Sometimes referred to as the Murom Aelita, the Aelita is a

monophonic Monaural sound or monophonic sound (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduce sou ...

analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analog ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

manufactured in the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in the 1980s.

History

Manufacturing started in 1980 at the

Murom Murom (, ) is a historical types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which sprawls along the west bank of the Oka River. It borders Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and is situated from the administrative center Vladimir, ...

radio plant. The electronics was revised in 1986, but the features remained the same.

Features

Physical features

Although its design seems inspired from American and Japanese synthesizers of the previous decade, with a dark aluminum body and near vertical control panel, the Aelita's looks are distinctive in the details. They feature large colored plastic

sliders Slider or Sliders may refer to: Arts * K.K. Slider, a fictional character within the ''Animal Crossing'' franchise * '' The Slider'', a 1972 album by T. Rex * ''Sliders'' (TV series), an American science fiction and fantasy television series * ...

instead of the more common rotary dials, and round or rounded

push-button A push-button (also spelled pushbutton) or simply button is a simple switch mechanism to control some aspect of a machine or a process. Buttons are typically made out of hard material, usually plastic or metal. The surface is usually flat or sh ...

s instead of flip or rotary

switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type o ...

es. The vertical sliders are oriented so that their maximum labelled value is at the bottom, instead of the top as is more common. A sole red

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...

lights up when the instrument is on. Its hinge-mounted upper control panel can be shut like a

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

keyboard's lid, thus protecting the buttons and sliders and preventing accidental settings changes during transportation, and changing the general shape of the instrument to one that is not playable but more transportable. The

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mus ...

is 3.5

octave In music, an octave (: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is an interval between two notes, one having twice the frequency of vibration of the other. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referr ...

s wide and made of 44 unweighted, full-sized plastic keys ranging from F to C. All controls are labelled in

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, using

Cyrillic script The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic languages, Slavic, Turkic languages, Turkic, Mongolic languages, Mongolic, Uralic languages, Uralic, C ...

Functional features

The Aelita has 3

oscillators Oscillation is the repetitive or periodic variation, typically in time, of some measure about a central value (often a point of equilibrium) or between two or more different states. Familiar examples of oscillation include a swinging pendulum ...

, each with 3 fixed waveshapes (''Saw'', ''Pulse'' and ''Square''), plus a 4th oscillator only active in ''unison'' mode, amplitude cross-modulation, a

low-pass A low-pass filter is a filter that passes signals with a frequency lower than a selected cutoff frequency and attenuates signals with frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency. The exact frequency response of the filter depends on the filt ...

filter Filtration is a physical process that separates solid matter and fluid from a mixture. Filter, filtering, filters or filtration may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * Filter (higher-order function), in functional programming * Fil ...

with

resonance Resonance is a phenomenon that occurs when an object or system is subjected to an external force or vibration whose frequency matches a resonant frequency (or resonance frequency) of the system, defined as a frequency that generates a maximu ...

, one LFO and two envelope generators, all arranged in a fixed architecture typical of

subtractive synthesis Subtractive synthesis is a method of sound synthesis in which Harmonic_series_(music)#Partial.2C_harmonic.2C_fundamental.2C_inharmonicity.2C_and_overtone, overtones of an audio signal are attenuated by a audio filter, filter to alter the timbre of ...

. It has a maximum

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

of 7.5 octaves. It is monophonic, meaning that it can play only one note at a time (although detuning of each oscillator makes it possible to play fixed

intervals Interval may refer to: Mathematics and physics * Interval (mathematics), a range of numbers ** Partially ordered set#Intervals, its generalization from numbers to arbitrary partially ordered sets * A statistical level of measurement * Interval es ...

chords Chord or chords may refer to: Art and music * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord, a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * The Chords (British band), 1970s British mod ...

instead of notes). It has two special modes: the ''unison'' mode creates an

unison Unison (stylised as UNISON) is a Great Britain, British trade union. Along with Unite the Union, Unite, Unison is one of the two largest trade unions in the United Kingdom, with over 1.2 million members who work predominantly in public servic ...

-like effect on each oscillator (reducing the range as a tradeoff), and the ''strings'' mode creates a

vibrato Vibrato (Italian language, Italian, from past participle of "wikt:vibrare, vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch (music), pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. ...

-like effect independent of the LFO. Although of a sturdier construction, it lacks several features commonly found on American and Japanese brand synthesizers at the time, such as: velocity response,

portamento In music, portamento (: ''portamenti''; from old , meaning 'carriage' or 'carrying'), also known by its French name glissade, is a pitch sliding from one Musical note, note to another. The term originated from the Italian language, Italian exp ...

, pitch and modulation wheels or levers, settings memory, and (from late 1982 on)

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

implementation. Its output is

monaural Monaural sound or monophonic sound (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduce so ...

Sonic character

Its sonic qualities have been consistently qualified as "fat". Other reviewers also call them "impressive", and sometimes "aggressive". There is audible background noise at the output, resembling oscillator bleed.

References

{{reflist Music of the Soviet Union Synthesizers Goods manufactured in the Soviet Union Soviet brands