> 60 years of the synth

Once the 60s had laid down the framework, the 70s picked up the baton and turned the synthesiser into a musical entity and idiom. It started off being used by the rich kids and then the very cool kids…

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The 70s is the decade when this new musical synth technology began to really find its feet. Granted, it was still an incredibly expensive preoccupation, but synthesiser development continued with the American companies leading the charge, while new horizons appeared from the east.

Alan Robert Pearlman was a designer, electrical engineer and inventor, who spent five years working at NASA. In 1969 he founded his own company, formed from the initials in his name. ARP instruments Inc, (originally branded as Tonus Inc.) were to become a major player in the synthetic arena, beginning on the dot of 1970 with the release of the ARP 2500. Like many of its predecessors, the 2500 was another modular behemoth. Many people regarded it as being a rather overwhelming instrument to use, being confronted by a multitude of modules, ranging from oscillators, filters, LFOs and VCAs, to a dedicated sequencer and keyboard. You certainly got a lot of sound creation potential for your money, which was just as well because the synthesiser cost £5400 for what was deemed to be a standard configuration.

The role of ARP in the development of synthesis is of great importance, as it provided a very different colour palette to that being created by Moog. Some aficionados actually went further, commenting that the ARP oscillators were far more stable at holding pitch. Harsh words, but forgotten pretty quickly in the same year, when Moog released the synthesiser that would go on to become the most revered and coveted machine of them all; The Minimoog.

Convenient, powerful and sort of affordable, the Minimoog was many a player’s one true love

Take the Mini for a spin

There was an awful lot to shout about. Firstly, the Mini adopted a form that made it truly engaging. Its panel and fascia could be propped up at an angle, which invited the user to get creative with sound, with a 37-note keyboard for instant playability. Unlike just about all predecessors, the Minimoog was not modular, or even semi-modular, meaning that patch cables were not required. It hosted three incredible-sounding oscillators, all routed in the direction of the now legendary Moog 24dB/4-pole low-pass ladder filter. Users often described its power, which for the first time offered something to keyboard players that could truly compete with the guitarist in the band! Then there was the price; at just over £600, it was still very expensive, but relatively affordable if compared to anything else on the market, and that made it a prospect for many keyboard players to place on top of their Fender Rhodes electric pianos. It is worth noting that the Mk1 Fender Rhodes had a curved top, leading to the spectacle of many Minimoogs being gaffer taped, to prevent them from moving around, while being played.

Meanwhile, in 1971 yet another legendary machine appeared from the ARP stable, in the form of the semi-modular ARP 2600. It was smaller and more portable than the 2500, but still offered three oscillators for a monophonic voice, in a more versatile routing architecture. It underwent numerous revisions, over a tenure that lasted ten years, while being regarded as one of the absolute greats.

Enter the Brits

Not to be outdone, the Brits got in on the action the following year, with the introduction of the EMS Synthi 100. Unlike the Minimoog, this was another behemoth of a synthesiser, mustering an enormous 12 voltage-controlled oscillators, two noise generators, three ring modulators, and four low-pass and high-pass filters. It was also very large, and very heavy, with an initial cost of £6500.