amplitude or whatever – and you've got to have a really unique system to do that."

In 1993 Clarke described his approach to songwriting:

"Andy [Bell] and I get together with a guitar and a tape recorder, I'll strum some chords, he'll sing a melody and we work in little sections, four or eight bars long. Then we'll try stringing the sections together. It's like a jigsaw puzzle. I find it very hard to relate songwriting to synthesizers, actually – we write songs in a very traditional way. The electronic side of things is just to create the atmosphere. It's mostly just messing about..! "Once we've worked out a song, I start programming up the arrangement on the BBC UMI sequencer, which lets me run 16 synths simultaneously. That way you get a better idea if parts are working together or not. Then we start refining the individual sounds. And finally the whole lot is transferred to my Roland MC4, piece by piece, so it's being run in CV and Gate. Once we've got that, it's a case of Andy sketching out vocal ideas – in the studio we use two 48 track digital tape machines, which gives Dinger 24 tracks just for his voice!"

Clarke continued to expand his collection of analogue synthesizers and in 1994 set up "37B", a recording studio built adjacent to his custom-made home, "Ammonite", in Chertsey, Surrey. From 1994 to 2003, all Erasure albums were either wholly or in part recorded at "37B".

In 2004 Clarke moved to Maine, USA. While waiting for his studio equipment to be shipped from the UK, he began using an Apple Mac laptop with Logic Pro, Max/MSP, and various software synthesizers (many of which were analogue emulations). Since then, he has continued to use Logic Pro, along with both software and analogue synthesizers:

"Nowadays, you can take the best bits from digital and analogue. On certain projects – say, if I'm doing library music – where you need to have instant recall all the time, then it's obviously much more convenient to use the computer. When it comes to writing a new song, though, I still like to have the old analogue gear there, too. But, a lot of soft synths have a character of their own, too; the Moog Modular V is just crazy! "I think that analogue has an inherent sound to it – it's like the old argument over vinyl versus CD. It seems that you hear more frequencies coming from an analogue synth than you do from a software synth, but the great thing about the latter is that you can do far more complex modulation, both within the synth itself and on the keyboard. To emulate any of those really complex modulations on an analogue... well, you'd need a mile of cable."

As of 2009, Clarke has installed his analogue synthesizers along side his Logic Pro-based workstation in a custom-built commercial studio called "The Cabin" in Maine.

Current/recent studio equipment: Roland System 700, Roland 100M, Roland Jupiter-8, Roland Jupiter-4, Roland MKS-80, Roland SH-1, Roland VP-330, Roland JP-8000, Roland Juno-60, Roland Juno-106, Roland Super JX, Roland D-550, ARP 2500 Modular, ARP 2600, PPG Wave 2.2, Waldorf Microwave, Waldorf Pulse, Moog Modular, Minimoog, Moog Source, E-Mu Modular System, Buchla 100 series Modular, Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, Sequential Circuits Pro-One, Oxford Synthesiser Company OSCar, Synton Syrinx, Korg MS-20, Korg MS-10, Korg 700, Korg M1, Korg DVP, Serge Modular, Polyfusion Modular, Oberheim Xpander, Oberheim SEM System, RSF Kobol, Electronic Music Studios VCS 3, Sennheiser Vocoder VSM201, Apple Power Mac G5, Apple MacBook Pro.

Current/recent software: Apple Logic Pro, Cycling '74 Max/MSP, Arturia ARP 2600 V, Arturia Minimoog V, Arturia Moog Modular V, GForce impOSCar, GForce Oddity, LinPlug Octopus, Muon Tau Pro, Native Instruments Absynth, Native Instruments Reaktor, Native Instruments FM7, Native Instruments FM8, Vienna Symphonic String & Choir Libraries.

Personal life

Clarke has been married to Tracy Hurley since 2004. They have a son named Oscar and live together in the United States, in Maine. Tracy Hurley is the sister of the American writer Tonya Hurley whose husband, Michael Pagnotta, is the manager of Erasure.

Vince Clarke is left-handed.

References

External links

Erasure (Andy Bell & Vince Clarke) official Web site.

Illustrious website

Category:1960 births Category:Living people Category:Depeche Mode members Category:English electronic musicians Category:British expatriates in the United States Category:English emigrants to the United States Category:English songwriters Category:English record producers Category:Erasure members Category:Remixers Category:Yazoo members Category:People from Basildon Category:People from Woodford, London Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:Mute Records artists Category:English New Wave musicians

be:Вінс Кларк be-x-old:Вінс Кларк da:Vince Clarke de:Vince Clarke et:Vince Clarke es:Vince Clarke fr:Vince Clarke it:Vince Clarke he:וינס קלארק ka:ვინს კლარკი lv:Vinss Klārks hu:Vince Clarke nl:Vince Clarke ja:ヴィンス・クラーク no:Vince Clarke pl:Vince Clarke pt:Vince Clarke ro:Vince Clarke ru:Кларк, Винс fi:Vince Clarke sv:Vince Clarke uk:Вінс Кларк