WaveBoy -The Voder | The mythical Ensoniq effects - used in new ways

video upload by Espen Kraft

"The Voder effect is a bank of programmable filters that loads into the built-in effects processor of an Ensoniq EPS-16 PLUS or an ASR-10. The filters are multi-band parametric equalizers (EQs) that can be modulated in interesting ways - most notably, they can make a sound talk or sing words!

Like a classic vocoder, the Voder imposes the moving resonance of speech onto any input sound. But while the conventional vocoder uses a live vocal input to derive the control information, the Voder uses the music keyboard or MIDI.Support this channel on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/espenkraft"

Vtg 1940 NY World's Fair VODER Voice Synthesizer BELL SYSTEM EXHIBIT Brochure

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

Here's something you do not see everyday. It was sent my way via Pea Hicks of optigan.com. If you are not familiar with the Voder, it was a 1939 speech synthesizer from Bell Lab's. Yes, that is correct, the year 1939. You can find some previous posts including demos here. This brochure is as rare as it gets. It's hard to believe it exists in this condition. The auction description follows: "A Vintage / Original 1940 New York WORLD'S FAIR Bell System Exhibit BROCHURE / BOOKLET of The VODER - The Worlds First Voice Electronic Synthesizer. The Bell Telephone Laboratory's Voder (from Voice Operating Demonstrator) was the first attempt to electronically synthesize human speech by breaking it down into its acoustic components. It was invented by Homer Dudley in 1937–1938 and developed on his earlier work on the vocoder. The quality of the speech was limited; however, it demonstrated the synthesis of the human voice, which became one component of the vocoder used in voice communications for security and to save bandwidth.

As found recently, it measures aprx 6" x 9".

Visually it appears to be in nice original condition showing light overall wear w/ some light creasing & a soft vertical fold/crease down the center (see pics)."

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Synthetic Soundlabs Pays a Rare Visit to Bell Lab's VODER Speech Synthesizer From 1939

Update: via Doug: "The console I’m playing is a recreation that was commissioned to me by current Bell Labs President Marcus Weldon. I’m seen here playing it prior to a BL event. Photo by Larry Fast. Also in attendance was Wally DeBacker (Gotye). you can see and hear me play it live on the PBS series 'Breakthrough: History of the Smart Phone' episode [might not be available in your area though]. Narrated by Patrick Stewart, and hosted by former editor of Popular Mechanics, Jim Meigs."

via Synthetic Sound Labs, click through for additional pics.

"For the first time in nearly 80 years, the VODER has been found – well at least some of it. Unfortunately, none of the operator consoles are known to have survived the various archive moves over the years.

On December 15, 2015, SSL’s President Doug Slocum was treated to unprecedented access to the AT&T Archives & History Center in Warren New Jersey to view and record the uncovering of two of the original equipment racks used to train VODER operators in preparation for the Bell System’s 1939 Worlds Fair exhibit."

Check out this post for an old black and white video demo of the VODER when working. You can find a handful of additional posts mentioning the VODER here.

This one was spotted and sent in via M Me.

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Machine by PSProject

"The machine uses only two sounds, produced eletrically. 1996 song by PS PROJECT."

"Prophet 5 for the Pads, effects and most of the sounds. All was sampled on the ASR-10 and sequenced in it."

Inspired by the original Voder speach synthesizer featured in this post. The track above is from 1996.

PSProject is from the man behind EMW - Electronic Music Works

The VODER (1939) - Early Speech Synthesizer

Uploaded on Apr 4, 2011 VintageCG·120 videos

"Considered the first electrical speech synthesizer, VODER (Voice Operation DEmonstratoR) was developed by Homer Dudley at Bell Labs and demonstrated at both the 1939 New York World's Fair and the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition. Difficult to use and difficult to operate, VODER nonetheless paved the way for future machine-generated speech."

Previously posted here.

The Fairlight Qasar

Note this is the Qasar II.  See candor chasma for a pic and additional details on the Qasar 1.

Top: "The Fairlight CMI was based on the architecture of the Qasar M8 (Multimode 8), created by Tony Furse in 1975. In the early 70's, Tony Furse created his first prototype of hybrid analog/digital synthesizer, the Qasar I."

Bottom: "In 1972-1973, Furse created his second prototype, the Qasar II, with the financial help of both the Federal Government of Australia and Don Banks, composer and director of the Canberra School of Electronic Music."

And via the comments of The First Synth To post: "What about the Quasar, (c.1975) predecessor of the Fairlight or the RMI digital keyoboard? (c.1974) Also one of the first additive/wavetable machines was the PPG 340/380 System, around late 70's I think. Wavetable synthesis become famous and widely available by the PPG Wave series starting with the wavecomputer 360 (c.1979) Also don't forget the Crumar CDS.

Also: First sampling keyboard: the Chamberlain and first speech synthesis modeler: the Voder! Also first 16 voice analogue synth would be the EMU Audity if it had be released.
Nick the space_nerd"


via Deviant Synth

The Packrat - December - May

Looks like the last Packrat I posted was back in November. Here's December through May. You can find previous episodes going back to Frebruary, 2005 here. BTW, if you scroll down the right side of MATRIXSYNTH you'll find a custom Packrat for the site by Dave.


"Can Packrat learn from his nightmares? Does earwax float? Wait, I don't know the answer to that, either."


"Packrat's new invention ushers in an invention of my own: a continuing plotline!"


"At the 1939 World's Fair, Packrat meets the inventor of the 'Voder.'"


"Packrat appears in 1955, where he gets some scientific advice from a certain learned sage."


"Packrat meets Dr. Hugh LeCaine, inventor of the first voltage-controlled synthesizer."


"Dr. Lecaine helps Packrat complete part of his time-traveling journey home."

Music Non Suck - Early Electronic Music

Radio 216;s Musique Non Suck

Track listing:
01. Raymond Scott - Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. (1960)
02. Laurie Spiegel - Patchwork (1976)
03. Pauline Oliveros - Bye Bye Butterfly (1965)
04. Tom Dissevelt - Ignition (1963)
05. Roger Powell - Lumia (Dance Of The Nebulae) (1973)
06 RCA - demonstration of synthesizing a human voice on the RCA Modular Synthesizer (1955)
07. Ralph Lundsten - IT (1968)
08. Ron Geesin - U.F.O. (1972)
09. Mother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece - Waterwheel (1976)
10. Charles Dodge - discussion on the cumbersomeness of early computer music
11. Charles Dodge - He Destroyed Her Image (1972)
12. Bell Labs - demonstration of the VODER speech synthesizer (1939)
13. Ursula Bogner - Für Ulrich/Pulsation (1969)
14. Erkki Kurenniemi - Sähkösoittimen Ääniä #1 (1971)
15. Gil Mellé - Wildfire (Andromeda Strain Soundtrack) (1971)
16. Delia Derbyshire - Effervescence (1972)
17. Tom Dissevelt - Syncopation (1958)
18. Raymond Scott - IBM Probe (1963)
19. Morton Subotnick - Silver Apples Of The Moon (1967)
20. Hugh Le Caine - demonstration of synthesizing strings on the Electronic Sackbut (1953)
21. Ilhan Mimaroglu - Agony (1965)
22. Raymond Scott - Futurama (1964)
23. Tom Dissevelt - Pacific Dawn (1963)
24. Louis And Bebe Barron - Once Around Altair (Forbidden Planet Soundtrack) (1956)
25. Herbert Eimert And Robert Beyer - Klangstudie II (1952)
26. Erkki Kurenniemi - Improvisaatio (1969)
27. John Pfeiffer - Orders (1968)
28. Frank Coe/Forrest J. Ackerman - Tone Tales From Tomarrow (1964)
via Jez

The First Synth to....

Update: The new home for this list is now here. You can add to the list there or comment here and I will update both lists. Note that the complete list however will be there as I do not plan on updating this list with updates made there. That would be too much work and would compete with me being able to put up new posts here. Can't let that happen. : ) Related but separate from that list also see https://120years.net. That said...

If you are going to add to the list in the comments, use the same format.

Year - Manufacturer - Model - First at
1837 - C.G. Page (Salem. Mass) - first to produce electronically generated sound (not necessarily associated with a musical instrument). After inventing the Volta in 1800 (an early battery), in 1837 Page was doing experiments with coils and realized when certain coils were attached to a batter they omitted a ringing sound. While he initially thought the ring came from the electrical current was interrupted (battery disconnected), what was actually taking place was the induction through the coils was causing them to vibrate. via Peter Grenader
1885 - Person and Ernst Lorenz -'Elektrisches Musikinstrument' - the first musical instrument designed to produce electrically generated sound. It used electronic vibrations to drive an electromagnet that were connected to resonating boards, which translated these vibrations to sound. via Peter Grenader
1897 - Taddaeus Cahills - Telharmonium - electromechanical instrument.
1936 - Oskar Sala - Mixturtrautonium - first synth using Subharmonic synthesis
1939 - Homer Dudley invents the Parallel Bandpass Vocoder (VODER) - A manually key operated speech synthesizer
1940 - Homer Dudley invents the The Voder speech synthesizer - A device which used the human voice and an artificial voice to produce a composite
Both were researched as a way to transmit speech over copper wires (id est, telephone lines)
1948 - Hugh LeCaine - Electronic Sackbut - First voltage-controlled synthesizer
1948 - Dr. Raymond Scott - Wall of Sound - First polyphonic Sequencing Worstation (electromechanical) and the Electronum - first sequencer.
1950 - CSIR - Mk 1 - The first known use of a digital computer for the purpose playing music
1956 - Louie and Bebe Barron - Produced the first all-electronic musical score for a major motion picture - MGM's 'Forbidden Planet'
1957 - Max V. Mathews at Bell Labs - MUSIC - the first digital synthesizer. Technically, it was a computer program, though it set the stage for every digital synthesizer that proceeded it. See Laurie Spiegel with one here.
1963/64 - Buchla - model 100 modular - 1st "modern" modular synth
1967 - Moog - Moog modular synthesizer I, II & III - 1st commercial modular synth.
1969 - EMS - Synthi VCS-3 - first non-modular mini-synth
1970 - MOOG - Minimoog - 1st Mono Synth with keys (non-modular)
1971 - Tonus/Arp - Soloist - 1st preset mono synth
1971 - John Chowning - developed FM synthesis using the MUSIC-IV language (source), a direct descendent of Mathew's MUSIC program. FM synthesis was later licensed by Yamaha, and used in popular synths such as the DX-7.
1972 - Triadex Muse - first digital synth
""is the first digital musical instrument and was produced in 1972. It was
designed by Edward Fredkin and Marvin Minsky at MIT. It is an algorithmic
music generator: it uses digital logic circuits to produce a sequence of
notes based on the settings of various parameters. It has four small sliders
in that control Volume, Tempo, Pitch, and Fine Pitch. It is not known how
many were made, but they are considered extremely rare.
The Muse is the subject of U. S. Patent 3610801"
1973 - Coupland Digital Music Synthesizer - First Digital (Triadex beat it?) Update via Peter Grenader: "No time to read through all these posts to see if it's come up yet, but the Coupland was vaporwear...it never existed. I met Mark Vail, who's now a friend, by writing him a letter informing him that his story about the Coupland in his Vintage Synthesizers book (GREAT book) which mentioned it's only recorded showing was at the AES show in LA in 1978 was a farce. I was there - at their booth and their suite in the Hilton where the instrument was said to be. I was there on the first day, I was there on the last day. The only thing they had was a small model - about six inches across, sitting on a table. The booth was amazing - this radial orb multiple people could sit in, with a cover that came over each person which played what I remembered was a very impressive demo which swirled around four speakers inside the box. I, and everyone else, were blown away. They kept saying...'it will be here tomorrow, it'll be here tomorrow'...so I showed up the last day just to see it, figuring by the then it would have arrived...it didn't. I did see the frst Synthclavier at that show however. Their suite was across the hall from the Coupland folk. That completely kicked the crap out of everything else shown that year."
1973 - Dartmouth Digital Synthesizer - NED - Synclavier prototype - first digital synth
1974 - Roland - SH-3A - first commercial additive synth
1974 - RMI - Harmonic Synthesizer - first commercial additive synth
1975 - Buchla 502 - six voice polyphonic with minicomputer and ability to save patches to tape drive. Development on the 500 series began in 1969.
1975 - Oberheim FVS - four voice polyphonic with Polyphonic Synthesizer Programmer. Not sure if the Buchla 502 or FVS was released first.
1976 - PPG - PPG 1003 sonic carrier - 1st programmable mono/duo synth with patch memory (this, along with the model 1020, might have been the 1st synths to use DCO's as well)
1977 - Yamaha - CS50/CS60/CS80 - first single enclosure polyphonic keyboard synthesizers with the CS80 to be the first synth with poly aftertouch
1977 (late) - Oberheim - OB-1 - 1st commercial programmable mono synth with patch memory
1978 (late) - PPG - Wavecomputer 360 - 1st wavetable synth
1978 - Sequential Circuits - microprocessor control the SCI prophet 10 (briefly) and the P-5 --- again based on existing E-mu tech stuff
1979 - NED - Synclavier - First FM
1979 - Fairlight CMI - First Sampler, First Workstation
1980 - Performance Music Systems - Syntar - First self contained keytar
1982 - Sequential Circuits - Prophet 600 / First Midi Synthesizer (though some argue the Prophet 5 rev 3.2 is pre-MIDI MIDI)
1983 - Yamaha - DX7 - Digital takes over, FM goes mainstream
1983 - OSC - OSCar - First real-time additive with analog filters
1984 - Sequential Circuits - SixTrak - first multitimbral
1985 - Casio - CZ-101 - First battery-powered all digital mini-synth
1987 - Kawai K5 and Technos Axcel - first additive synths
1989 - E-Mu Systems - Proteus - First dedicated ROMpler
1992 - Seer Systems - first host-based software synthesizer in 1992
1994 - Yamaha - VL1 - first physical modelling synth
1995 - Clavia - Nord Lead - 1st Virtual Analog
1996 - Rubberduck - still not the first softsynth but came before Seer Systems Reality.
1996 - Steinberg - VST - Ok not a synth but enabled a lot to be written as plug-ins and used simultaneously
1997 - Seer Systems - Reality - First Modular Soft Synth
2002 - Hartmann Neuron - first neuronal synth
2912 - KalQuestoTron - the first genetically engineered synth. Each cell is an oscillator, filter, and neural sequencer. Can be delivered via injection to always play 'hold music' in your head.

I thought it might be fun to have a "first synth to..." post. There's been a lot of buzz over Sonic State's Top 20 Synths of All Time with good reason. What exactly is a "top synth?" Is it it's influence on the music scene? It's rarity and lust appeal? The number of synths sold? According to Sonic State their list was the result of Sonic State reader's voting for their favorite synths. Blame the voters if you don't like what you see. Based on what has come up on the list so far, the E-Mu Proteus and Roland JV-1080 for example as well as the Roland Jupiter 8 not even making the top ten, I'm guessing a bit of it has to do with the vote and... possibly the most influential/ground breaking synths for their time. The JV1080 and Proteus? Not super sexy in this day and age, but what they offered in their time? Who knows. It's obviously subjective. But there is something that isn't. The most influential synths of all time not because they were super sexy or utilitarian, but because they offered something that was not previously available.

I thought what might be interesting to create a list of the first synths to feature a particular technology or feature. For example what was the fist synth to bring FM to the table? Was it the DX7 or a predecessor? What was the first digital synth and when? The first additive synth? I have a good idea and could probably look it all up, but that wouldn't be any fun, so.... You tell me. I am going to make this an open post that will live over time. You get to participate by putting an entry in the comments. I will update the list and when I do I will change the time stamp of the post to keep it current. That said, for the archives, this post went up with a time stamp of 4/11/07 7:20 PM PST. I'll start the list (btw, do correct me on the MOOG, what model should we be talking about here? The A, B, C or D or all of them?).

Year - Manufacturer - Model - First at
1970 - MOOG - Minimoog - 1st Mono Synth with keys (non-modular)
1978 - Sequential Circuits - Prophet 5 - 1st Programmable Polyphonic Analog
... List continues above.

Update 3/34/12: Also see the first synthesizers to offer patch storage here.