The E-mu Modular System is an analog modular synthesizer built by E-mu Systems in 1974. [1] It competed with synthesizers such as the ARP 2500, ARP 2600, and Moog modular synthesizers, although E-mu designed the instruments for mostly universities and notable musicians who submitted custom configuration requests. The Modular System's polyphonic keyboard and sequencer are controlled by a microprocessor. Around 100 units are thought to exist today.
E-mu Systems, based in California, began producing the Modular System in 1972, as a competitor to the ARP 2500, ARP 2600, and Moog modular synthesizers of the day. [2] The Modular System was their second production synthesizer, following the E-mu 25 in 1971. The E-mu 25 had been a "front panel" synthesizer, but E-mu developers Dave Rossum and Scott Wedge thought it would be more fun to build a modular synthesizer. [3] [4] Custom systems were produced for universities and high-profile musicians, the target markets for the Modular System. The systems were hand-built to the specifications of each customer. [2] While around 100 units are still in circulation, mostly at universities, [3] some sources claim that up to 250 were originally produced. [2]
E-mu claims the Modular System's polyphonic keyboard and sequencer were the first to be controlled by a microprocessor, and they patented the technology at the time. [4] The term "modular" in the product name refers to the customizable set of "modules" available for the synthesizer. Each customer would specify which modules they wanted from a list of available modules such as "Quad Inverter", "Sample-and-Hold", "Dual Reverb" and others. [2]
Users create sounds by manipulating patch cords to direct the signal through the modules above the keyboard. In other words, different combinations of patch cord connections produced different sounds. Through all of the combinations available, the Modular System could produce any popular synthesizer sound in use at the time. [3] Users could also save favored patch sequences using a "firm-wire" patch that connected to the instrument and could be swapped out at any time, recreating sounds without manipulating the patch cords. [3] The Modular System was known to have a "cleaner" sound that its competitors, although that aspect was not always desired by users. It also had a unique aesthetic, featuring blue-lined modules rather than the traditional black and aluminum panels. [2] [3]
An electronic musical instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound using electronic circuitry. Such an instrument sounds by outputting an electrical, electronic or digital audio signal that ultimately is plugged into a power amplifier which drives a loudspeaker, creating the sound heard by the performer and listener.
An analogsynthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically.
Modular synthesizers are synthesizers composed of separate modules of different functions. The modules can be connected together with patch cords, a matrix patching system, or switches by the user to create a patch. The output (voltages) from the modules may function as (audio) signals, control voltages, or logic/timing conditions. Typical modules are oscillators, filters (spectrum), amplifiers/gates (amplitude) and Envelope generators.
A music workstation is an electronic musical instrument providing the facilities of:
ARP Instruments, Inc. was an American manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, founded by Alan Robert Pearlman in 1969. It created a popular and commercially successful range of synthesizers throughout the 1970s before declaring bankruptcy in 1981. The company earned a reputation for producing excellent sounding, innovative instruments and was granted several patents for the technology it developed.
Electronic Music Studios (EMS) is a synthesizer company formed in 1969 by Peter Zinovieff, Tristram Cary and David Cockerell, based in Ladock.
Moog Music Inc. is an American company based in Asheville, North Carolina, which manufactures electronic musical instruments. It was founded in 1953 as R. A. Moog Co. by Robert Moog and his father and was renamed Moog Music in 1972. Its early instruments included various Moog modular synthesizer systems, including the world's first commercial synthesizer, followed by the launch of the Minimoog in 1970, which became one of the most coveted and influential electronic instruments of all time.
The ARP 2600 is a semi-modular analog subtractive audio synthesizer, designed by Dennis Colin for Alan R Pearlman, and manufactured by his company, ARP Instruments, Inc. as the follow-on version of the ARP 2500.
The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. produced numerous models from 1965 to 1980. It was the first commercial synthesizer, and is credited with creating the analog synthesizer as it is known today.
Alan R. Pearlman was an American engineer best known as the founder of ARP Instruments, Inc., one of the early leading American synthesizer manufacturers.
Arturia is a French electronics company founded in 1999 and based in Grenoble, France. The company designs and manufactures electronic musical instruments, including software synthesizers, drum machines, analog synthesizers, MIDI controllers, sequencers, and mobile apps.
Polyphony is a property of musical instruments that means that they can play multiple independent melody lines simultaneously. Instruments featuring polyphony are said to be polyphonic. Instruments that are not capable of polyphony are monophonic or paraphonic.
The ARP 2500 is a monophonic analog modular synthesizer equipped with a set of sliding matrix switches above each module. These are the primary method of interconnecting modules. It is the first product of ARP Instruments, Inc., built from 1970 to 1981.
Electronic Music Laboratories, commonly abbreviated to EML, was an audio synthesizer company. Founded in 1968 in Vernon, Connecticut by four former engineers, the company manufactured and designed a variety of synthesizers sharing the same basic design but configured in different ways.
Thomas Elroy Oberheim, known as Tom Oberheim, is an American audio engineer and electronics engineer best known for designing effects processors, analog synthesizers, sequencers, and drum machines. He has been the founder of four audio electronics companies, most notably Oberheim Electronics. He was also a key figure in the development and adoption of the MIDI standard. He is also a trained Physicist.
A synthesizer is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers generate audio through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis, and frequency modulation synthesis. These sounds may be shaped and modulated by components such as filters, envelopes, and low-frequency oscillators. Synthesizers are typically played with keyboards or controlled by sequencers, software, or other instruments, often via MIDI.
An analog sequencer is a music sequencer constructed from analog (analogue) electronics, invented in the first half of the 20th century.
The ARP Chroma is a polyphonic, multitimbral, microprocessor controlled, subtractive synthesis analog synthesizer developed in 1979-1980 by ARP Instruments, Inc. just before the company's bankruptcy and collapse in 1981.
Synthesizers.com is an American company based in Tyler, Texas, founded by engineer Roger Arrick, which manufactures analog modular synthesizers for music and sound-effect creation.
The history of home keyboards lies in mechanical musical instrument keyboards, electrified keyboards and 1960s and 1970s synthesizer technologies.