ArkadiyB
Joined: 17 Aug 2013
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 Posted: Sat Aug 17, 2013 5:10 am Post subject: Radically different sounds |
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Radically different sounds
Several other analogue electronic instruments had similarities with modern synthesisers, at least in terms of the radically different sounds they could produce. They were extraordinary devices and had extraordinary names to match – the Ondioline, the Trautonium, the Theremin and the Ondes Martenot. Then there was the Voder, which while not strictly a musical instrument, had an effect on the human voice that has been used successfully in pop music, notably Cher's hit, Believe.
To an extent, they were curiosities, but several were used in films to create moody, other worldly sounds. Most notably, the Novachord was used in Vera Lynn's 'We'll Meet Again' and in the film Gone With the Wind.
But it is the resurgence of analogue electronics in today's digital world that is particularly surprising. In fact, the resurgence started several years ago, with the most famous name in the world of synthesisers – Moog – launching the analogue Minimoog Voyager in 2002. It took the name of the first portable synthesiser, the Minimoog, created around 40 years ago. Since then, several other units have been produced, including a range of 'Phatty' models, the most recent being the Sub Phatty.
A name that almost equals Moog's in the synthesiser world is Korg, based in Tokyo. Korg started again with analogue products a couple of years ago with a small handheld synthesiser called the Monotron, followed since by the MS-20, a classic instrument of the 1970s. It has recently launched another low cost range, the Volca.
"The Monotron was something of a test to see how people would react to analogue products", says Ian Bradshaw, product manager for Korg Hitech. "It was an incredible success globally and we designed it in such a way that the 'circuit bending' community could easily get inside it and modify it. There are certain points on the circuit board that are key to what they want to do. Users make break out boxes so it can be connected to other modular synthesisers, then control them."
Why the resurgence of analogue? Bradshaw thinks it is possibly the desire to have a physical object to interact with, rather than pushing a mouse around, diving through menus and selecting presets just by clicking.
"A device like the MS-20 can be more rewarding to operate than simply selecting presets from a software synth; it makes for a more immediate and creative process. It is the difference between playing a musical instrument and interfacing with a computer."
And the sound analogue produces, almost everyone agrees, is different to digital.
"When you compare our soft synth versions of the MS-20 (that is, digital emulations) they are very accurate. But when you start listening to the sound, it is different. One manufacturer, Doepfer, has done nothing but produce analogue synthesisers (it has recently launched a new version, the Dark Energy II, a monophonic standalone synthesizer with USB and Midi interface). I asked why it never did anything using digital software and the answer was that software does not work as quickly as analogue for certain things, like the way the envelopes respond, and this has been demonstrated.
Another thing is that when you change a parameter on a digital unit, it happens in separate steps – typically 128. With analogue, that range of variation is pretty much infinite."
Recreating an electronic product – especially an analogue one first made decades ago – raises the question of whether the same components are used.
"Inevitably, there are differences," Bradshaw says. "The main difference is that the new MS-20 is all surface mount technology. One of the things crucial to the MS-20 sound was the transistors, which are no longer available. Our engineers looked in detail at the behaviour of the original transistors and then found units that behave in pretty much the same way. Also, some original components used materials now banned, like cadmium, so again we had to find replacements that behaved similarly."
One person steeped in the analogue tradition is Dan Wilson, a UK electronic engineer specialising in tube hybrid studio gear designs and vintage synthesiser restoration. He has produced custom designs for major artists and has returned a 1938 Novachord to playable order.
He says that, despite digital becoming mainstream, there is still a huge demand for the type of sound made by analogue synths, with dance genres still very popular and newer styles, such as dubstep, very much in the analogue domain.
"It's all about warmth, smoothness, imperfection, movement and interaction," he says. "Analogue synths, signal processing and recording media have a number of qualities that have proven surprisingly difficult to emulate in the digital domain. Analogue synths can often produce very smooth, powerful and focused deep bass: important in today's music.
"Secondly, they often sport user interfaces that encourage fluid changes in timbre, ideal for progressive music styles. And their tuning stability and tracking from octave to octave is never perfect which, much like a brass ensemble, leads to increased movement and depth of sound, making it more engaging sonically."
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