A select history of modular synthesizers

M ost creations b u ild on the m u sin g s and T h e first step s 192 2

d isco ve ries of p e o p le w ho cam e before.
Th e sam e is true with m o d u lar synthesis. Th e first m ention of a word for "electricity a p p e a rs Fam ou s co m p o se r E d g a r V are se w rites "What we
Therefore, we thought it w ould b e inter­ in 16 0 0 . I takes 276 years before we learn to m ake w ant is an instrum ent that w ill g iv e us a continuous
esting to share a few of the threads that it vibrate like an oscillator, and 560 years until we so u n d at any pitch. T h e co m p o se r a n d the electri­
have led to w here we are now. have a voltage-controller oscillator Betw een the
cian w ill p e rh a p s have to lab o r to gether to get it.'
Interestingly, altho ugh a lot of two, a lot of attem pts are m ad e to create electric
synthesizer-like instrum ents w ere created m usical instrum ents, and m any fam ous co m p o se rs 193 7
over the co urse of nearly 2 0 0 years b e ­ support their d evelop m en t But it s only at the end
fore m o d u lar synths first a p p e a red , it can't of this p erio d that the co n ce p t of patch ing m o d u le s
Artist an d co m p o se r Jo h n C a g e , m his cre d o The
be said that m o d u lars directly d e sce n d e d together to alter and even create so u n d in real time
Future o f M u sic , e x p resses d is d a in for p revio u s
from them . Instead, the m otivation for the b eco m es a reality
ele ctro n ic instrum en ts that have attem pted to re­
creation of early m o d u lar synths cam e
p ro d u ce the so u n d of other instrum ents. Instead, he
from the desire of co m p o sers to have a 1876
states "The sp e cia l p ro p erty of electrical instrum ents
m ore im m ed iate tool to work with, co m ­
w ill be to p ro v id e co m p le te control of the overtone
pared to the a u d io test sign al generators Inspired by a d isco ve ry his nephew m ad e while
structure of to nes as o p p o se d to n oises and to make
a n d tape sp lic in g te chn iq u es they were p layin g with a battery and a bathtub, Elisha G ray
these to nes a v a ila b le in any frequency, am plitude,
u sin g in the electro nic m usic studios of creates an electro m ag netic circuit that co u ld vibrate;
and duration."
the 19 50 s. Here we share a few of the som e m ight say this was the first electric 'oscilla­
m ore pivotal stories of the evolution of tor.' H e creates a set of circuits tuned to different
1946
m o d u lar synths, as well as 'points in time' fre q u encie s and co nnects them to a rud im entary
w here a lot of influential co m p an ie s both keyboard, creating the 'M usical Teleg rap h' (also
C o m p o s e r a n d p erfo rm er R aym o n d Scott e sta b ­
old a n d new got their start. known as the 'Electro -H arm o n ic Telegraph'). Th ese
lishes M anhattan R esearch, an d a n n o u n ce s he will
W e h a d fun re se a rch in g a n d inter­ oscillation s can be transm itted over te leg ra p h or
view in g p e o p le for this sectio n ; s e e the d e sig n a n d m anu factu re ele ctro n ic m usic devices
te lep h o n e w ires to a rem ote location.
a ck n o w le d g e m e n ts for a list o f credits. an d system s. T h e se in c lu d e d e v ic e s such as ring
m o du lators, w ave, tone an d e n v e lo p e shapers,
and filters "for the creatio n of electro n ic m usic and

History is a tricky business M u siq u e Con crète." A yo u n g Robert M oog creates

Memories are not always accurate; so m e circu its for R aym o n d in the 50s, an d credits
two memories may contradict each R aym on d with p o ssib ly b u ild in g the first seq u en cer

other - especially when they come with relays, m otors, ste p p e rs, an d electronic
circuits."
from different sides of a story.
For example, we found quotes
194 8
that dated the creation of the first
Buchla Music Box (Don didn't call
them 'synthesizers') to anywhere A |an R. Pearlman - future founder of A RP
from 1961 to 19 6 6 ! Where possible, Instruments - is a stu den t at W o rcester Polytechnic
we've used documents rather than stitute. H e w rites a p a p e r stating "The electronic
memories to help us piece togeth­ instrum ent s v alu e is ch iefly as a novelty. W ith great-
er the actual timeline. Where that ttention on the part of the e n g in e e r to the needs
wasn't possible, we're purposely th e m u sician , the d ay m ay not b e too remote
indistinct about exact dates. w hen the ele ctro n ic instrument m ay take its p lace ...
as a versatile, pow erful, a n d ex p ressive instrument."

340
 1953 1959-60 It all c o m e s t o g e th e r

With the help of his father, Robert Moog - age 19 - Harald Bode develops the A u dio SystemSynthesiser. The m id-1960s see an explosion of activity as
founds R.A. Moog C o . to manufacture Therem in kits. The idea is to create a system that could serve all the electronic music com posers team up with interested
im agined needs for film or TV sound production. engineers to create the first generation of what we
1955 The resulting device contains a series of modules now refer to as "modular music synthesizers" (even
integrated with a reel-to-reel tape deck. It allows a though two of the founding fathers were reluctant to
In an attempt to replace union musicians, US enter­ com poser to patch those modules - including a ring use that name at the time).
tainm ent giant R C A develops the M ark I Synthesizer. modulator, filter, and reverb in any order to modify
Bor owing from the top-octave divide-dow n existing sounds or theoretically generate new ones 1961
technology of organs, it contained 12 tube-based (although the system did not appear to have an
oscillators to create the notes in an octave. These oscillator). The resulting sound can be recorded The San Francisco Tape Music Center (SFTM C) is
wavr orms were then processed through frequency back to tape. founded by composers Morton Subotnick, Ramon
dividers to create the other octaves, as well as Sender, and Pauline Oliveros as a way for them to
a series of filters, modulators, and resonators. pool their equipment.
Mort knows that the Rockefeller Foundation had
funded the Colum bia-Princeton studio, and asks
Norman Lloyd at the Foundation about funding
the SFTM C as well. According to Mort, the reply is
"There will never be enough interest in electronic
music in the United States for two studios" and sug­
gests it would be less expensive to sim ply fly people
to New York than to build a second studio.

C o m p o sin g with it requires the m anual setting of 1963

over 2 0 0 controls and using a laborious punch-tape
entry system. Capturing the results involves record­ 1960 Com poser Herb Deutsch - a user of one of Robert
ing six tracks onto one record cutting lathe, which Moog's theremins - introduces himself to Bob at a
are then bounced down to a second cutting lathe. Harald Bode is said to create the first voltage- m usic-education conference in Rochester, New York.
The M ark II follows shortly thereafter, and is donated controlled oscillator while working for Wurlitzer Herb proposes "Wouldn't it be interesting to think
to the Colum bia-Princeton Electronic M usic Center O rgan Com pany. about designing a new instrument - a 'synthesizer'."
where it still resides (it was recently restored). Bob adm its he doesn't know much about electronic
music, and is leery of using the synthesizer name as
it was currently in use by RCA. To learn more about
electronic music, Herb invites Bob to a concert early
next year, and Bob makes plans to attend.

Back at the San Francisco Tape Music Center

(SFTMC), Morton Subotnick and Ramon Sender
brainstorm the creation of a 'black box' to make it
easier to create their music. In their dreams, it's an
affordable electronic music 'easel' someone could
even have at home. Their idea is based on a rotating
disc with holes in it that would hide or expose a
photocell behind it, translating their punch marks
into sound. Mort even starts studying electronics
books in the hope of designing it himself.
It's.been hard to nail down this next encounter:
Som e say it happened in 1963; others are certain it
happened in 1964 after Don Buchla created a ring
modulator for the SFTM C.
B o b M o o g a n d H erb D eutsch exp erim en tin g with a later-generation M oog m odular syste
341
 Mort and Ram on d e scrib e their idea for their black what he jo k in g ly ca lls "the A b om inatro n a n d sh ip s 1965
box to D on. D o n b u ild s it for them, but explains H erb the prototype. It contains two V C O s . two V C A s
that this was not the right way to go. So they start and a p o lyp h o n ic keyboard H erb co m p o se s Jazz Th e R ockefeller F o u n d a tio n a ssig n s a different
co llab o ra tin g , b o u n cin g id e as off of each other and Im ages, a W orksong a n d Blu es, w hich is the first p e rso n B oyd C o m p to n - to the San Francisco Tape
sketch in g them out on paper. Ram on Sen d er lo b ­ p iece ever recorded using the M oog Synthesizer M usic C e n te r p roject H e visits, and gets swept up
bies for a p ian o-style keyboard, but both Mort and V la d im ir Ussachevsky. director of the electronic in the ex citem ent A fterw ards, the S F 1M C submits
D o n are against the idea. Th ey ask D on how m uch m u sic lab at C o lu m b ia Princeton, su g g e ste d the in a p ro p o sa l to th e R o ckefeller Fo un d atio n for a
he n eeds to b u ild it, and D on replies S 5 0 0 . Mort strum ent not have a keyboard; B o b initially a g re e s
$ 1 5 .0 0 0 g ra n t It in c lu d e s a lin e item of $ 5 0 ° ^or
asks the R ockefeller Foundation for funding of this M oog em p lo ye e A m o s G a y n e s later recounts that "expansion of the stu d io co n so le to help pay for
idea, and reported ly they again say "no." Bob personally thought the p ian o keyb oard was
D o n B u ch la to create the instrum ent they ve been
lim iting - e sp e cia lly for live p erform ance expression.
ta lkin g a b o u t T h is tim e, it is app ro ved .
1964 A ltho ug h H erb him self creates a va n t-g ard e m usic,
Fortunately. D o n lia s a lre a d y started work on
he also p layed jazz, and sugge sts to Bob that "a key
the in d iv id u a l m o d u le s D o n d e liv e rs the 10 0 Series
Robert M oog attends a concert of tape and e le c ­ b o a rd is a g o o d idea ... putting a ke yb o ard on the
M o d u lar E le ctro n ic M u s ic S ystem to the S F T M C in
tronic m usic - in c lu d in g w orks by co m p o se r H erb synthesizer w ould certain ly m ake it a m ore se lla b le
N o v e m b e r 19 65 E x cite d b y the arrival of tins new
D eu tsch - in early 1964. After the concert. H erb and product."
toy, stu d io e n g in e e r a n d co m p o se r Bill M agmms
B o b talk about creating what H erb calls a "small and Later that year, Bob gets the op p o rtunity to
stays u p that entire first night, u sin g the Buchla to
affordable m usic synthesizer." Herb's go al is to c re ­ show his M o o g Synthesizer at the O cto b e r 1964
create h is co m p o sitio n F lig h t
ate so m e th in g that was easier and m ore im m ediate A E S C o n ven tio n . M odern d a n ce ch o re o g rap h e r
Th e o rig in a l B u c h la B o x' - D o n didn't call it
to control than the electronic test eq u ip m e nt o sc il­ Alw in N iko lais - w ho co m p o se d his own sco re s as
a 'synthesizer'; he c o n s id e re d his creations to
lators he had p revio u sly b een using. Bob takes up w ell - sees it, m akes som e su gge stio n s, an d ord ers
b e instrum en ts in their ow n right - in clu d e s the
the ch a lle n g e , and w rites a letter of intent that Herb one. E n g lish -A m e rica n comjDoser a n d m u sician Eric
M o d e l 114 Tou ch C o n t r o lle d V o lta g e S o u rce (TCVS.
uses to secure a $ 2 0 0 grant from Hofstra University. S id a y - inventor of the ‘so u n d logo ' - a lso ord ers
R eturning to rural Trum ansburg, N ew York, Bob or 'touch ke y b o ard ' for short). T h e T C V S has ten
one, reco g nizin g its potential for jin g le p ro d u ctio n
starts work, and creates a pair of vo ltage-co n tro lled id e n tica l to u ch -se n sitiv e k e y p a d s. T h is is specifically
as well as for m ore serious co m p osition . Eric notes
oscillators an d am plifiers. H erb co m es out to visit re q u e ste d b e ca u se M ort an d R am on have acquired
"The ear of the w orld is satiated by co nven tio nal
Bob, and they refine Bob's initial id eas over the a ta p e -b a s e d a n sw e rin g m a c h in e d e v ic e with ten
m usic. To g rasp a listener today, you have to give
co urse of several w eeks. After so m e m ore work, him som ething new." se p a ra te tape transports, an d w ant a w ay to fade
later in 1964 B o b p rep ares a tape dem onstrating those tracks in a n d out.

Prototype
M oog
m odules. The current state of the ong"
B u ch la B o x ' at M ills C o lle g e

342
 Each 'key' of the T C V S can control each tape
transport's playback sp eed . It also contains what is François C oup ign y creates the five-oscillator
probably the first seq u en cer for se n d in g voltage C o u p ig n y Synthesizer in France. It is integrated
control to m odules. In Don's words, "when you in ­ into the 24-track mixing console of Studio 54 at the
vent voltage control, you invent ways of generalizing G roup e de Recherche d e Musique Concrète (GRM),
allowing it to control tape recorders plus interface
voltages for control."
with other external equipm ent. It is modular, using
a pin matrix system akin to what is seen later in EMS
Electronic M usic Studios (EMS) is founded by Peter
Zinovieff, built in a shed at his house in Putney (a designs.
Th e C o u p ig n y Synthesizer is said to be the first
district in southwest London, England). Zinovieff
synth Jean-M ichel Jarre ever used. It is still func­
manages to acquire two D E C P D P 8 m ini-com puters
tioning at the GRM studio today; JM J used it on his The first Beaver & Krause effort is The N onesuch
-"the first com puter in the w orld in a private house,
album Electronica. G u id e to Electronic M usic, which is an educational
according to Peter - and uses them to voltage- album using the Moog. It comes with a detailed
control an array o f analog synthesis equipm ent. booklet that includes the original inspiration for
the patch notation scheme we use in this book.
In September 1965, the first p u b lic live perform ance Nonesuch is the same label that commissioned
using a Moog synthesizer takes p lace at the Town Mort Subotnick's Silver A p p les o f the Moon.
Hall in New York City.
The PULSA G roup - a collaborative of artists and
1966 faculty at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut-
are interested in interactive com puter art through
Don Buchla plays at several of Ken Kesey's A cid viewer-activated light and sound installations, and
Tests. The pinnacle is the Trips Festival at the San dream up a voltage-controlled hybrid digital and an­
Francisco Longshorem an's Union Hall, running alog audio synthesizer that can execute 'generative'
January 21 to 23. D on plays electronic sounds (p. 260) as well as pre-planned multimedia com ­
between acts. Ken Kesey later acq uires his own positions. Two of their m em bers - Peter Kindlmann
1967
four-module Buchla Box (pictured below) for and Paul Fuge - spearhead the design work on the
Processing sounds himself. M orton Subo tnick's Silver A p p le s o f the M oon is re ­ one-off P U LSA Synthesizer.
Innovations in the PU LSA Synthesizer include:
le a se d , a n d is sa id to b e the first p ie c e o f electronic
(N M C )

• Voltage control "for all important parameters"

m u s ic c o m m is s io n e d b y a record com pany.
including frequency, amplitude, independent
Contre

attack and decay times as well as clocking.

Photo courtesy of N a tio n a l Music

• Elimination of the distinction between audio

voltage levels and control voltage levels.
O b je c t N u m b e r : 2 0 0 J . 0 J . 0 i

• A highly modularized patching schem e based

on patch cables with pins. Even attenuators are
shared and separate, replacing potentiometers
on the m odules themselves. Capacitors are
plugged into pin jacks on the front of some
m odules for major changes in the timing of

f this year, the first recording to feature the some functions, i.e. to convert an audio wave­
agrehe ^ ° c^efeller Foundation - now obviously
form to a slow control function.
mu 8ln® f^ere is need for m ore than o n e electronic Mort Garson's The Z o d ia c: C o sm ic So un ds -
ad. Th e M oog program m er is listed as Paul • Generation of timing and fixed or pseudo­
andSl? StUdio in the u s - app roves a $ 2 0 0 ,0 0 0 grant, random patterns by shift registers and other
8 S FTM C is m e rg e d with th e M ills C o lle g e 3aul and his m usical partner Bernard Krause
the W est C oast representatives for Moog, logic circuitry.
c0m”)ber ^ USIC C e n te r in O a k la n d C alifo rn ia, be- • Four-quadrant analog m ultipliers are a funda­
ing it to bands ranging from the Beatles to
m9 M ills C e n te r for C o n te m p o ra ry M usic.
1rs to Sim on and Garfunkel to The Monkees. mental building block in the PULSA. They can
focrat't8r t^'S Sam e y ear- Morton S u bo tn ick gets a becom e 'VCA's, envelope generators or ring
■form in num erous recording sessions up
$ i// IVe COr>tact with N on esuch R e co rd s to create
in the West Coast, and release their own m odulators (p. 187), depending on what kind of
7qo « M e s o f the M o o n . H e o rd e rs h is ow n Buchla
signals are used as inputs.
in Ne ^ OG^ a r E le ctro n ic M u s ic System to use as well.
w Tork for its co m p o sitio n .
343
 A ltho ug h his official duties had little to d o with A secon d w ave
Mort or his B uchla 700 system , it still has a great im ­
pact o n Serge. "I learn ed a lot o f m y e le ctro n ics from After the M oog an d B u ch la m o d u lar synths appear,
Don's schem atics, and they set m e on the co urse several other m anu factu rers are e n co u ra g e d to join
that m ade m y d e sig n s so different from e ve ryb o d y the fray - e s p e c ia lly after the rele ase of one particu­
else's. larly su ccessful a lb u m .
"W hat struck m e u p o n exam in ing D on's d e sig n s,
is how m uch very interesting stuff w as h id d e n aw ay 1 96 9
in ord er to realize a g ive n function. Take o n e of his
V C O s for e xam ple. T h e V C O co n siste d o f several
S w itc h e d -O n B a c h - a n d m ost electro n ic m usic
blocks strung together, an sawtooth oscillator, a full
a lb u m s to date - are stu d io creations. To convince
w ave rectifier p ro d u cin g a triangle w ave, a d io d e
p e o p le that the M o o g co u ld a lso be a perform ance
sh ap e r to turn the triangle into a sin e w ave, a n d a
instrum ent, M o o g o rg a n iz e s a J a z z in the G a rd e n
co m p arator circuit to p ro d u ce p u lse w aves. A ll o f it
co ncert at the M u seu m of M o dern Art in New York.
w orked beautifully to m ake an e le g a n t m od u le, but
It features four M o o g m o d u la r synthesizers playing
so m uch of it w as h id d e n , u n ab le to b e a cce ssed ,
jazz in a live setting . A s it's h ard to repro gram a
a n d ve ry interesting stuff in d e e d . That's w hy from
m o d u la r synth d u rin g a live p erform ance, special
the b e g in n in g , I was d e term in ed to m ake su b -fu n c­
p reset m o d u le s a re b u ilt w h ich can take o v e r the
Paul Fu g e o f Yale w orking on the PU LSA Synthesizer. tions such as com parators, rectifiers, w avesh ap ers,
front p an el co ntro ls. T h e lead M o o g is later sold to
b i-d irectio n a l routers, an d p e a k and trough tracers
Keith E m erso n , an d fo rm s the b asis for his famous
Two p e o p le fun d am en tal to the d e velo p m e n t of a v a ila b le for use b y the m u sician interested in so n ic
m o d u la r M o o g .
m o d u lar a n d se m i-m o d u la r synths later have co n ­ DIY.”
tact with this m achin e. It affects o n e of them deeply,
w hich is ou r next story. D av id Frien d jo in s A R P Instrum ents, initially d e ­
D av id Frien d - co -fo u n d e r an d even tu al p re sid e n t of
sig n in g the 70 50 M ix -S e q u e n c e r a n d 70 2 7 10 -stag e
A RP Instrum ents - a lso has co ntact w ith the P U L S A
196 8 C lo c k e d S e q u e n tia l C o n tro ller, p lus a seq u en cer
Synthesizer, but is m ore affected b y h is w ork at the
exp an d er. E c h o in g the a u d io stream se q u e n ce r he
Yale Electro nic M usic Lab. At the req uest of co m ­
S e rg e Tch e rep n in m oves to the US from Europe, d e s ig n e d w hile at Yale, they feature norm al patterns
p o ser M el Powell, D avid creates an a u d io stream
and starts to h an g out with the PU LSA G ro u p at as w ell as ran d o m p la y b a ck . D av id eventually
seq u e n ce r. Featu ring m u ltip le inputs, it ca n sw itch
Yale University. S e rg e recounts that the P U LS A b e co m e s A RP's p resid en t, an d is invo lved in instru­
b etw een p rim itive e le ctro n ic so u n d gen e rato rs as
S y n th e size r "gave a d irectio n to m y own future work, m ents in c lu d in g the A R P 2 6 0 0 se m i-m o d u la r and
w ell as p re -re co rd e d so u n d s from tap e record ers,
and not o n ly on the te chn ical level, but a lso hum anly the A R P O d y s s e y . H e d e s c rib e s th eir overall go al as
using both norm al and ran d om patterns. T h is allow s
an d aesthetically." so lv in g ex istin g p ro b le m s for com posers."
th e creation o f rap id c h a n g e s b etw een a u d io so u rc­
Later in 1968, S e rg e is invited by Morton es with far less w ork than s p lic in g tape.
S u b o tn ick to jo in the Interm edia Program at New
York University. D u rin g this tim e, S e rg e d e sig n s and W e n d y C a rlo s re le ase s S w itc h e d -O n B a ch , re co rd e d
b u ild s a variety of circuits for Mort an d the other using a M oog m o d u lar cu sto m ized to W end y's
artists a n d m u sician s. "I had carte b lan ch e to pursue sp ecificatio ns. It is one of the b e st-se llin g classical
m y D IY interest in electro nics, to set up a test bench, re co rd s of all tim e, a n d w ins three G ra m m y A w ard s
an d to see w here that led." in 19 70 .

curtesy J o n d e n t
Photo

344
 Composer Don Banks sp en d s an evening with Peter Zinovieff of Electronic
Music Systems, where "I co m p la in ed bitterly about the lack of facilities for
composers to learn the lan g u ag e of electronic music. Peter, as generous as ever,
said he would ask D avid (Cockerell) to d esign a kind of instrument which would
incorporate a num ber of facilities w hich one w ould need to know about in the
production and treatment of sound." Th e result becom es known as the Don
Banks M usic B o x (D B M B ), w hich in retrospect is referred to as the EMS Voltage
Controlled Synthesizer (V C S ) m odel ». This evolves into the fam ous EM S V CS5,
which is released for co m m ercial sale.

x I x X I * T T T 7 1

X X X X x X x 8 æ }

arm w m
C ° llect'0n: M u se u m o f A p p lie d A n s a n d S c ie n c e s P h o to M a n n c o K o jd a n o v s k i

P h o to: B u ko w skis A u ctio n s

1970

ARP 20 0 0 series m odu lar synthesizer is

'Produced at the Fall A E S show in New York.
One of its most striking features is rows
switches above and below the m odules.
David Friend explains this is a solution to the
n°rm al "maze of patch chords that m ad e it
/erY difficult to understand what was go ing
0n. and was cum bersom e." Th e se switch
rnatrices take inputs and outputs ind icated by
lhe front panel g raph ics for each m odule, and
Peaces them on a series of co nnection buses
shared by the other m odules. Unfortunately,
this innovative system suffers from crosstalk
etween adjacent busses.
d hike Bob M oog and D on Buchla, Alan
earlman - a big fan of Morton Subotnick s
ear|y records - is ad vised that he doesn't need

E sca m illa
a keyboard, as "these instrum ents w ere g o o d
0r atonal music, anyhow." But, he sees that

by Joseph
/endy Carlos' S w itch ed -O n Bach is outselling
ubotnick, so he "kinda figured the M oog
“PProach was the better approach."

Photo
The initial instruments are offered m a
ariety ° f configurations n um b ered 2 0 0 0 The e a rly 2 0 0 0 m odels are qu ickly rep laced b y the A R P 2 5 0 0
u se rs ra n g e from Pete Tow nsend o f The W ho to T,betan BuHHk " âdd,t' ° n to traditional electronic ane R ad igue.
r° u9 h 2007, all with a three-vo ice keyboard
This A R P 2 5 0 0 sits in the studio of H an s Zimm er. lsm -m fluenced co m p o ser F I d Studios-
c°ntr0||er.

345
 Th e E lectro co m p E M L -,o o . the first sem i m o d u lar synthesizer. P h ™
Three V C S 5s p |us m ore , he m ass
M S Synth 1 n

Electro nic M usic Laboratories (EML) EM S offers a V C S 5 rep ack ag e d into a 1971
release the E le ctro C o m p EM L-iO O . U sin g a sm a ll in h e rita n ce. D av e
portable plastic briefcase, known as
It is p o ssib ly the first 'sem i-m o d u lar' p ays for him self. Paula Butler. M ark
the S y n t h iA (nicknam e: Portabella, Th e A R P 2 6 0 0 se m i m odu lar synth
synthesizer in that its entire voice was D an zige r, a n d M ark N ilso n front
rep orted ly a p un on the nam e of d e s ig n e d b y A la n Pearlm an and
p re-w ired internally, but som e of the U C S C , a n d Jim K etch am a n d Steve
London's Portobello Road). D e n is C o lin - is introduced. D avid
routing co u ld be o ve rrid d e n with G a b rie l from C alte ch , to s p e n d the
1971 also se e s the release of the F rie n d sketch e s out the 2 6 0 0 s front
patch cords. A fo u r-V C O synth with a su m m e r b u ild in g "a real syn th esizer
m assive Synthi too. It is essentially p a n e l, in c lu d in g the b lock diagram
m u ltim o d e filter a n d rin g m odulator, three I/CS3S, although the circuit Th e result, the Ep 25, is a co m p e te n t
illu stration s; the final g ra p h ics are
it also features what m any say is the b o ard s are u n iq u e to the Synthi too, fixed front p an e l synthesizer, akin to
la id out b y his w ife (and later, noted
first 'd uo p ho nic' keyboard, w hich can the co n te m p o rary A R P 260 0 ."
and overall it was know n for b eing
c a llig ra p h e r) M argaret Shepherd.
in d e p e n d e n tly output two in d e p e n ­ D av e a d m its m any of their d e sig n
m ore stable than the I/C S 3. It uses two
M argaret a p p e a rs in a d s h o ld ing the
dent vo ltages when two keys are held 6 0 x 6 0 pin matrix patch bays: one for id e a s cam e from the d o c u m e n ta tio n
dow n. fust g e n e ra tio n 2 6 0 0 to em ph asize its
sig n al routing, an d o n e for voltage for the A RP 2 6 0 0 a n d M o o g M o d e l
portability.
control. 12. "The o rig in a l Ep 25 M k I g o e s to
S e rg e Tcherep n in jo in s the m usic D a v id e x p la in s that the go als were
Steve an d Jim , an d w e all a g re e e a ch
to m a ke it ch e a p e r, sim pler, more por­
faculty at the C alifo rn ia Institute of the D ave Rossum learns electronics, o f us can u se w hat w e d e v e lo p e d as
Arts. Th ere he sets up a lab for the w e see fit." ta b le than the 2 5 0 0 , d e liv e rin g 8 0 %
a n d etches circuit b o a rd s for a
d e s ig n o f circu its for u se in the arts of the so u n d for 2 0 % of the effort.
hom eb rew synthesizer in his dorm
and m usic. It is w id e ly a d o p te d by m u sician s as
room at U C S C . O v e r sp rin g break, he
w ell as e le ctro n ic m u sic studios with
returns to C alte ch and asse m b le s the
D ave Rossum 's Ph D ad viser Harry sm a lle r b u d g e ts.
B lack M a ria h : their first synthesizer
N o lle r invites D ave to h elp the m usic prototype. It uses m atrix sw itches akin
dep artm ent at the U niversity of Santa to the A RP 2 5 0 0 for p atch ing . D ave
C ru z (U C S C ) u np ack their new M oog recounts "It w orked, but w e knew it
M o d e l 12 synthesizer. "I catch the w as not a real synthesizer. W e p u sh it
synthesizer b u g , help teach the m usic
out the C a lte ch D a b n e y H o u se library
students how to use the M oog, and
window, and it crashes to p ie ce s in the
study the sch em atics that ca m e with
courtyard. W e rem o ved the e xp ensive
it." D ave invites so m e friends from matrix sw itches first, but never used
C a lifo rn ia Institute o f T e ch n o lo g y
them again b e ca u se they h ad horrib le
(C altech ) to p lay with it, and they crosstalk."
d e c id e they can b u ild a synthesizer of
th eir ow n. T h is is the g e n e sis of what
b e co m e s Ep System s.
The A RP 2 6 0 0 version 2 .0 from 1971

346
 1972 1973

Dave Rossum and friends hear of an ARP 2 6 0 0 at Dave Rossum recounts that Bob Moog writes to Ep
The Buchla M usic E a se l portable patchable synth is
Moyer's M usic in Santa C lara. Th ey visit the store, "and tells us nobody will take us seriously, and we
released. It contains the Timbre sub-m odule, which
and Dave starts "running d iag no stic patches to d e ­ won't be able to stay in business anyway, unless
is recognized as the first wave folder. See also p. 178.
termine its actual perform ance specifications and w e raise our prices, which we do. A s a result, more
are given perm ission to d isassem b le it. D iscovering orders start flowing in."
that their own ideas were ahead of what others were
already selling, "We d e cid e we are skilled enough Serge Tcherepnin gives the first ever dem o of O S C IIl A l O »
IOAAJJ G AT I
that we can design a com petitive product.' a com plete Serge M odular M usic System at the
As a result, they announce the Ep M odular University of California in La Jolla "with quite cut (trim)
KEYBOARD
Synthesizer and associated p lug -in 'subm odules' a bunch of people ogling - among them Max sicmi r o u t in g

lowpass f ilt e r
- building blocks such as a V C O core for others to Matthews, Warren Burt, Mort Subotnick, Roger I combination
FOIttte controlled i
create their own synths - are for sale. Reynolds, and Don Buchla. Don Buchla took me
* 't*
fin e
tuning
Hope se le c t REVER
BE RAT ION
One of their innovations is the use of internal aside after the show and kindly offered me his ad­ LEVEL

patch cords for the m ain jacks; p lu g g in g into the vice: 'You know Serge, there's no money to be made
associated jack on the front panel with an external from manufacturing synthesizers.'"
cord overrides this norm alled connection. Other in Despite this, Serge decides to go ahead with
novations for a co m m ercially-availab le synth include his project for a 'People's Synthesizer,' offering a
'soft sync' between V C O s , a d igitally scann ed volt­ com plete synth in kit form to the first twenty people
age controlled synthesizer keyboard, and variab le w illing to put up S60 0 . "Over the sum mer and fall •ej n c y PUCH T IM B R E LEV EL LEV EL

portamento shape for the keyboard. a group of about seven of us started building the
synths on a balcony kindly lent to us by the Music
Bernie Hutchins starts pu b lish ing Electronotes m ag ­ Departm ent at CalArts." Com poser Jill Fraser
O U TPU T

azine. This lo n g-ru nn ing collection of synthesizer (p. 242) is am ong the early adopters and employees. BUCHLA & A SSO CIA T ES
BERKELEY. CA LIFO RN IA
P h o to : D a v e Brow n
circuits and design ideas p rovid es inspiration for
numerous synthesists and m o d u lar creators. Dave D o u g Lynner's 'Mystery Serge' - believed to b e the first Serge M odular M usic System sold commercially
Rossum is am ong its early contributors. updated and refurbished by com poser and Serge specialist Kevin Braheny Fortune. The Mystery Sem e not
its nam e as som e of the graph,cs no longer reflect the m odules or features behind some of the panels
Jerge Tcherepnin teach es a w orkshop to m ake your
>wn sim ple m odular synthesizer for sum m er school
tudents. In the fall, he starts work o n the d e sig n of a
JH-fledged analog synth, assisted by Randy Cohen
nd Rich Gold.

the other end of the scale, PA iA Electronics

°ffers their budget 2 7 2 0 m od u lar synthesizer fo
Sa^e as both kits and a ssem b le d m odules. Beinc
rn° st affordable
modular offering
ava|lable, many
rn°b u la r m usicians
9et a PAiA as their
flrs* modular.
Unsurprising|y,
sound quality is
r° u9hly equivalent
to its price.

______ ,00.-0. MC.i

‘pZ o S c o h T e e / P A ^ C o rp o -a n o n

347
 1 97 4

N yle Steiner p u b lish e s a m odification to the basic

S alle n -K e y filter circuit in the D e ce m b e r 1974 issue
of E le ctro n ic D e s ig n m agazine. He extends the
d e sig n by a d d in g three 1 kQ resistors and a three
position switch, u sed to route the a u d io input signal
into one of three different sections of the circuit to
create different filtering m odes. This basic d e sig n
is u sed in later Steiner-Parker synthesizers, as well
as by Arturia in their co ntem p orary M icroBrute,
M in iBru te, and M atrixBrute synths.

£C
-
Cn
T h e Steiner-Parker Syn th asystem o
f
re le ase d in 1975. 0
■■
t
1 97 5

N yle Stein er and D ick Parker release Ron Folkm an and A lan Pearce - the
th e S tein er-Parker S yn th asystem "Rogue M oog En gin eers" - start to W o lfg a n g P a lm g o e s into b u sin e ss o f T a n g e rin e D re am , w ho W olfgan9
m o d u lar synth. A s with m ost m o d u lar b u ild in g P P G S ystem 10 0 an d 3 0 0
b e co m e d isen ch an te d with life under cre d its with h e lp in g him start his
system s of this era, it follow ed its own m o d u la r synths. E a rly cu sto m e rs in ­ b u sin e ss. Palm e v en tu ally releases the
N orlin Industries. Ron relates: "Alan
form at for m o d u le h eig h t an d width. clu d e C h ris Franke a n d E d g a r Froese
and I had alread y co m p le tely id en ti­ in flu en tial P P G W a ve synths.
A vo lta g e -co n tro lle d p h ase shifter fied the sh ortco m ing s of the M oog
and a fre q u e n cy d iv id e r are am ong products, such as drifting oscillators ANALOG
its m ore unusual m od u les. MULTIPLIER VERSTARKER
a n d interm ittent keyboards."
'• n x * D rA C T O N
Msmoei.
A lan starts Polyfusion; the first ■

prod uct is the n o n -m o d u lar A S -7 NI» I < 0

analo g seq u en cer. He b rin gs in Ron M c io n

to h elp sort out som e p ro b lem s with •? . © n it * 1 ©

S tEU EH ïIN Q AN O

it, and A lan offers Ron a full-tim e

Steve Porcaro's Hil l
jo b . Ron b eco m e s vice p resid ent of M XCO O U TPVO LT

Polyfusion Rootus synth. Polyfusion.

(Q m i »

P h o t o -. A .m a zo n a .d e
 The J a p a n e s e jo in the party

After the flurry of activity in the United

States and parts of Europe, Jap an ese
companies Roland and Korg d ecid e
to branch out from their previous
self-contained keyboards to create
patchable m odular systems. Several
other new m odular synths app ear as
well, including a kit out of G erm any
that unwittingly starts the rebirth of
modular synths two d eca d e s later.

1976

Roland releases the S ystem -70 0 m o d ­

ular synthesizer: the first large-scale
modular system from Japan . Up until
this point, Roland's previous synths - P h o to s : V m ta g e w o rk s
Roland also releases the System -100
the SH -10 0 0 , S H -3 , S H -2 0 0 0 , and S H -5
sem i-m odular synth. It comes in sever­
- focused on sim plifying com plicated
al sections:
operations and on b eing affordable.
Synthesizer tot: A monophonic
Roland Corporation President and
synthesizer with built-in keyboard,
CEO Junichi Miki notes "These factors
oscillator, filter, ADSR envelope gener­
played an important role in m aking
ator and attenuator.
synthesizers popular. However, the
Expander 10 2: The same synth
downside to focusing on sim plicity
engine as the 101 with the addition
was a loss of flexibility." He shares that
of a ring modulator and sam ple and
Roland's founder Ikutaro Kakehashi hold, but without the keyboard. It is
had heard the previous m odular often paired with the 101 and placed
synthesizers from M oog, and wanted behind it as an expander.
to see how Roland could d e v e lo p the M ixer 703: A four-channel stereo
Modular concept - and so the project mixer with built-in spring reverb, ste­
began." reo panning, and effects send/return.
Seq u en cer 104: A two-channel,
fc'Aééé
12-step sequencer to automate
playing looped bars of notes. (Their
System -700 was also notable for
having a 12-step sequencer, instead of
?mi
it :;: the standard 8 steps.)
M onitor speaker 109: A pair of 6.25
inch (160 mm) speakers.
C o r p o r a t io n
P h o to s : Roland

349
 PA iA Electro nics release their u p g ra d e d 4 7 0 0 series
m o d u les, a g ain as kits or a sse m b le d units. W hereas
the 2 7 2 0 series of m o d u le s were sim p le r circuits
m ostly b ase d aro un d transistors, the 4 7 0 0 packed
m ore features into sim ilar-sized circuit boards, and
in c lu d e d m ore ICs.

Polyfusion releases their S e rie s 2 0 0 0 m od u lar syn­

thesizer. Th e 2 0 2 0 V C L P F - m o d e le d on an original
O T A -b a se d d e sig n by co -fo u n d e r Ron Folkm an - is
the first m o d u le. Th e ir m o d u le s d o not fit any of the
other standard form ats of the tim e. This was a co n ­
scio us d e cisio n on their part not to be associated
with the M oog, as it had g a in e d a poo r reputation
for stability. Polyfusion fo rges a reputation for b ein g
one of the h ighest quality m o d u lar system s a va il­
able at the tim e.

1977

In the May , 9 77 issue of the German electronic

Korg's fo u n d e r Tsuto m u Katoh has sets a strict
DIY magazine Elektor, the first of a series of
p o lic y for h is co m p a n y : N e v e r im itate any
articles devoted to the creation of the Formant
p ro d u ct from o th e r m akers, a n d alw ays strive
modular synthesizer appears. Designed by Cyril
for o rig in a lity . T h e ir PS-5JO O an d P S -550 0 "
Chapman, it is said to have the performance
"w orld's first fully p o ly p h o n ic p atch ab le synthe­
of many commercial models, but is designed
sizers" - c e rta in ly q u alify. A lth o u g h they use an
or home construction and could be built for a
o rg a n -lik e to p -o c ta v e d iv id e r circuit for oscil­
faction of their cost. Instructions covered build-
lators as w ell as in d e p e n d e n t filters and V C A s
v rn vrc i and interfaCe' power supply. p e r note, th e y d o h ave a set of shared patch
, triple LFO, noise source, ADSR V C A p o in ts for m o d u la tio n o f o scillato r frequency,
L dPB V C F n reS° nanCe fi',er m° dule' a" « a' filter cutoff, etc. w h e re the sig n a l carried on one
•" •' jjj®” aoSo* * * • 0003 * " • h u it 1 D° epfer iS amon9 those who
a o 0 0 00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 o '0 0 0 0 0 0 0 o o
build their own Formant synth. patch co rd is sh a re d to all of the notes. They a 'e
d e s ig n e d to b e b oth se lf-p a tch e d , and to cioss

?£ i i x r% % patch w ith o th e r m o d u la rs.

Sch u lze n<hS e r9 e Fern an d e2 m eet K laus

Schulze, w ho intro d u ce s them to the EM S
Synthi A . Inspired , they desicin an )
P o rc a ro

■; ;■ i *' ô i i î U i i ' i0 0< m i l » t v / »0 0 the . ^ M u t a n t (a lso k n t i n a s the

A A A A ' O 0/0 0 0 O à A A A A A O O O O O O O O 0 ‘ OO o j $ 0 O O O O O
S e r/e 77) m o d u la r sy n th s A h ^ ,
courtesy of Steve

Samsomte suitcases, echoing ,he case

Photo

Ram ses a n d O p h e lia , two of the cab in ets of Steve Porcaro's

large Polyfusion m o d u lar system that he p laye d in the band ' < ^ S F S e „ e „ m o d u la r s y n ,h
Toto W hlCh P r e d a ,« ' «heir m u c h b e tte r
know n K o h o l synthesizer

550
:

T h e Korg M S -2 0 m onophonic sem i-m odul

synth, now known for its distinctive filtt

The P S-330 0 polyphonic, patchable synth

took a different path, just as Korg's founder
Tsutomu Katoh dictated.

Th e Korg P S -3 2 0 0 program m able,

patchable, p o l y p h o n i c synthesizer.

1978

Korg releases the M S -io and M S-20 sem i-m odular

m onophonic synthesizers with the goal of creating
inexpensive patchable synths that serve both as
learning tools and to appeal to young users.
Korg also releases the P S -320 0 program m able -
but still patchable - polyphonic synth.

Roland releases the smaller System -io o M modular

The modules in the synthesizer.
Roland S ystem -io o M still
inspire designers today.

351
 D arkness falls - a lm o s t... 1980
N ew Form ats A p p e a r
The next 15 years sees many modular instruments
After releasing three different models and color
discontinued, and companies both big and small
schemes. ARP Instruments discontinues the ARP prit . >s (if vintage synthesizers
close their doors. However, amid all this darkness, a
2600. ar system s start to skyrocket,
glimmer of light appears: Dieter Doepfer gets the
h new playe rs to enter the
synthesizer bug, and decides to start selling kits and 1981
instruments. <>w form ats that art1 consid
ita n d a rd s today
1979 After discontim
. , ...... - j w emu ^000. a
1 99 4
bankrupt ARP Instruments is bought by the Music,
Roland discontinues the System- 100. hstrument Division of CBS. CBS releases the las,
n, ne lnstr""«>nt - the Chroma polyphoni D o e p fe r re le a se s the a c c id e n ta lly successful M S-

Steiner-Parker closes. synthesizer - under the Rhodes brand name 4 0 4 M IDI synth m o d u le D .eter recalls. "When
the p ric e s for s e c o n d -h a n d R olan d TB 505s

Aries announces a semi-modular pre-assembled Roland Corporation discontinues the System-yoo. inflated. I d e c id e d to g o b ack to m y roots and

synthesizer, but it appears not to make it into pro­ d e s ig n e d the M S -4 0 4 It w as a stan d -alo n e MIDI-
duction before Aries closes their doors. Buchla pioneer Suzanne Ciani scores the Lilv T
movie The Incredible Shrinking W o r n ! S
after the start of the Equal Rights movement
1 i- c o n tro lle d m o n o p h o n ic a n a lo g synth I went for
a first se ries of m a yb e 5 0 or 1 0 0 pieces." In just
two m on th s after it w as a n n o u n ce d , "already
EMS officially closes. Its assets are bought by
Datanomics, a company that previously specialized women in the United States she is the f , ! 5 0 0 o rd e rs w ere m a d e, w e w ere fully pressed to
female composer of a major Hollywood” ,m the wall."
in motorized hospital beds. They continue making
VCS^s, Synthi A K Ss, and EM S Vocoders. Datanomics
1 99 5
eventually realizes diversifying into the music market
was a bad idea, and sells the company to composer
and EMS user Edward Williams. In April 1995, Robin Dave Rossum recalls that "With the D o e p fe r M S -4 0 4 cu sto m e rs are askin g for
Wood - who remained an EMS employee through a d d e d features, su ch as a se co n d V C O or ADSR.
the various ownership changes - acquires the full D ieter reco u n ts: "B e ca u se of the b ig success of
rights of EMS. He continues to produce the Synthi A, the M S -4 0 4 I saw a c h a n c e a lso to rise the m o d ­
V C S 3 and Vocoder 2000 in limited quantities. ular synth from d e a d . Th e A -t o o w as born and
is the b ase of w hat is now ca lle d Eurorack. The
When Dieter Doepfer finishes building his Elektor Ptftyfusion stops making modular synths first m o d u le s w ere n o th in g but the circuits taken
the c o m D a n w ____ °y u n s.
Formant modular synth, he feels some features from the M S -4 0 4 a n d co n v e rte d into individual
manu
are missing, "so I began to develop some Formant facturer of a wide varieety,0ofeet ^ anCOntraC m o du les."
continue ,0 service existing
compatible modules, including a voltage controlled W h e n I in tro d u c e d the A -1 0 0 for the first
Phaser, a frequency divider, a envelope follower, tim e at the 1995 M u sik m e sse (a large annual m u­
1984
a voltage controlled waveshaper and some more." sic in d u stry trad e sh ow in Frankfurt, Germ any),
He starts offering some of these for sale, starting w as often la u g h e d at a n d m any p e o p le said
with the voltage controlled phase shifter. He goes R o'and d isco n tin u e s th e S y ste m -,0 0 M . that no o n e n e e d s this kmcl of m u sic these days.
on to design numerous card-based synthesizers as How ever, D ieter's m a in b u sin e ss at this time
well as MIDI equipment.
1986 is fo cu se d on M IDI k e y b o a rd s an d other MIDI
e q u ip m e n t, so he w as h a p p y to take on modular
synths as m ore of a p e rso n a l project. A nd, used

3
f ™ e ,a nd i s di c o ;,” u; r a n n a C a ta l0 9 fo r
o d u la r system s from the first era w ere starting
o co m e b ack in d e m a n d . "I a lre a d y knew that
1993 there w o u ld b e so m e interested parties for
u c h a th in g . But it c o u ld not be foreseen that
w o u ld b e c o m e a 'm ass p h e n o m e n o n ' with
Moog Music officially
ceases operation. everal h u n d re d c o m p a n ie s an d w ell over a
th o u sa n d different m o du les."
Inspired by the vocal sounds
Elektor Formant modular synth. Tomita, B o b Williams and Steve G I
Fitter Bank, the first Analogue Systerns^aroc
I

1997

Current Roger Arrick - founder of Synthesizers.com - admits Paul Schreiber decides to turn his personal love
the synthesizer bug bit him when he was just eight affair with synthesizers into a source of income.
A n alo g u e
years old, and his brother brought hom e a copy Paul picks up the story: "The idea came to offer
System s
of Sw itched-on Bach. He played with DIY circuits just a blank PCB board with highly detailed instruc­
system.
in the m id -70 s "when I was around 14 or so. At tions and documentation. The customers could
that point I cared m ore about the logical layout of 'subscribe', like to a magazine, and periodically get
panels, im plem enting modularity and improving a new board in the mail. There would be just the
intuitive operation than the details of circuits. Much board and the documentation, no additional parts.”
of m y early electronics understanding came from The name of the project was 'MOTM' for Module of
Electronic Notebooks written by Forrest Mims III the Month. He decides to "go full Hewlett-Packard"
and distributed through RadioShack. Beyond that is and focus on quality, and chooses a panel size: 5U
mostly data books from com ponent manufacturers. tall and 2U wide. He gets requests for full kits in­
I read them like others read novels." stead. After a pause to adjust his business plan, the
Fast-forward to the 90s: Roger owns a small M O TM -10 0 is offered for sale in February 1998, with
electronics company, and with the budding resur­ modules designed by Paul as well as Jürgen Haible,
gence in m odular synthesizers, realizes he is "in a Scott Rider, Neil Bradley, Doug Kraul, and others.
1996 Many synthesists such as Robert Rich (p. 126) still rely
good position to manufacture these cost-effectively.
The driving force was the m emories of expensive on their MOTM systems today.
Analogue System s d e v e lo p s a m odular version of
m odulars that kept them out of reach in the early
their F63 Filter Bank. It consists of a 3U 84HP rack 1998
days - for me, and so many others."
with the R S 17 0 m ultiple, R S 16 0 mixer. R S 8 0 V C
"I d ecid ed on a marketing strategy to name
LFO, and three R S 110 m ultim ode filter m odules. Swedish com pany Clavia release the Nord M odular
the com pany an internet dom ain name. In 1997,
This eventually grow s into a full system of m odules Virtual M odular Synthesizer. The idea is to create a
the internet was still in the early phases. Many do­
designed to be an affordable option for m usicians software emulation of a modular hardware synth,
main names were still available, and I snatched up
to learn patching and to create new tim bres. Synthesizers.com. The rest is history, as they say." where the selection of modules and signal routing
They do this work in parallel with Doepfer, Roger's plan was to have most if not all of the is user-definable in software rather than requiring
they use the sam e case size, but end up choosing required system com ponents available the first patch cables. Today, numerous virtual modular
different pow er co nn ection s and m ounting screw day he officially opened for business "so I wouldn't synths - including ones released by Korg and Moog
locations. Fortunately, both system s use the sam e get a bad reputation, especially after numerous - are available; many will even run on your phone.
power sup ply voltages, so adaptors between the past d ebacles where com panies and people made This is a very cost-effective entry point for musicians
two formats can be m ade. prom ises they couldn't keep." So out of the public's interested in the power of m odular synthesis, but
without the budget or physical space for a 'real'
eye, Roger go es to work ...
modular synth.
A large M OTM -form at system featuring
Modules from several vendors.

Modular synths turn digital with the introduction of

the Clavia Nord M odular Virtual M odular Synthesizer.
by Lester B a rn e s
Photo

353
 Rebirth & G r o w t h 2003

T h e 2 0 0 0 s ...... th ,. t,io -U m .t i Arm ;u e S ystem s licen ses the circuit

Still m ad e today, W iard 's d e sig n s have inspired several
Eurorack format m odules. the Euror«.< k form .it into the -• d e s ig n s of the V C S y from Robin
that it is to d il y S e v e r »i I ; it ••,-i. i. W o o d of E M S T h e first m odules to
c o m e from this in c lu d e the R S 50 0 E
Synthi Filtor an d the R S 5 10 E TrapSZOid
G e n e ra t o r

Paul S( h ro .ber of M O TM decid es to

2002
get out of the m o d u le kit business
H e r e a p p e a rs se v e n years later cre­
After a le g a l battle over the n am e atin g a lre a d y built Eurorack format
Robert M o o g re g a in s h is rig h ts to
Photo by Cary G r a c e

m o d u le s
M o o g M usic, w hich B o b a d o p ts a s Ins
co m p an y n am e re p la cin g B ig Briar
O n e of Ins first p ro d u cts is th e P ia n o
Bar. a M IDI retrofit for acoustic p ia n o s
d e s ig n e d b y D o n B u ch la
19 9 9

G ra n t Richter starts W iard on the annual M exican

celeb ratio n day, C in c o d e Mayo. D e sig n e d to be er­
g o n o m ical, the m o d u le s are larger than m ost other
form ats at 6 rack units high.
G rant likes to say that "I freely adm it that all my
d e sig n work is derivative. T h is is the esse n ce of
e n g in e e rin g . If everyo ne had to start with a square
w heel an d figure out a round one, we w ould all,
literally, be now here. So all m y work is b ase d upon
id e a s from d e sig n e rs that went before m e w hom I
a d m ire - how ever, I am no p lagiarist. If I co u ld not
'up the g a m e ' to m y satisfaction, then I left it alone."

2000

After w orking for nearly three years d e sig n in g

m o d u le s an d cases, Roger A rrick g o e s p u b lic with
S yn th esizers.co m , in c lu d in g a full range of m odules.
O n e of R oger's best m oves was creating a
Te ch n ica l p a g e on his w eb site that d e tailed all
of the m ech a n ica l a n d electrical sp ecificatio ns of
his m o d u les. It is b ase d aro un d the size of M oog
m o d u le s, but with an u p d ate d pow er su p p ly and
connector, as w ell as a set of voltage levels that treat
so u n d an d control vo ltage s the sam e. This m akes
it easy for other sm all co m p a n ie s a n d D IY b u ild ers
to create m o d u le s co m p a tib le with the 'dotcom '
system , w hich is now the d e facto standard for 5U
m o d u lar eq u ip m e n t. Synthesizers.com re introduces and updates the standard for M oog format
modular synths. The name was also a clever bit of early internet marketing

354
 smvn num i oamt ssuiktbi

UVEVyiRE^

2005

Three com panies band together to simultane­

ously announce new modules for the Eurorack
format. They include Livewire (D u a l Cyclotron,
FrequenSteiner), Oakley Sound (Wavefolder, A D S R /
VCA, O ctal Resonator, State Variable Filter) and Plan
B (M odel 12 State Variable Vactrol Filter, M odel 13
D u a l Timbrai Gates, M o d el 17 Event Timer). Many
2004 see this as an inflection point where Eurorack format
- announced 10 years earlier - finally starts to take
After forays into self-contained digital and hybrid off on its exponential rise. Today there are with well
instruments as well as a series of innovative con­ over 10 0 manufacturers producing thousands of
trollers, Buchla updates the 2 0 0 Series m odules to m odules in the Eurorack format.
becom e the 20 0 e. A major feature is support for
a Preset M an ager which can record and duplicate 2006
front panel control settings. Note that the player
still has to re-patch the same connections between Mark Verbos (p. 136) starts building a handful of
m odules to recreate a sound; some Buchla owners Buchla format modules, and builds a name for
like Joel Davel report it's fun to recall a preset with a himself. Today, Verbos Electronics is considered to
Blair Photograph © Martin Sm art

different patch schem e to generate new ideas. be one of the premium manufacturers of Eurorack
format modules.
Ray W ilson starts Music From Outer Space (MFOS),
offering kits of roughly 30 different synthesizer m od­ 2008
ules, non-patchable synths, and other noise makers.
Many DIY m odular synth builders cite M FOS as a After having previously worked for Moog Music,
major influence on them. SynthCube takes over the Tony Rolando founds Make Noise (p. 52). Instead of
product line after Ray's passing in 2016. sticking to the East Coast approach Moog is known
by Jim

for, Make Noise quickly builds a reputation for re­

leasing atypical, experimental modules with a strong
MFOS Modular owned

West Coast influence. They becom e one of the most

Music From Outer Space has inspired successful Eurorack format synthesizer manufac­
a new generation of DIY builders and turers, proving the resurging m odular market is far
m odular synthesizer enthusiasts. more than just a fad.
 2010 IJU 2012
c u x jo u n e u im

M oon M odu lar (p. 122) releases their first m odule:

the M 565 4 C h a n n e l T rig g er S e q u e n ce r. Founder Q; Torn W h itw e ll p u b lis h e s .in o p e n so u rce version
of the Turing M a c h in e ra n d o m pattern generator
G ert Ja lass had been restoring M oog m od u lars
m o d u le S o m e o n e starts s e llin g kits of it and Music
d u rin g the late 9 0 s, an d o ccasio n a lly has users o . ©
flu n g M o d u la r (p 248) is b o rn
ask if he co u ld b u ild so m e th in g that w ould allow
them to synchronize m ultiple M oog 9 60 s e q u e n c ­
ers. H e w as positively "not aw are of the 'Pandora's
Ù ÊQ : ni s?« vtm
M u tab le In stru m en ts (p 284) a lso gets their start
se llin g D IY kits of d e s k to p syn th s To day their m od­
Box' I o p e n e d ..." m m m m
om n U lC ïT SM KI
u les a re a m o n g the m ost p o p u la r in the Eurorack
form at
m m m m
0 - 0 - 0 - o - 0 - 0 —0 - 0 —
rti Ml
A pair of co n te m p o ra ry art e x h ib itio n s inspires
A n d re a s Z h u k o v sk y to start cre a tin g colorful, fanciful
0 -0 e o o -e -o -o Paul S ch re ib er of M O TM fam e gets b ack in fo the
yet p o w erfu l m o d u le s u n d e r the E n d o rp h in es name
m od u lar synthesizer b u sin ess, a n n o u n cin g h is first
0 - 0 —o - o - o —o —o —0 (P 214)
Eurorack m o d u le - the E 5 4 0 C lo u d G e n e rato r -
on Valentine's Day, 2 0 10 . H e uses the co m p a n y
0 —0 e 0 . ; 0 —0 - 0 —O 2013
nam e Synthesis Te ch no lo gy, in c lu d in g the sam e
.fo? o e ç ç é synthtech.com w eb site he initially set up ,n ,n 88
to sell C u rtis chips. K org re re le a se s the M S 2 0 m a variety of formats.
Çü O M S? O O O o
O ver the ye a rs it is a v a ila b le in a variety of formats,
2011 in c lu d in g m in i a n d full size v e rsio n s, an d as a kit
(It w as a c tu a lly p re c e d e d b y Korg's ow n software
D an je l van Tijn , after years d e sig n in g analo g circuits e m u la tio n of the M S 2 0 )
G rant Richter d e c id e s to g e , out of m anufacturera
as w ell as m o d e lin g seq u e n ce rs and synthesizers
synthesizers, p assin g his b u sin ess W iard onto
in M ax/M SP, fo un d s Eurorack m anufacturer Intellijel
songw r,te r/co m p o se r C a ry G ra c e an d W essex
D e sig n s Inc. (p. 264).
A n a lo g u e . G rant te aches C a ry how ,0 how ,0 b u ild

2009 the h a n d -m a d e 3 0 0 S e rie s m o d u le s

In the m e a n tim e , o th e r E u ro ra c k fo rm a , c o m
p a m e s lic e n s e s e v e ra l of G ra n t's Ho
After m u ltiple req uests from m usical instrum ent
d e a le rs to create a Eurorack version of his G e ig e r M alekko H e a v y in d u s try w 'tr e r l r ; : C lU d ,n 9
N o is e R in g (a relative of the Turing M a ch
C o u n te r guitar ped al, W illiam M athew son founds
W M D (p. 202). and the D u e , B o rg (a c ro s s b e tw e e n t h , ? 355)
Pass G ate and Kora M S -2 0 film 1 to
B u c h la E le c tro n ic M u sica l In stru m en ts re-release tl
D an G re e n - ano ther p erson with roots in the guitar
W o g g le b u g (p. 2s6)> N ° ' Se v e rs' ° " of the M u s ic E a s e l, w h ich p ro v e s to b e an attractive entry
p e d a l b u sin e ss - starts creating Eurorack format
po in t for m a n y e a g e r new B u ch la m usicians.
m o d u le s u n d e r the n am e 4m s C o m p a n y (p. 294).
JD MD9 i^SJ EV R, Oi n B
0 | U1I
J o in in g the D IY m o d u le m o v e m e n t, Ç irts O z o lip j
Jit !a 5t 3: Cl |a
fo u n d s Erica S yn th s (p. 156) in Latvia to offer mo -
A
WMD u la r re cre a tio n s of the fa m o u s R ussian P o ln 'o k s
O .U f nailt §
1^1
- ’ “ * 3tiafcl« *
m
CKr
syn th esizer.

lit*
fr~ # > jà k .
ÏÎ* «m* W
A n o th e r E a ste rn E u ro p e a n c o m p a n y - Bastl
In stru m en ts of the C z e c h R e p u b lic (p. 188) - taPs _
•O - (§> mto the lo ca l e le c tro n ic s D IY co m m u n ity creat' ^ r
<5
G e .a e r C o u n t e r
— I2HB1 in trig u in g ra n g e of m o d u le s in c lu d in g soleno ^
se rv o c o n tro lle rs to in te rface yo u r m o d u lar to t
® • # 1
p h y sic a l w orld.
F ia L = h h a

356
 2014 2015
Logan Soloman premieres a monosynth based
M oog M usic Inc. recreates Keith Em erson's famous Moog Music Inc. re-releases the m odular M oog around m odular circuitry later that year at Knobcon
towering M oog M o d u lar Synthesizer. The press System 15, 35, and 55, built as identically as possible in Chicago, with intentions of re-releasing a full
release is dated A pril 1, so m any think it is a joke, but to the original units. They reportedly sell more m odular synth in the imminent future. "I truly feel re­
systems than M oog did with the original modular juvenated in my 70s and my mind has been working
the unit is ind eed real and for sale. This serves as
synthesizers. overtime thinking of new modules and how to bring
the 'test case' to see if M oog can accurately recreate
They also release the M other-32 sem i-m odular modular forward again."
their original m odu lar synthesizers.
synth in the Eurorack format. It proves to be ex­
trem ely popular, as an entry point for many new Dave Rossum returns to modular synthesizers with
m odular synthesists. the release of the Eurorack-format Rossum Electro-
Music Evolution Variable Character Filter, based on
the design of the 1975 E-mu Systems 2700 low pass
filter module and 7700 filter sub-module.

v - * \i l- v tyÆr U s The Moog Mother-32 created attention and demand

of small sem i-m odular synths the year before. Now,
.7 * ; r* 7 ; Make Noise release the o -C o ast semi-modular

,
o i t î .
« M W * » - •:
4
» ..........................
synthesizer with its name reflecting that it utilizes
techniques from both the East and West Coast para­
digms. The o -C o ast becomes highly successful and
■'—.IT.’.. 1
is just the tip of the iceberg in a new wave of small
sem i-m odular synthesizers emerging from different
manufacturers in the
Roland releases the S ystem -500 modules, with years to come.
black panels to reflect their System -700, and circuits
based on their S ystem -io o M . It is a collaboration
between Roland and Joshua Holley of US manufac­
turer Malekko Heavy Industry,

N oise En g in e e rin g (p. 304) starts as a h o b b y for

husband and wife team Stephen M c C a u l a n d Kris
Kaiser. Th eir non-m ainstream approach to creating 2017
unique m o d u les q u ickly catches on; it becom es
their full tim e occupation in 20 16. Moog Music Inc. unveils the D rum m er From Another
M other (DFAM ) sem i-m odular percussion synthesiz­
Sim one Fabbri starts Frap Tools (p. 76), initially offer­
release the successo r to the 2012-success, er and sequencer as a DIY build at Moogfest 2017,
ing Eurorack format cases. They now make som e of
niBrute: Th e new, sm aller M icroBrute and releases it to the general public in 2018.
the deepest non-m enu m odules available.
modular syn thesizer has a sm all patchb ay a n d
•es a p o p u lar gatew ay to m o d u lar synthesis 2018
2016
Kim Bjorn and Chris M eyer creates P A TCH & TW EAK,
Ron Folkman of Polyfusion gets the m odular synth
the first contemporary and fully illustrated book
bug again, but to date is unable to find the right
on m odular synthesis in decades. It was funded
partner. He is then approached by Jim Soloman
within 10 minutes on Kickstarter, and published by
and Jam m ie Logan of Logan Soloman. Ron shares
Bjooks, Kim's publishing com pany established after
that "after seeing Moog's successful return to their
the success of his first book PU SH TURN M OVE.
m odular roots and much vetting of Logan Soloman,
I was convinced that 'if we would build it - they (mu­ Sorry, we ju st h a d to :)

sicians) would come.'"

To be continued

357