Specifications

EUROPE.YAMAHA.COM
The first synthesizers were monophonic
only, meaning they could always produce
only one tone at a time. They were also
built modularily. The sound generation was
done by at least one oscillator, additional
modules for the modulation of the sound
were such as filters and envelope gene-
rators. All these terms are currently in our
technical language, too. We will return to
these in detail later.
The distinction between analog and digital
not only occurs in the signal generation, but
also in the operation of electronic musical
instruments. Traditional synthesizers from
the early days were operated analogous.
They had rotary or sliding controls (poten-
tiometers) to alter values, the modules were
connected using cables. Modern digital
equipment operation can be done with the
help of push buttons to change values, and
knobs and faders work digitally, allowing
changes within the given value range only
The Minimoog was one of the most popular and successful
models of synth history
at fixed levels. However, today, every hybrid
is possible. There are units with a combi-
nation of sound generation to operation in
all variants: Analog/analog, digital/digital,
analog/digital, and digital/analog.
Going back to history. A major advan-
ce was the polyphony. The „Polymoog“
had six voices and no longer consisted of
modules. But it was not affordable for the
„average musician“ from a house with ave-
rage income. In a price list from the early
80s the instrument was listed with about
16.000 DM (sorry, I can‘t figure the equi-
valent in your whatever currency in the
early 80s. In 1982 one US-Dollar was worth
about 2,40 Deutschmark. However, a new
car like the middle class Mercedes Benz
190 or W201 costed about 26.000 DM in
1982).
A milestone in the development of the poly-
phonic synthesizer was the Yamaha CS-80,
which came on the market in 1977. Unlike
the Polymoog or other polyphonic synthe-
sizers from this time, the CS80 no longer
based on organ technology.
„The sound engine of the CS80 based on
theanalogsubtractivesynthesis,its16os-
cillators could generate two independent
soundswitheightvoiceseach,whichthen
could be mixed. The other sound shaping
was done by a resonant envelope-con-
trolled high- and low-pass filter (12dB/
octave),aLFO(sine,sawtooth)andaring
modulator...„
(translated from: http://de.wikipedia.org/
wiki/Yamaha_CS-80)
Thanks to the almost unlimited availability
of media and information any interested
reader can find much more comprehensi-
ve information about the development of
electronic instruments and different forms
of synthesis.
For we want to make a time jump to the
here and now. What is it that justifies the
term „synthesizer“? To get to the point:
A very clear line can barely be drawn.
Let us first consider the core of the ques-
tion: the basis of sound generation. Befo-
re the era of sampling the sound of every
synthesizer was produced by at least one
oscillator. Today the vast majority of sound
generation is based on samples.