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The EMS Synthi A and the EMS Synthi AKS are portable modular analog synthesisers made by EMS of England. The Synthi A model debuted in May 1971, and then Synthi AKS model appeared in March 1972 a with a built-in keyboard and sequencer. The EMS Synthi models are notable for its patch pin matrix, its functions and internal design are similar to the VCS 3 synthesiser, also made by EMS. EMS is still run by Robin Wood in Cornwall, and in addition to continuing to build and sell new units, the company repairs and refurbishes EMS equipment.
When launched in 1972, the Synthi AKS retailed for around £450. An optional three octave (37 note) monophonic keyboard, the DK1 Dynamic Keyboard, was made available for it. Later on, the DK2 (Dynamic Keyboard 2) was released, allowing independent control of two oscillators, and thus enabling the player to play two notes together. The Synthi instruments were used widely in progressive rock and electronic music.
As with the VCS3, a Synthi AKS was worth considerably more than its original price by the late 1970s. In 2020, the average price for a Synthi AKS in good condition was around US$20,000 on the international market.[ citation needed ]
The Synthi AKS has been used extensively by Brian Eno in his art rock and ambient albums. He particularly made prominent use of its signal-chain editing capability in order to add colour to his own voice as well as Robert Fripp and Phil Manzanera's guitar work. His early band, Roxy Music, supposedly requested that he join them after watching him tinker with the Synthi AKS for only a few minutes.[ citation needed ]
Tangerine Dream used several Synthi AKS's throughout the early 1970s.
Jean-Michel Jarre featured the Synthi AKS on his albums Oxygène and Équinoxe , as well as on Oxygène: Live in Your Living Room .
Pink Floyd used the synthesiser to create the electronic riff of the track "On the Run" and to play the solo of "Any Colour You Like", both from the 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon . (The band was reported to use an EMS VCS 3 synthesizer although it actually was a Synthi).[ citation needed ]
Jorge Antunes used Synthi A throughout the early 1970s with his ensemble GEMUNB Grupo de Experimentação Musical da Universidade de Brasília .
Czesław Niemen in 1975 used Synthi AKS in recording of his album Katharsis .
Tone Generator Aka Dom Guerin AKS synthesizer on SPK (band) Information Overload Unit & subsequent tours of US & England.
Klaus Schulze and Pete Namlook refer to Synthi AKS in the name of their collaboration album The Dark Side of the Moog VIII: Careful With the AKS, Peter .
Kraftwerk's Florian Schneider used one to process his flute on early albums including Radio-Activity in 1974.
In 1980, American pop band The Bongos used the Synthi AKS on both sides of their debut single "Telephoto Lens" b/w "Glow in the Dark", played by Dennis Kelley. In 2010, lead singer Richard Barone again used the Synthi on his album Glow, produced by Tony Visconti. It is featured prominently on the song "Yet Another Midnight".
In 2013, a Japanese artist Yoshio Machida made an album "Music from the SYNTHI". [1] This album was made by only Synthi AKS.
Oxygène is the second studio album by French electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre. It was first released in France in December 1976 by Disques Motors, and distributed internationally in 1977 by Polydor Records. Jarre recorded the album in a makeshift studio that he set up in his apartment in Paris, using a variety of analog and digital synthesizers, and other electronic instruments and effects.
SPK were an Australian industrial rock and noise rock group formed in 1978. They were fronted by mainstay member, Graeme Revell on keyboards and percussion. In 1980 the group travelled to the United Kingdom where they issued their debut album, Information Overload Unit. In 1983 Sinan Leong joined on lead vocals. The group disbanded in 1988. Two years later Revell and Leong relocated to the United States, where Revell works as a Hollywood film score composer. According to Australian rock music historian Ian McFarlane, SPK were "at the forefront of the local post-punk, electronic/experimental movement of the late 1970s ... [their] music progressed from discordant, industrial-strength metal noise to sophisticated and restrained dance-rock with strange attributes".
The VCS 3 is a portable analog synthesizer with a flexible modular voice architecture introduced by Electronic Music Studios (EMS) in 1969.
Ralf und Florian is the third studio album by the German electronic band Kraftwerk. It was released in October 1973 on Philips. It saw the group moving toward their signature electronic sound. It reached #160 on the US Top 200 Albums Chart in 1975.
Équinoxe is the fourth studio album by French electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre, released in December 1978 on the Dreyfus record label, licensed to Polydor Records for its worldwide distribution in 1979. The album featured two singles: "Équinoxe Part 4" and "Équinoxe Part 5", the latter having more success reaching No. 45 on the UK Singles Chart. It reached number 11 on the UK Album Chart and number 126 on the US Billboard 200 chart.
Oxygène 7–13 is the twelfth studio album by French electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre, released by Disques Dreyfus on 17 February 1997. It is the sequel to his 1976 album Oxygène released two decades before and used the same synthesizers. The album is dedicated to Jarre's former mentor, experimental musician Pierre Schaeffer. The album cover art was created by long-time collaborator Michel Granger. The CD cover used lenticular printing to make the illusion of moving stars in the background.
Electronic Music Studios (EMS) is a synthesizer company formed in Putney, London in 1969 by Peter Zinovieff, Tristram Cary and David Cockerell. It is now based in Ladock, Cornwall.
The EMS Synthi 100 was a large analogue/digital hybrid synthesizer made by Electronic Music Studios, London, originally as a custom order from Radio Belgrade for what was to be the Radio Belgrade Electronic Studio, largely thanks to contact between composer Paul Pignon, then living in Belgrade, and Peter Zinovieff. The synthesiser was designed by David Cockerell and documented in detail in 1971. The cost at that time was £6,500. The last unit built by EMS was number 30. Afterwards, one final unit was built by Datanomics, who bought assets from EMS when the company folded in 1979. The redesigned unit was sold to Gabinete de Música Electroacústica, Cuenca, Spain.
Les Chants Magnétiques is the fifth studio album by French electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre, released on Disques Dreyfus on 20 May 1981. The album reached number six in the United Kingdom, number 98 in the United States and number 76 in Australia.
Zoolook is the seventh studio album by French electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre, released in November 1984 by Disques Dreyfus. Much of the music is built up from samples of singing and speech in 25 different languages recorded and edited in the Fairlight CMI digital sampling synthesizer. The album spawned two singles: the title track and "Zoolookologie".
Chronologie is the eleventh studio album by French electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre, and was released on Disques Dreyfus with license to Polydor in 1993. Chronologie peaked at Number 11 in the UK charts and the album cover art was created by long-time collaborator Michel Granger.
Geometry of Love is the fifteenth studio album by French electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre, released by Warner Music in October 2003.
Sessions 2000 is the fourteenth studio album by French electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre, released on Disques Dreyfus and distributed by Sony Music in 2002. On January 7, 2003 was released in US. Sessions 2000 featured Francis Rimbert, and was recorded at Croissy studio and later mixed at Square Prod studio by Joachim Garraud. The album reached the 140th position in French charts.
"Warszawa" is a mostly instrumental song by David Bowie and Brian Eno originally released in 1977 on the album Low. The band Joy Division was initially called Warsaw as a reference to this song.
"Any Colour You Like" is the eighth track on by English rock band Pink Floyd's 1973 album, The Dark Side of the Moon. It is an instrumental written by David Gilmour, Richard Wright and Nick Mason.
"On the Run" is the third track from English rock band Pink Floyd's 1973 album, The Dark Side of the Moon. It is an instrumental piece performed on an EMS synthesizer. It deals with the pressures of travel, specifically air travel, which according to Richard Wright, would often bring fear of death.
Oxygène 3 is the nineteenth studio album by the French electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre. Announced via a post on Jarre's Instagram account, the album was released on 2 December 2016, on the 40th anniversary of the original Oxygène album.
"Tonite" is a song by American rock band LCD Soundsystem. It was released as the second single from their fourth studio album, American Dream (2017), on August 16, 2017, through DFA Records and Columbia Records. A music video for the song was also premiered on the same day. The song peaked at number 191 in France and number 33 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Songs chart. At the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, the song won the award for Best Dance Recording, making it the band's first Grammy win.
Forever Alien is the third studio album by British space rock band Spectrum, a project led by Peter Kember under the pseudonym Sonic Boom. It was released in August 1997 by Space Age Records. After the band's preceding EP Songs for Owsley (1996) moved them away from guitar-oriented music and towards electronic music, Forever Alien furthered this approach considerably, as Kember aimed to create a predominately electronic album that sounded organic and analogue in style. The record is dominated by vintage analogue synthesizers, including the EMS VCS 3 and EMS Synthi AKS. Kember had become fascinated by the synths as he felt they presented him with more musical possibilities than guitars.
David Cockerell is an electronics engineer and designer. He started his career in the synthesizer world when Peter Zinovieff hired him to work for his EMS company in Putney in 1966, where he designed classic EMS synthesizers such as the Synthi VCS3, Synthi AKS and Synthi 100. In 1974 he worked for Electro-Harmonix in New York, where he first designed guitar pedals like the Small Stone phaser and Electric Mistress flanger. Still working for Electro-Harmonix, in 1980, Cockerell designed one of the first digital delay pedals with looping capabilities, the Instant Replay, followed by the 2 Second Digital Delay in 1981 and the 16 Second Digital Delay in 1982. This led him later to work at Akai, where he was involved in the design of samplers like the S612, S900, S1000, and the famous MPC60.