Jon Appleton: A Tribute

video upload by CatSynth TV

"We pay tribute to composer and electronic music pioneer Jon Appleton who passed away on January 30, 2022. He founded the Dartmouth Electronic Music Studio and later the graduate program in digital music, where we was a teacher and mentor to many composers and musicians over the year. He was instrumental in creating the Synclavier synthesizers from New England Digital, and raised the profile of electro-acoustic music in the United States through societies like SEAMUS and his numerous teaching residencies. We at CatSynth send our thoughts to his family, friends, and colleagues.

To learn more about his life and legacy, please visit his website https://www.appletonjon.com/"

Jon Appleton: In His Own Words

video upload by Jon Appleton

"An interview with composer Jon Appleton filmed at his Vermont residence.

Made with Void Engineering www.voidengineering.com"

Music for Synclavier and Other Digital Systems: With Jon Appleton, Composer


You can find additional posts mentioning Jon Appleton here.

Compositions on the Dartmouth Digital Synthesizer

Published on Jun 2, 2015

Provided to YouTube by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Georganna's Farewell · Jon Appleton
Bilder (Images) · Lars-Gunnar Bodin
Emergence · Russell Pinkston
Tapestry I · William Brunson

The Dartmouth Digital Synthesizer

℗ 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings / 1976 Folkways Records

Released on: 1976-01-01

The Dartmouth Digital Synthesizer was the precursor to the NED Synclavier. See the Dartmouth Digital Synthesizer label below for more.

The Dartmouth Digital Synthesizer - Lars Gunnar Bodin-Bilder (Images)

Published on Sep 21, 2013 biedrzyn·103 videos
Re-Published on Jun 2, 2015 #LarsGunnarBodin

"Provided to YouTube by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

Bilder (Images) · Lars-Gunnar Bodin

The Dartmouth Digital Synthesizer

℗ 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings / 1976 Folkways Records

Released on: 1976-01-01"

Previous video description from biedrzyn:

"Album: V/A The Dartmouth Digital Synthesizer (1976). Lars-Gunnar Bodin (July 15, 1935, Stockholm) is a Swedish pioneer in the field of electronic music during the 1960s, especially in the Scandinavian scene."

The Dartmouth Digital Synthesizer was the precursor to the NED Synclavier. See the Dartmouth label at the bottom of this post for more.

via ... którędy pójdą dzicy święci where you'll find the full post on the release.

"The music on this recording was produced on a new kind of synthesizer developed at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College. In 1972 composer Jon Appleton began working with two engineers, Sydney Alonso and Cameron Jones, to develop a computer-controlled synthesizer. Significant work had already been done on digital synthesis, but it was felt by the inventors at Dartmouth that an inexpensive, totally dedicated system could help many composers explore this new way of producing sound. The inventors also wanted to create a users language which did not require computer expertise as had previous computer music programs..."

via f * mass

An Interview with Jon Appleton - One of the Creators of the NED Synclavier

via Astronauta Pinguim where you'll find the full interview.

"APPLETON - I have the first and the second Synclavier but I don't play them. I am not sure they work. Sydney and Cameron and I developed the instrument first from something called The Dartmouth Digital Synthesizer. It was my conception and their design..."

Check out the "all-star" pic below. You should recognize some of the names. Peter Zinovieff was he man behind EMS. Via Fabricio Carvalho on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

Astronauta Pinguim also brought us interviews with Vince Clark, Gershon Kingsley, Herb Deutsch, and Jean Jacques Perrey.

Remember you can find all interviews featured on the site via the Interviews label below.

The Incredible Sounds of the Synclavier II

via this auction

"Ultra rare private pressing demo record on clear blue vinyl, an artifact of electronic music history originally given out to prospective buyers of this innovative classic synth. It contains a montage of brief melodies and unique sound effects showing off the amazing capabilities of this system that combined sampled and FM synthesized sounds and was designed by legendary electronic composer Jon Appleton at Dartmouth College. The music and programming on this disc is credited to Denny Jaeger and Bill Keenan, plus there is an excerpt of a synthesized version of Vivaldi's Four Seasons by Patrick Gleeson (member of Herbie Hancock's 70s-era electric funk band). The Sync II has featured prominently in the recordings of Pat Metheny, Michael Jackson (who pretty much swiped the synth intro to "Beat It" from this lp!), Laurie Anderson, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Soft Cell, Marc Almond, Bronski Beat, ABBA, Genesis, Chick Corea, George Duke, Sting, Tomita, and Stevie Wonder."

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The First Digital Synthesizers

A friend of mine asked me what the first digital synth was. To my surprise I wasn't sure. We all know it was the Yamaha DX7 (1983) that changed the landscape from analog to digital, but it clearly wasn't the first. The NED Synclavier (1975) and the Crumar/DKI GDS (197x?) and Synergy (1982) predate it. If anyone out there knows for sure, feel free to comment. Image of the Crumar/DKI GDS via synthony.

Snip on the GDS via Synthmuseum.com:
"'The GDS came out of some early research at Bell Laboratories in the early '70s,' explains Mercer 'Stoney' Stockell, who himself shared in developing the GDS and Synergy. 'Hal Alles, a researcher there, designed the high-speed additive engine that was put into the GDS and later systems. He was a very bright man. The work originally came out of some stuff he was supposed to be doing for echo-cancellation on telephone lines.'"

BTW, regarding the DX7, be sure to check out this post on the Yamaha FX1.

Update via adam s in the comments:
"The Dartmouth Digital Synthesizer is the Synclavier's ancestor. This is recognized as the first digital synthesizer existing as a self-contained instrument, closed system or whathaveyou. Of course, the first digital synthesizer (that is, first digital device to synthesize sound for the sake of music), is the IBM 704 Mainframe computer, on which Max Matthews created Music I in 1957. It's amazing how far computer synthesis predates 'digital synthesizers'. I'm sure that in that almost 20 year span, plently of people had developed (successfully or not) digital synthesizers, especially during the early 70's microprocessor boom."