PAiA Electronics, Inc. is an American

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

kit company that was started by

John Simonton John Stayton Simonton Jr. (June 24, 1943 – November 25, 2005) was a circuit designer, author of electronics articles, and founder of PAiA Electronics, a manufacturer of analog synthesizer kits. He lived in Arcadia, Oklahoma. Simonton was born ...

in 1967. It sells various musical electronics kits including analog synthesizers,

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...

s, mixers and various

music production A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

units designed by founder John Simonton, Craig Anderton, Marvin Jones, Steve Wood and others.

History

Simonton founded the company in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, an ...

in 1967 and began offering various small electronics kits through

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing a telephone call * Placing ...

. The first kit was a

circuit board A printed circuit board (PCB; also printed wiring board or PWB) is a medium used in electrical and electronic engineering to connect electronic components to one another in a controlled manner. It takes the form of a laminated sandwich stru ...

for the "Cyclops Intrusion Detector" for an article in the May 1968 issue of '' Popular Electronics''. Starting in 1972 PAiA began producing

analog synthesizer An analog (or analogue) synthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically. The earliest analog synthesizers in the 1920s and 1930s, such as the Trautonium, were built with a variety of ...

kits, in both

modular Broadly speaking, modularity is the degree to which a system's components may be separated and recombined, often with the benefit of flexibility and variety in use. The concept of modularity is used primarily to reduce complexity by breaking a s ...

and all-in-one form. PAiA began publishing Polyphony Magazine in 1975. It was later renamed to ''

Electronic Musician ''Electronic Musician'' is a monthly magazine published by Future US featuring articles on synthesizers, music production and electronic musicians. History and profile ''Electronic Musician'' began as ''Polyphony'' magazine in 1975, publis ...

'' and sold to Mix Publications in 1985. Founder Simonton continued to run the company in Oklahoma until his death in November 2005. Product marketing, sales and development were transferred to Paia Corporation in Fall 2006. The company now operates facilities in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

and

Edmond, Oklahoma Edmond is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area in the central part of the state. The population was 94,428 according to the 2020 United States Census, making it the fifth largest ...

Synthesizers

In 1972, PAiA released the 2700 modular synthesizer series, which used push-buttons in lieu of a keyboard. A version with a keyboard, the 2720, was later released. The next modular series, the 4700s, featured an improved, quieter design. The P4700J series was computer controlled (using a MOS 6503 processor) that allowed

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture (music), texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompan ...

for the first time on a PAiA modular synthesizer. As interest in modular synthesizers died down, PAiA stopped selling modular kits in the late 1980s and 1990s. In the early 2000s (decade), they launched the 9700 modular synthesizer line. In 1974, PAiA released the Gnome, a small, simple, keyboard-less synthesizer designed for creating non-harmonic sound effects able to run on two nine volt batteries (+9 and +18 volts). The next year they released the first programmable drum machine called the Programmable Drum Set. Later they released the Oz, another small synthesizer, this time with an 18-key keyboard. In the 1990s PAiA released the FatMan Analog MIDI Synth, a

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

capable, monophonic, analog synthesizer.

Influence

For a time, the image of the audio synthesizer was that of an enormous

system, which could take up entire walls of studios and were only available to the few musicians that could afford them (such as

Keith Emerson Keith Noel Emerson (2 November 1944 – 11 March 2016) was an English keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. He played keyboards in a number of bands before finding his first commercial success with the Nice in the late 1960s. He became ...

and

Wendy Carlos Wendy Carlos (born Walter Carlos, November 14, 1939) is an American musician and composer best known for her electronic music and film scores. Born and raised in Rhode Island, Carlos studied physics and music at Brown University before movin ...

). PAiA's modular synthesizers, with prices starting under $1,000, were groundbreaking in their affordability and ease of use. At a time when synthesizers from

Moog Music Moog Music Inc. () is an American synthesizer company based in Asheville, North Carolina. It was founded in 1953 as R. A. Moog Co. by Robert Moog and his father and was renamed Moog Music in 1972. Its early instruments included the Moog synthesi ...

and ARP could cost anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000, PAiA's most basic modular system, the 2700, started at $230, with prices for modules ranging from $50 to $800. Simonton and Anderton's designs also anticipated many trends in modern electronics and electronic music; they released the first programmable electronic drum machine, the PAiA Programmable Drum Set, in 1975, as well as one of the first computer-controlled synthesizers, the P4700J, which used digital technology and computer connectivity to achieve

and other groundbreaking features. The P4700J used a PAIA 8700 MOS 6503 processor based controller.

Larry Fast Lawrence Roger Fast (born December 10, 1951) is an American synthesizer player and composer. He is best known for his 1975–1987 series of synthesizer music albums (''Synergy'') and for his contributions to a number of popular music acts, inclu ...

used this same controller running John Simonton's "Pink Tunes" program on his Album "Computer Experiments, Volume One".

Craig Anderton

Craig Anderton, a member of Mandrake Memorial, wrote ''Electronic Projects for Musicians'', ''Home Recording for Musicians'', ''Guitar Gadgets'', ''The Digital Delay Handbook'', ''MIDI for Musicians'', and ''The Electronic Musician's Dictionary''. He has written articles for AOL,

Harmony Central Gibson Brands, Inc. (formerly Gibson Guitar Corporation) is an American manufacturer of guitars, other musical instruments, and professional audio equipment from Kalamazoo, Michigan, and now based in Nashville, Tennessee. The company was forme ...

, ''Guitar Player'', ''Byte'', ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...

'', ''Musician'', ''Popular Electronics'', ''A/V Video'', and ''Mix'',

Guitar Player ''Guitar Player'' is an American popular magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political ...

Keyboard (magazine) ''Keyboard'' is a magazine that originally covered electronic keyboard instruments and keyboardists, though with the advent of computer-based recording and audio technology, they have added digital music technology to their regular coverage, inc ...

, ''Pro Sound News'', ''Performing Songwriter'',

Sound on Sound ''Sound on Sound'' is an independently owned monthly music technology magazine published by SOS Publications Group, based in Cambridge, United Kingdom. The magazine includes product tests of electronic musical performance and recording devices, ...

and

EQ magazine ''Electronic Musician'' is a monthly magazine published by Future US featuring articles on synthesizers, music production and electronic musicians. History and profile ''Electronic Musician'' began as ''Polyphony'' magazine in 1975, published ...

References

External links