Lawrence Roger Fast (born December 10, 1951) is an American

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 ...

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, including

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

, Foreigner, Nektar, Bonnie Tyler, and Hall & Oates.

Biography

Fast grew up in

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and attended

Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 18 ...

in Pennsylvania, where he obtained a degree in History. There he took his previous training in piano and violin and melded them with computer science to become interested in synthesized music and to build his own primitive sound-making electronic devices. He was introduced to

Rick Wakeman Richard Christopher Wakeman (born 18 May 1949) is an English keyboardist and composer best known as a member of the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004, and for his prolific solo career. AllMusic describes Wakema ...

, the keyboard player from the band

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * Young Eisner Scholars, in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Appalachia, US * Young Ep ...

, during a local radio interview, and traveled to the UK to work with Yes on their 1973 album '' Tales from Topographic Oceans''. It was there that he got a recording contract with Passport Records.

The Synergy project

Fast recorded a series of pioneering synthesizer music albums under the project name Synergy. The first album in the series, ''Electronic Realizations for Rock Orchestra'', was released as an LP in 1975. Like the following albums in the series, it exclusively made use of synthesizers and electronic instruments. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Fast released eight more Synergy LPs on Passport Records, all of which were later re-released on CDs. The 1998 remastered re-release of ''Semi-Conductor'', a compilation album originally released in 1984, contained ten additional tracks. The eleventh album in the series, ''Reconstructed Artifacts'', was released in 2003; it contained completely new performances of select compositions from the previous albums, using modern digital synthesizers as well as new digital recording technologies. At least two tracks from the album ''Audion'' (1981) were used as the basis for music in

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

computer games: Rob Hubbard's scores for the C64 version of ''

Zoids is a Japanese science fiction media franchise created by Tomy that feature giant robots (or "mecha") called Zoids, with designs being based on animals; including dinosaurs, mammals, insects, arachnids and mythological creatures. The franchise ...

'' and '' Master of Magic'', which were unofficial partial-covers of songs ''Ancestors'' and ''Shibolet''. Synergy's first album states "..and nobody played guitar." The second album, Sequencer, says "...and still no guitars." These are rumored to be a tongue-in-cheek response to statements that appeared on albums by the rock group

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

that they used no synthesizers, which were made to inform listeners who assumed otherwise. Fast's third Synergy album, Cords, states "Finally, guitars...sort of," which references the use of a Russ Hamm

Guitar Synthesizer A guitar synthesizer is any one of a number of musical systems that allow a guitarist to access synthesizer capabilities. Overview Today's guitar synths are direct descendants of 1970s devices from manufacturers (often in partnership) such as ...

played by Pete Sobel. In August 2013, after several years of no releases, "Tower Indigo" was released on the Projekt Records compilation ''Possibilities of Circumstance''. The Synergy albums are: * 1975: ''Electronic Realizations for Rock Orchestra'' No 66 ''Billboard'' 200 (18 weeks) * 1976: ''Sequencer'' No 144 ''Billboard'' 200 (11 weeks) * 1978: ''Cords'' No 146 ''Billboard'' 200 (6 weeks) * 1979: ''Games'' * 1981: ''Audion'' * 1981: ''Computer Experiments, Volume One'' * 1982: ''The Jupiter Menace'' (soundtrack for film ''The Jupiter Menace'') * 1984: ''Semi-Conductor'' (compilation containing two new tracks) * 1987: '' Metropolitan Suite'' * 1998: ''Semi-Conductor, Release 2'' (re-release of ''Semi-Conductor'', remastered and containing ten additional tracks) * 2003: ''Reconstructed Artifacts'' (compilation consisting of re-recorded versions of old tracks) Fast has been developing a new Synergy album. This will be his first studio album of new material in over twenty years. According to Fast's website, it will use primarily

software synthesizer A software synthesizer or softsynth is a computer program that generates digital audio, usually for music. Computer software that can create sounds or music is not new, but advances in processing speed now allow softsynths to accomplish the same t ...

s (one of which is, fittingly, Sample Logic's Synergy synthesizer) rather than the hardware he had been using. He has amassed new thematic material for the album and also plans to rework old and unreleased pieces.

Other music projects

In addition to the ''Synergy'' albums, Fast made contributions to musical projects headed by other people: * Worked sporadically with Nektar, providing much of the dominating synthesizers on their 1975 album ''

Recycled Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the propert ...

''. * Also known for his work with

. He played synthesizer on records and on tour, and rounded out the production team on Gabriel's albums from 1976 to 1986. He recorded parts for ''So,'' but these were not used. * Contributed to the 1977 concept album '' Intergalactic Touring Band'' on Passport Records. * Played the Prophet Synthesizer on

Kate Bush Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer. Bush began writing songs at age 11. She was signed to EMI Records after David Gilmour of Pink Floyd helped produce a demo tape. In 1978, at the ...

's 1980 Album '' Never for Ever'' * Produced Canadian progressive rock group FM's 1980 album '' City of Fear''. * Contributed music to the

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is his research on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, including e ...

1980 television program '' Cosmos: A Personal Voyage''. * Provided additional synthesizers on Foreigner's 1981 album '' 4'' and Foreigner's 1984 album ''

Agent Provocateur An is a person who actively entices another person to commit a crime that would not otherwise have been committed and then reports the person to the authorities. They may target individuals or groups. In jurisdictions in which conspiracy is a ...

''. * Played synthesizers on the 1983 Bonnie Tyler single " Total Eclipse of the Heart". * Contributed synthesizers to Hall & Oates's 1982 album H2O. * Collaborated on the 1980s pop music project Iam Siam, which produced the hit "She Went Pop". * Produced and performed synthesizer on Annie Haslam's 1989 release '' Annie Haslam''. * Along with David Bryan composed, arranged, and performed the score music to the 1992 film '' Netherworld''. * Helped create the music for

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, a new Walt Disney theme park. * Toured and recorded with bassist

Tony Levin Anthony Frederick Levin (born June 6, 1946) is an American musician and composer specializing in electric bass guitars, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (19 ...

(himself an alumnus of Peter Gabriel's band) as part of Levin's

Waters of Eden ''Waters of Eden'' is Tony Levin's second solo album, released in 2000. Most of the tracks feature a quartet of Levin, keyboardist Larry Fast, guitarist Jeff Pevar, and drummer Jerry Marotta. Additional musicians who appear throughout the ...

band. * Toured with the Tony Levin Band in 2002 and 2006. Fast appears on '' Double Espresso'', the live album recorded by the Levin band on their 2002 tour.

Other interests

Fast has done some work with designing listening devices for the hearing disabled; his wife had been working in the field for some time. Fast owns several patents for audio distribution using infrared optical technologies. Fast is also part of a government group aiming to protect some of

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

's historic assets against developers.

Biography

The Synergy project

Other music projects

Other interests

References

External links