Roland SH-101
The Roland SH-101 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the Roland Corporation between 1982 and 1986. Though it did not achieve significant commercial success, it later became a staple of electronic music in the 1990s, particularly house music. Sound and features The SH-101 is monophonic, meaning it can only play one note at a time. It has a single oscillator (the Curtis CEM3340) and a sub-oscillator, a low-pass filter, a mixer allowing users to blend different waveforms plus a noise generator, and an arpeggiator and sequencer. An ADSR envelope generator controls the filter and VCA, and the filter, VCA, pitch and pulse width can be controlled with an LFO. Users can attach an optional handgrip with modulation controls and shoulder strap to play the SH-101 as a keytar, and it could also be powered via battery. According to MusicRadar, the SH-101 has "snappy and razor-sharp" bass, "squelchy and expressive" leads, and a "piercing yet smooth" filter. Release The SH-101 launc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Roland Corporation
is a Japanese multinational manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment, and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on 18 April 1972. In 2005, its headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. It has factories in Malaysia, Taiwan, Japan, and the United States. As of December 2022, it employed 2,783 people. In 2014, it was subject to a management buyout by its CEO, Junichi Miki, supported by Taiyo Pacific Partners. Roland has manufactured numerous instruments that have had lasting impacts on music, such as the Juno-106 synthesizer, TB-303 bass synthesizer, and TR-808 and TR-909 drum machines. It was also instrumental in the development of MIDI, a standardized means of synchronizing electronic instruments manufactured by different companies. In 2016, ''Fact'' wrote that Roland had arguably had more influence on electronic music than any other company. History Background Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi had founded ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Curtis Electromusic Specialties
Doug Curtis (March 8, 1951 – January 10, 2007) was the founder of Curtis Electromusic Specialties and OnChip Systems. Curtis was the designer of many original analogue ICs, used in a number of notable electronic music instruments. He was described in ''Keyboard'' as "one of the most important and least known synthesizer pioneers of the 20th century". Biography While attending high school, Curtis combined his aptitude for physics and mathematics with an interest in music and synthesizers to design and build an analog synthesizer. He attended Northwestern University's School of Communications, where he majored in radio/television/film and built several other synthesizers. Upon graduation, he qualified for a post as junior engineer by showing circuit boards of his designs. He entered a competition to design a semi-custom chip and won, resulting in a job at Interdesign, where he worked for four years. In 1979 he founded Curtis Electromusic Specialties (CEM), which produced the in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Prophet-5
The Prophet-5 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the American company Sequential (company), Sequential. It was designed by Dave Smith (engineer), Dave Smith and John S. Bowen (sound designer), John Bowen in 1977. It was the first Polyphony and monophony in instruments, polyphonic synthesizer with fully Computer memory, programmable memory. Before the Prophet-5, synthesizers required users to adjust controls to change sounds, with no guarantee of exactly recreating a sound. Sequential used Microprocessor, microprocessors to allow users to recall sounds instantly rather than having to recreate them manually. The Prophet-5 facilitated a move from synthesizers creating unpredictable sounds to producing "a standard package of familiar sounds". The Prophet-5 became a market leader and was widely used in popular music and film soundtracks. In 1981, Sequential released a 10-voice, double-keyboard version, the Prophet-10. Sequential introduced new versions in 2020, and it has been ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Minimoog
The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popular with progressive rock and jazz musicians and found wide use in disco, pop, rock and electronic music. Production of the Minimoog stopped in the early 1980s after the sale of Moog Music. In 2002, founder Robert Moog regained the rights to the Moog brand, bought the company, and released an updated version of the Minimoog, the Minimoog Voyager. In 2016 and in 2022, Moog Music released another new version of the original Minimoog. Development In the 1960s, RA Moog Co manufactured Moog synthesizers, which helped bring electronic sounds to music but remained inaccessible to ordinary people. These modular synthesizers were difficult to use and required users to connect components manually with patch cables to create sounds. They w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Yamaha DX7
The Yamaha DX7 is a synthesizer manufactured by Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1989. It was the first successful digital synthesizer and is one of the best-selling synthesizers in history, selling more than 200,000 units. In the early 1980s, the synthesizer market was dominated by analog synthesizers. Frequency modulation synthesis, a means of generating sounds via frequency modulation (FM), was developed by John Chowning at Stanford University, California. FM synthesis created brighter, glassier sounds, and could better imitate acoustic sounds such as brass and bells. Yamaha licensed the technology to create the DX7, combining it with very-large-scale integration chips to lower manufacturing costs. With its complex menus and lack of conventional controls, few learned to program the DX7 in depth. However, its preset sounds became staples of 1980s pop music; in 1986, it was used in 40% of the number-one singles on the US Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Its electric pian ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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MusicRadar
Future plc is a British publishing company. It was started in 1985 by Chris Anderson. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History 1985–2012 The company was founded by Chris Anderson as Future Publishing in Somerton, Somerset, England, with the sole magazine '' Amstrad Action'' in 1985. An early innovation was the inclusion of free software on magazine covers. It acquired GP Publications and established what would become Future US in 1994. Anderson sold the company to Pearson plc for £52.7m in 1994, but bought it back in 1998, for £142 million. The company was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1999. Anderson left the company in 2001. In 2004, the company was accused of corruption when it published positive reviews for the video game '' Driver 3'' in two of its owned magazines, '' Xbox World'' and '' PSM2''. 2012–2015 Future published the official magazines for the consoles of all three major games conso ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Keytar
A keytar (a portmanteau of ''keyboard'' and ''guitar'') is a keyboard instrument similar to a synthesizer or MIDI controller that is supported by a strap around the neck and shoulders, similar to the way a guitar is held. Overview Though the term "keytar" has been used since the introduction of the instrument, it was not used by a major manufacturer until 2012, when the Alesis company referred to the "Vortex", the company's first product of this type, as a "USB/MIDI Keytar Controller”. Keytars allow players a greater range of movement onstage, compared to conventional keyboards, which are placed on stationary stands or which are part of heavy, floor-mounted structures. The instrument has a musical keyboard for triggering musical notes and sounds. Various controls are placed on the instrument's "neck", including those for Pitch (music), pitch bends, vibrato, portamento, and sustain. Keytars may either contain their own synthesizer engines, or be MIDI controllers. In either c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Low-frequency Oscillation
Low-frequency oscillation (LFO) is an electronic frequency that is usually below 20 Hz and creates a rhythmic pulse or sweep. This is used to modulate musical equipment such as synthesizers to create audio effects such as vibrato, tremolo and phasing. History Low-frequency oscillation was introduced with modular synthesizers of the 1960s, such as the Moog synthesizer. Often the LFO effect was accidental, as there were myriad configurations that could be "patched" by the synth operator. LFOs have since appeared in some form on almost every synthesizer. More recently other electronic musical instruments, such as samplers and software synthesizers, have included LFOs to increase their sound alteration capabilities. Overview The primary oscillator circuits of a synthesizer are used to create the audio signals. An LFO is a secondary oscillator that operates at a significantly lower frequency than other oscillators, typically below 20 Hz — that is, below the range of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Voltage Controlled Amplifier
A variable-gain (VGA) or voltage-controlled amplifier (VCA) is an electronic amplifier that varies its gain depending on a control voltage (often abbreviated CV). VCAs have many applications, including audio level compression, synthesizers and amplitude modulation. A crude example is a typical inverting op-amp configuration with a light-dependent resistor (LDR) in the feedback loop. The gain of the amplifier then depends on the light falling on the LDR, which can be provided by an LED (an optocoupler). The gain of the amplifier is then controllable by the current through the LED. This is similar to the circuits used in optical audio compressors. A voltage-controlled amplifier can be realised by first creating a voltage-controlled resistor (VCR), which is used to set the amplifier gain. The VCR is one of the numerous interesting circuit elements that can be produced by using a JFET (junction field-effect transistor) with simple biasing. VCRs manufactured in this way can be ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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ADSR Envelope Generator
In sound and music, an envelope describes how a sound changes over time. For example, a piano key, when struck and held, creates a near-immediate initial sound which gradually decreases in volume to zero. An envelope may relate to elements such as amplitude (volume), frequency (with the use of filters) or pitch. Envelope generators, which allow users to control the different stages of a sound, are common features of synthesizers, samplers, and other electronic musical instruments. The most common envelope generator is controlled with four parameters: attack, decay, sustain and release (ADSR). Envelope generators Development The envelope generator was created by the American engineer Robert Moog, the creator of the Moog synthesizer, in the 1960s. The composer Herbert Deutsch suggested Moog find a way to articulate his synthesizer so notes did not simply trigger on and off. Moog wired a doorbell button to the synthesizer and used a capacitor to store and slowly release v ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Music Sequencer
A music sequencer (or audio sequencer or simply sequencer) is a device or application software that can record, edit, or play back music, by handling Musical note, note and performance information in several forms, typically CV/Gate, MIDI, or Open Sound Control, and possibly audio signal, audio and automation data for digital audio workstations (DAWs) and Audio plugin, plug-ins. Overview Modern sequencers The advent of Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) in the 1980s gave programmers the opportunity to design software that could more easily record and play back sequences of notes played or programmed by a musician. As the technology matured, sequencers gained more features, such as the ability to record multitrack audio. Sequencers used for audio recording are called digital audio workstations (DAWs). Many modern sequencers can be used to control Software synthesizer, virtual instruments implemented as software Audio plug-in, plug-ins. This allows musicians to repl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Noise Generator
A noise generator is a circuit that produces electrical noise (i.e., a random signal). Noise generators are used to test signals for measuring noise figure, frequency response, and other parameters. Noise generators are also used for Random number generation, generating random numbers. Theory There are several circuits used for noise generation. For example, temperature-controlled resistors, temperature-limited vacuum diodes, zener diodes, and gas discharge tubes. A source that can be switched on and off ("gated") is beneficial for some test methods. Noise generators usually rely on a fundamental noise process such as thermal noise or shot noise. Thermal noise generator Thermal noise can be a fundamental standard. A resistor at a certain temperature has a thermal noise associated with it. A noise generator might have two resistors at different temperatures and switch between the two resistors. The resulting output power is low. (For a 1 kΩ resistor at room temperature and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |