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Synths
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Theremin
is an instrument that is controlled and played by moving your hand near the two aerials, which manipulate pitch and volume. The beach boys used a similar instrument on their song ‘Good vibrations’ (called a Tannerin). -
Ondes Martenot
a keyboard instrument that produces theremin tones by manipulating a ribbon underneath the keyboard. This instrument can be heard on radioheads ‘How to Disappear Completely’. -
Hammond B-3 Organ
a tone wheel drawbar organ that is played through a rotating Leslie speaker which was used extensively during the 1960s and onwards. Most popularly used by Deep Purple. -
Rhodes Piano
a classic electric piano that sounds like a bell crossed with a vibraphone and is very similar to the Wurlitzer electric piano. The Rhode was used by Herbie Handcock on the song ‘Bitch Brew’ -
Hohner clavinet
a classic funk sounding piano commonly used by Stevie Wonder most famously on the song ‘ Superstition’ -
Minimoog
a potable version of the moog modular synth that is synonymous with its monophonic recognisable lead synth sound. Wendy Carlos used this on the album ‘Switched-on Bach -
Sequential Circuits prophet-5
a polyphonic analogue synth that can play 5 notes simultaneously. The Prophet-5 was used by Paul McCartney on the song ‘Wonderful Christmas Time’. -
Roland Jupiter-8 (JP-8)
A polyphonic synth capable of playing 8 notes simultaneously one of its main features includes a built in arpeggiator. Queen used the Jupiter on the song ‘Radio Ga Ga’ -
Roland TB-303
commonly used in dance music during to 1980s Acid house. Used for creating bass lines and has a distinctive squelchy sound. The TB-303 was used on the song ‘Acid Trax’ by Phuture. -
Yamaha DX-7
was the first commercially successful digital synth which used FM (frequency modulation). The DX-7 is capable of creating a wide range of timbres and
its real potential comes when re-producing real sounds. One of the main users of this synth was Brian Eno who used the instruments to create unique and interesting timbres. -
Korg M1
a sampling synth and was used extensively in pop music during the 1980s and 90s this was because of the high accuracy at creating realistic sounding instruments as well as the more unusual sounding timbres.