Audio Synthesis via Vacuum Tubes

.:Audio Synthesis via Vacuum Tubes:.

Author Eric Bardour has written an article exploring the early days of synthesis and the importance of vacuum tubes in the early devices randing as far bas as the 1920's.

he history of electronic music in the 20th century has followed such a path. Large research institutions, such as Bell Telephone Laboratories or RCA's research division, have made contributions of one kind or another. Yet the modern equipment of music bears very little resemblance to their contributions. Most of what we call a 'synthesizer' today came about as a result of the work of a few lone inventors with very little financial backing, and then selling their products to avant-garde composers who were willing to take a chance in order to explore a new musical world. The rest of the world's musicians tend to exhibit great inertia in the face of change, until the change becomes too great to ignore.

Think of most of the major electronic keyboards and music devices before the early 1960s, when the Moog and Buchla synthesizers appeared. These 'presynths' tended to be exotic and unusual by prevailing standards. Yet they had little impact, even though most received great attention in their time.