A History of Music and Technology: The Synthesizer

The Documentary Podcast

• Episode: A History of Music and Technology: The Synthesizer
• Website: The Documentary Podcast
• Feed URL: http://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0lx.rss
• Duration: 00:50:11
• Published: 2019-06-18 12:08

The first synthesizer was so big, it filled an entire room, but during the 1960s inventors built downsized machines which would go on to revolutionise pop music. Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason charts the work of synth pioneers Bob Moog, Don Buchla and Dave Smith in the story of one of the most influential electronic instrument of all time. We learn how the synth came to sing with multiple voices, and how Japanese giants came to dominate the market - but arguably at a cost to creativity.