The Appeal of Analog Synthesizers

What is it about analog synthesizers that is so appealing? When considering this question a while back my initial thought was that it was because of the music I had been exposed to. For a lot of people my age the first major electronic music I heard was Switched-On Bach. It is possible I heard analog synths used in other pieces of music prior to this. Progressive rock and artists such as The Beatles, Monkees, Beach Boys had incorporated analog synths in some of their music. Switched-On Bach was something unique though. It was an album where all the instruments were created from this machine with knobs and and switches. Some of it seemed to emulate real instruments while other sounds were completely foreign. It is difficult to say if the impact on me would have been as big if the chosen composer was someone other than Bach. To me, Bach is the greatest composer in history and even Bach played on a banjo is still better than the majority of other composers. I believe it still would have made an impression, but Bach and Moog were a perfect combination.

So Switched On-Bach was the first vehicle for exposing me to analog synths. What was it about analog synths that continued to keep my attention? Well, initially, I didn’t become interested in synths of any kind until years later. I certainly came to appreciate analog synths with the arrival of Kraftwerk. Radio in the 1970s was full of variety and I enjoyed pretty much all of it. It also served as a jumping point to other things as I found out there was other music to be explored that wasn’t played on radio. I spent a lot of time in my room with headphones on, absorbed in the sound. I continually looked for more music to listen to and there always seemed to be more waiting for me when I got around to discovering it. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I also was starting to enjoy sound for its own sake.

Like most people I ended up wanting to play an instrument. I attempted piano, violin, guitar, and drums over the years. Lack of patience and discipline pretty much doomed any chance of me learning to play an instrument in the normal way. I wanted to play like a pro but didn’t want to practice. Can’t I just skip over the boring practice stuff and play the good music right now? It seemed like I would have to just stick to enjoying music and leave the performing to others. A few things would end up happening though, that would change my relationship to music and my level of involvement.

I wasn’t too aware of what was happening in England in 1976, but by 1978 the effects were becoming evident. There was an explosion of new music starting. By 1979 there was so much new music that I was struggling to keep up. I wasn’t greatly impressed with punk even though I enjoyed quite a bit of it. The “do it yourself” message resonated though. As music evolved into post-punk and all its offshoots, suddenly there was music made by non-musicians. Of course there has always been music by non-musicians, I just hadn’t been aware of it. Here, the context was different and of course every generation has to discover their own version of “new”.

In addition to the change in the music scene, technology was making it possible for most to be able to afford cheaper instruments. My tools for attempting to make music at this point were pretty minimal. A friend had given me a Lyle guitar that was a copy of a Gibson SG. I had picked up a Rockmate drum machine from somewhere. I used a Panasonic tabletop cassette recorder and initially had to borrow another cassette recorder to make recordings as I played along with the tabletop. Eventually I picked up a regular cassette recorder and also a Realistic Electronic Reverb. My brother had purchased a real bass guitar that I was able to borrow. That was the only reasonably quality instrument I would have access to for a while.

Realistic Concertmate MG-1

Sometime in the early 1980s my parents bought a Realistic MG-1 analog  synth. Although it was fun I was a little underwhelmed. I ended up opening it up so I could try to run my guitar through it. I had no idea what I was doing but found some spots where the guitar sound came through the synth, but sounded electronic. It quit working at some point, probably due to me poking around where I shouldn’t. I became more interested in sampling and got a Casio SK-1 sampler when they came out. My next analog instrument would be an Arp Omni 2 that I bought in the early 1990s. It was a very heavy keyboard and more “string machine” than synth. So as much as I liked the synth sound, I was kind of unimpressed again due to its limitations. Sadly I wasn’t aware of people dumping their analog synths in the 80s. I probably couldn’t have afforded them anyway, even at the reduced prices at that point.

ARP Omni 2

In some respects I lost interest in analog synths. Sampling had greater sound manipulation potential. Also workstation synths were coming out that could do everything. These were an easy way to get a large variety of sounds and were good at emulating real instruments. This, along with multitrack cassette recorders allowed for some major creative sound exploration and creation. Nord introduced the first virtual analog instrument in 1994. It was out of my price range, but two years later I was able to get Roland’s JP-8000. It sounded like analog to me. Of course I had never heard or even seen a Roland Jupiter-8.

I bought other virtual analogs including the Korg MS2000, Yamaha AN1X, Alesis Ion and others. Even the analog samples in workstations were very good. It would be a while before I bought an analog synth again though. During one of my trips to visit Hal McGee I got a chance to play a Moog Voyager rack synth that he had. I was very impressed with it. The variety of sounds that can be coaxed out of Voyager is pretty amazing. I was able to get one not long after that. I also bought a Moog Little Phatty around the same time and figured that was it for analog synths. With the resurgence in popularity in analog recently I have ended up with a few more. Maybe more than a few.

So, what is it that is so appealing about analog synths? I happen to like synths of all kinds and sound creation devices in general. But even with that in mind, there are some things specifically about analog synths that are appealing.

Some of these might not apply to people that are younger. When I was  growing up analog synths created the sound of the future. These were strange and unique sounds. They made the sounds of space ships, ray guns, aliens (especially Martians) and other strange sounds to represent unimaginable things.

For me they also are tied to exploration and the ongoing search for new and unique sounds. Depending on your instrument of choice, exploration is more of a compositional tool. Analog synths are sort of chameleons capable of an immense variety of sounds. So they tend to be more sound explorer and potentially less musical explorer. As a failed musician I feel more connected to sound creation than song writing.

Another reason for my attraction to analog synths is their relation to radio. I’m not sure why I didn’t make this connection a long time ago. Analog synths are a lot like shortwave radios minus the stations. You can only “tune” the sounds of shortwave (or AM), but have a lot of control over the synth sounds and how they are shaped. The sounds of some distorted voice on shortwave from around the planet could just as easily be a traveler from Mars as a strange station from outside of Moscow. As you turn the dial on the shortwave you can get all types of strange sounds, sometimes rhythmic and evolving and then fading to nothing.

So for me analog synths are the sound of the future. They are also the sound of the past. They are the tools for exploration for the non musician. The sounds they create can include violins, organs, clocks, wind, alien communications, trumpets, drums, spaceships, insects, water, electricity, and things you haven’t imagined yet. Devices for creating from your imagination. No musical experience required.

zim zim (Martian ambassador to the United States)