A synthesizer, or synth, is a musical instrument that produces sound using electronics. A wide range of analog and digital synthesizers have existed since before the usage of the word by RCA in 1956 with the first synthesizer being traced back to the 200 ton Telharmonium, or Dynamophone in 1896/1897. Synthesizers include those triggered by keyboards and by other methods and include both software and hardware electronic instruments. Drum machines and a wide array of other electronic machines that produce sounds can all be considered synthesizers.
Factoids tagged with "Synthesizers"
To quantize is to restrict something to a set of values. In digital music notes can be quantized to beats, in physics energy is quantized energy states.
On May 23rd, 2012 in honor of Bob Moog’s 78th birthday Google’s homepage logo (Doodle) became a playable and recordable synthesizer.