When synthesizers were still relatively new and, above all, had no sound memory, every keyboard player created their own sounds. Mainly synthetic instruments that were based on acoustic instruments as role model and some that could be described as new. This resulted in so-called lead sounds, synth basses and percussives. It was no coincidence that terms such as synthbrass and syncussion were used. Their characteristics were also similar to those of acoustic instruments. At least in principle, i.e. they consist of the elements of tone attack, sustain or decay phase and what happens after a key is released. Initially, only a few options were provided for dynamic control, in particular the pitch bend wheel for tone bending and the modulation wheel for vibrato and tremolo. In the 80s, a really serious dynamics tool was added in the form of keyboard velocity, which was particularly welcomed by keyboard players with piano training. Although special sound effects and noise effects have also been created since the early days, but this article is about synthetic instruments.
You first had to learn how the instrument works and what analog sound synthesis is. It didn’t hurt to have some basic knowledge about existing instruments and how their tones are created. That was the case in the 70s and the norm, so to speak. Some manufacturers included so-called patch charts with the instruction manual so that everyone could immediately set up a few sounds. That was a good help when learning to create synthetic instruments. If you wanted to create your own sounds with the parameters, for example for certain songs, you used a blank patch chart and marked the settings on the parameter knobs and switches with a ballpoint pen or felt-tip pen so that you could have the sound exactly the same later. This was then the template and the keyboard player had to set all the knobs, sliders and switches back to the previously noted settings and the desired sound was playable again. Some keyboard players were particularly talented in this discipline and created very unique and sometimes well constructed original results. Some with a specific character of their own or, and this was also almost the norm: sounds, very personal sounds that were so concise and unique that a listener would associate them with a specific keyboard player.
That was the beginning of the so-called signature sounds. Sometimes a song from this time with such a signature sound became famous, and also a synthesizer solo could became a classic. Back then, musicians also exchanged such patch charts with each other, but not all of them did that. Some regarded these self-created sounds as their trademark and did not pass them on to others. This changed when there were presets ROM/RAM memory and the manufacturers themselves brought people on board to equip a new synthesizer with as many sounds as possible. It was the beginning of sound design, first as a side job, then as a full-time profession. Over the years, a lot has happened in the keyboards market, especially with more and more instruments from more and more manufacturers. Other syntheses were also added, such as FM (frequency modulation), additive synthesis, phase distortion and, above all, samplers, which were often a combination of synthesizer and pure sample player.
So far, so good. But today there’s a catch. And that is not only an unmanageable amount of synthetic sounds, but also a lot of completely arbitrary, meaningless or even actually useless tones. Tones that lack everything we know from acoustic instruments: an unmistakable character and that certain something. Even a simple recorder delivers character that is instantly recognizable as soon as you have listened to it for a few seconds. In other words, much of today’s tone material in synthesizers lacks any of the dignity that the recorder has. What happened that allowed this to happen?
On a whim, I recently watched a few YouTube videos in the evening after work and suddenly had the impulse to listen to a Tangerine Dream album again. It was Rubycon, which is my favorite album by them. And while I was listening to it, I also remembered the two live concerts I saw. One at the time of their album Phaedra, the second around Tangram. Both gigs were sensational. The three Moog Modular cabinets let the sounds sweep through the concert hall with a breathtaking force, just like the Mellotron, the Solina String Ensemble, the Korg PE-2000, EMS VCS 3. The PA had power and transmitted the sounds perfectly. A real treat. And the sounds were partners to the music and offered exactly the aesthetics that the musical ambition wanted to portray. In other words, three elements: character, presence, song-oriented. And that’s no longer the case today? Yes, but far too rarely and sometimes not at all.
Youtube: Tangerine Dream: Rubycon, full album, click here
Do you want to leave it like this, this facelessness, the irrelevant paleness, the boring? This doesn’t mean that it necessarily has to come across as massive, as with Tangerine Dream. No, the finely drawn, delicate sound is also needed in a musical context if this certain fragile expression is to be reproduced. Or it has to sound funny, like the Casiotoone Frog preset, which plays an almost striking role in Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Or the famous Preset 11 electric piano of the DX7, which has been an integral part of songwriting for 40 years now with its slenderness and great dynamic possibilities. In other words, everything that is associated with the term Famous Sound. TR808 drums, Prophet 5 Sync sound, the widest brushstroke ever called Jump from the Oberheim OB-Xa. But all this doesn’t have to come across as wide-legged, it can be done differently. The glassy pad of a PPG Wave 2.2, the soft and warm fuzz of the Oberheim Matrix 12 Preset Horn Ensemble, where the singer calls for a pad sound that lays the sonic foundation for his performance. The bizarre, beastly lead sound, where you can hear the punk that it is supposed to represent. The dignity that a synthetic sound can have can be found in all these sounds. After all, such an instrument should be on a par with acoustic instruments. So it may be time to return to that, as described above. To dignify the synthetic instrument creations and to proceed according to the method less is more.
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