8
The Hi stor y…
W hy is the “ analo g so und” so po pular in a dig ital
ag e? W hat lo ng and winding ro ad had to be
traveled— just to end up rig ht back where we started
fro m? Let’s take a quick lo o k at ho w we g o t fro m there
to here, and where here really is, anyway.
Electro nic music synthesis has been aro und in o ne fo rm
o r ano ther since the beg inning o f the 2 0 th Century. But
it wasn’ t until the early 1 9 7 0 s that develo pments in
vo ltag e co ntro lled synthesis techno lo g y made the
co ncept practical— and affo rdable.
As such, the vo ltag e co ntro lled synthesiz er became less
and less an experimental curio sity in the wo rld’s g reat
universities and so und labs and mo re and mo re a
valid— and revo lutio nary— musical instrument in its o wn
rig ht. It quickly became a staple in pro fessio nal
reco rding studio s, and its myriad so unds started
g racing the ears o f millio ns thro ug h po pular reco rding s
in literally all g enres o f music.
Then came the 1 9 8 0 s, and the intro ductio n o f wildly
po pular, affo rdable-fo r-the-masses, g reat-so unding and
easy-to -use dig ital synths like the famo us Yamaha DX7 .
W hat fo llo wed was the MIDI revo lutio n, which dro ve
the rapid develo pment o f ever-mo re-so phisticated multi-
timbral dig ital synthesiz ers and to ne g enerato rs, alo ng
with the o verwhelming acceptance o f dig ital sampling
which has literally chang ed the way we create and
listen to music. And all o f which have g o ne hand-in-
hand with the deskto p music revo lutio n.
Mo st recently there has been the intro ductio n o f
breakthro ug h physical mo deling synthesis techno lo g y,
which has been successfully applied to the accurate
repro ductio n o f aco ustic instrument so unds thro ug h
purely electro nic means, as well as the creatio n o f new
“ hybrid-type” aco ustic-o riented so unds.
The M a k i ng O f A M ode r n Cla ssi c
The classic analo g synth so und is back with a veng eance and mo re po pular than ever. Vintag e analo g synthesiz ers are ho t
items, recirculating and finding their way into the arsenals o f the wo rld’s mo st inno vative music makers, many o f who m
weren’ t even bo rn when the vo ltag e co ntro lled synthesiz er was co ming o f ag e mo re than a quarter o f a century ag o .
Enter the Yamaha AN 1 x Co ntro l Synthesiz er— a mo dern classic in its o wn rig ht— co mplete with the VCO , VCF, and VCA
blo cks, o r " mo dules" that g ive retro synths that famo usly fat, rich, warm so und, plus multiple kno bs fo r co ntro lling every nuance
o f the so und, and even an o n-bo ard Arpeg g iato r and Step Sequencer fo r g enerating pattern lo o ps at the press o f a key.
W hat’s much mo re, ho wever, is that the AN 1 x inco rpo rates features that vintag e synths co uld o nly dream abo ut— like three o n-
bo ard pro g rammable dig ital multi-effects units and a 3 -band stereo EQ , a multiple co ntro ller-to -parameter assig nment architecture,
a 4 -track Free EG fo r “ hand drawing ” real-time kno b po sitio n mo vements o f up to fo ur different to ne g enerato r parameters, plus
real-time mo rphing between two different so unds, and mo re— all o f which can be custo miz ed fo r each o f the 1 2 8 vo ices and
sto red as individual vo ice data.
Ente r Ana log Physi ca l
M ode li ng …
The classic analo g synth never fell o ut o f favo r with the
wo rld' s mo st inno vative musicians. That' s because it
has a special punch, po wer, plus impo rtant elements o f
interactivity that dig ital synths and samplers have
tended to lack by co mpariso n.
And no w, with the demand fo r that " classic analo g
so und" due to the g lo bal po pularity o f techno , trance,
and o ther mo dern fo rms o f dance music, it' s hardly
surprising that Yamaha— a co mpany co nsistently at the
very pinnacle o f electro nic musical instrument
techno lo g y— wo uld react to that demand and create a
co mpletely new perfo rmance-o riented " co ntro l
synthesiz er" that takes the co mpany' s o rig inal
breakthro ug hs in physical mo deling synthesis and uses
it to dig itally " mo del" the analo g so und-g enerating
co mpo nents which g ives vo ltag e co ntro lled synthesis its
unique character and virtually unlimited rang e o f
so und.
And packag e it with a ho st o f dig ital extras to bring
the techno lo g y full circle with a co mpleteness and utility
never befo re po ssible.
In sho rt, the AN 1 x is a lo g ical— and timely—
develo pment in the evo lutio n o f electro nic musical
instrument histo ry, based o n the mo dern needs and
demands o f the wo rld’s cutting -edg e musicians. And
o nce ag ain, as is o ften the case with creatio ns fro m
Yamaha, music histo ry will never be the same.
All the to o ls are in the bo x. The rest is up to yo u… .
