Old school synths

I love the sound of old school synthesizers. When the world was fuzzy warm taped mushiness the synths were a stark crystal clear sound. It was like seeing an LED lightbulb for the first time. They had their own sound and style. They were simple sounds, with basic filters and envelopes. They could fit in as a unique instrument. This was before digital computers were a thing. The analog age of synths. Popcorn by Hot Butter is an early example. But you could feel how clunky it was. The interfaces could not allow a performer to play it creatively. Later examples of synths being played as a real instrument is Runawat by Del Shannon and Good Vibrations by The Beach Boys. The limit at the time was monophonic, one note at a time. The managed to improve the flexibility of the synth voice as heard in Here comes the Sun by the Beatles.

At this point the synths became a staple for Prog Rock bands wanting fantastical sounds for their 10 plus minute ballads. I think synths got stigmatized for quite a while as something alien to the pop/rock scene. Fortunately the punk and post punk and disco let fresh ideas back into the music scene. I feel love by Donna Summer proved an all synth song could be a chart topper. A flood of new hits and bands embraced synths as a driving force. Pop Music by M and Funky Town by Lips Inc are clear examples of that. Artists like Devo and Thomas Dolby were heavy synth based while the Cars Thompson Twins melded the synths with rock and funk.

Technology did not wait. As digital computer grew so did synths and sampling. Now a synth could be any instrument you want. This sampled sound allowed a new creative freedom and got us some cool music. Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer intro flute inspired so many other artists to chop and slice samples into new forms. It was amazing but I always felt many bands forgot the old school synth sound. What sound is an instrument that can make any possible sound?

I guess I am nastolgic for the old simple clean synth sound. There have been many bands that kept that sound and had great careers but mainstream music pushed the sample heavy synth sounds into the stratosphere. Whatever. I’ll still grove to Electric Avenue by Eddie Grant.

Designing the voice of a synthesizer by defining the waveforms. Old school synths used square, sine, saw and other simple waveforms.