Editing Electronic musical instrument (section)

=== Modular synthesizers ===
{{main|Modular synthesizer}}
[[RCA]] produced experimental devices to synthesize voice and music in the 1950s.  The [[RCA Mark II Sound Synthesizer|Mark II Music Synthesizer]], housed at the [[Computer Music Center|Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center]] in [[New York City]]. Designed by Herbert Belar and Harry Olson at RCA, with contributions from [[Vladimir Ussachevsky]] and [[Peter Mauzey]], it was installed at Columbia University in 1957. Consisting of a room-sized array of interconnected sound synthesis components, it was only capable of producing music by programming,<ref name="beginnings"/> using a [[paper tape]] [[Music sequencer|sequencer]] punched with holes to control pitch sources and filters, similar to a mechanical [[player piano]] but capable of generating a wide variety of sounds. The [[vacuum tube]] system had to be patched to create timbres.

[[File:Bob Moog3.jpg|thumb|left|Robert Moog]]
In the 1960s synthesizers were still usually confined to studios due to their size. They were usually modular in design, their stand-alone signal sources and processors connected with patch cords or by other means and controlled by a common controlling device. [[Harald Bode]], [[Don Buchla]], [[Hugh Le Caine]], [[Raymond Scott]] and [[Paul Ketoff]] were among the first to build such instruments, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Buchla later produced a commercial modular synthesizer, the [[Buchla|Buchla Music Easel]].<ref>{{Citation
  | last = Vail
  | first = Mark
  | title = Buchla Music Easel &mdash; Portable performance synthesizer
  | publisher = [[Keyboard Magazine]]
  | page=108
  | date = October 1, 2003
  }}</ref>  [[Robert Moog]], who had been a student of [[Peter Mauzey]] and one of the RCA Mark II engineers, created a synthesizer that could reasonably be used by musicians, designing the circuits while he was at Columbia-Princeton. The [[Moog modular synthesizer|Moog synthesizer]] was first displayed at the [[Audio Engineering Society]] convention in 1964.<ref>{{Citation
  | last = Glinsky
  | first = Albert
  | title = Theremin: Ether Music and Espionage
  | publisher = [[University of Illinois Press]]
  | page = 293
  | year = 2000
  | isbn = 0-252-02582-2
  | url = https://archive.org/details/thereminethermus00glin
  }}</ref> It required experience to set up sounds but was smaller and more intuitive than what had come before, less like a machine and more like a musical instrument. Moog established standards for control interfacing, using a logarithmic 1-volt-per-octave for pitch control and a separate triggering signal. This standardization allowed synthesizers from different manufacturers to operate simultaneously. Pitch control was usually performed either with an organ-style keyboard or a [[music sequencer]] producing a timed series of control voltages. During the late 1960s hundreds of popular recordings used Moog synthesizers. Other early commercial synthesizer manufacturers included [[ARP Instruments, Inc.|ARP]], who also started with modular synthesizers before producing all-in-one instruments, and British firm [[Electronic Music Studios (London) Ltd|EMS]].

[[File:R.A.Moog minimoog 2.jpg|thumb|right|Minimoog (1970, R.A.Moog)]]