Synthesizers Documentary by Katey Dawson

Published on Nov 30, 2013 Katey Dawson·1 video

"How has the development of the Synthesizer changed the traditional way of making music?"

Featured: Theremin, Ondes Martenot, Moog, Korg, Roland, Yamaha, Emu, & soft synths.

You can't cover everything in just under 24 minutes of course.  That said, there's no mention of Don Buchla, who gets as much credit as Bob Moog for starting the synthesizer revolution.  Some of the second wave including Arp, Oberheim, Sequential Circuits, EML, etc... aren't mentioned.  John Cage gets a mention for his use of raw oscillators, Wendy Carlos for her work on Switched on Bach with the Moog modular. Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, and Tangerine Dream get a mention for the 70s. Zap gets a mention for the use of the vocoder. Jean Michel Jarre and Mike Oldfield & Tubular Bells get a mention, but not Kraftwerk (although Autobahn gets a clip). Human League's Don't You Want Me gets credit for the first all sequenced synth track to hit number 1 on the charts. Paul Hardcastle's 19 gets a mention for its use of sampling. No mention of Morton Subotnick, YMO, ELP, Synergy, Isao Tomita, Laurie Spiegel, Suzanne Ciani, musique concrete, etc.  Still pretty cool seeing a documentary on synthesis at a high level like this.