Bass synthesizer

The bass synthesizer (or "bass synth") is an electronic instrument capable of producing a variety of sounds by generating and combining signals of different frequencies. A modern digital synthesizer uses a frequency synthesizer microprocessor component to generate signals of different frequencies. Bass synths create sounds in the bass range that range from simulations of the electric bass or double bass to distorted, artificial bass sounds. While most bass synths are controlled by electronic keyboards, some performers use an electric bass with MIDI pickups to trigger a bass synthesizer.

History

The first electric synthesizer was invented in 1876 by Elisha Gray , who is best known for his development of a telephone prototype. Other early synthesizers used technology derived from electronic analog computers, laboratory test equipment, and early electronic musical instruments. In the 1950s, RCA produced experimental devices to synthesize both voice and music. By the 1960s, synthesizers were developed that could be played in real time but were confined to studios because of their size.

Robert Moog created a revolutionary synthesizer that could be used by musicians. Micky Dolenz of The Monkees bought one of the first three Moog synthesizers and the first commercial release to feature a Moog synthesizer was The Monkees' fourth album, "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.", in 1967, which also became the first album featuring a synthesizer to hit #1 on the charts. In 1970, Moog designed an innovative synthesizer with a built-in keyboard and without modular design - the analog circuits were retained, but made interconnectable with switches in a simplified arrangement.

In the 1970s miniaturized solid-state components allowed synthesizers to become self-contained, portable instruments, which soon began to be used in live performances. Electronic synthesizers had become a standard part of the popular-music repertoire. An early use of bass synthesizer was in 1972, on a solo album by John Entwistle (the bassist for The Who), entitled "Whistle Rymes". Stevie Wonder introduced synth bass to a wider audience in the early 1970s, notably on "Superstition" (1972) and "Boogie On Reggae Woman" (1974). In 1977 Parliament's funk single "Flashlight" used the bass synthesizer.

By 1976, the first true music synthesizers to offer polyphony had begun to appear, such as the Yamaha GX1, CS-50, CS-60 and Yamaha CS-80 and the Oberheim Four-Voice. Since the early 1980s, most new synthesizers have been digital. Japanese manufacturers Yamaha and Casio both played a large part as manufacturers of digital synthesizers during the 1980s and 1990s. Synthesizers became easier to integrate and synchronize with other electronic instruments and controllers with the introduction in 1983 of MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), [cite web
title = The Complete MIDI 1.0 Detailed Specification
publisher = MIDI Manufacturers Association Inc.
url = http://www.midi.org/about-midi/specinfo.shtml
accessdate = 2008-04-10] which allows for the transmission f real-time performance data from one device or instrument to another. When the programmable music sequencer became widely available in the 1980s (e.g., the synclavier), bass synths were used to create highly syncopated rhythms and complex, rapid basslines.

Bass synth patches incorporate a range of sounds and tones, including wavetable-style, analog, and FM-style bass sounds, delay effects, distortion effects, envelope filters.

2000s

In the 2000s, several companies such as Boss and Akai produced bass synthesizer effect pedals for electric bass players, which simulate the sound of an analog or digital bass synth. With these devices, a bass guitar is used to generate synth bass sounds. The BOSS SYB-3 was one of the early bass synthesizer pedals. The SYB-3 reproduces sounds of analog synthesizers with Digital Signal Processing saw, square, and pulse synth waves and user-adjustable filter cutoff. The Akai bass synth pedal contains a four-oscillator synthesiser with user selectable parameters (attack, decay, envelope depth, dynamics, cutoff, resonance).

Bass synthesizer software allows performers to used MIDI to integrate the bass sounds with other synthesizers or drum machines. Bass synthesizers often provide samples from vintage 1970s and 1980s bass synths. Some bass synths are built into an organ style pedalboard or button board.

References

Further reading

*Shapiro, Peter (2000). "Modulations: A History of Electronic Music: Throbbing Words on Sound", ISBN 1-891024-06-X.

External links

* [http://www.vintagesynth.com Vintagesynth] - Vintage Synth Explorer
* [http://www.progsounds.com Progsounds] — Online Synthesizer Resource
* [http://www.synthmuseum.com/ Synth Museum] — Vintage Synth Resource
* [http://www.obsolete.com/120_years/ 120 years of Electronic Music] — Machines used from 1870-1990
* [http://www.acoustics.salford.ac.uk/acoustics_info/sound_synthesis/ Principles of Sound Synthesis] at Salford University

ee also

* Computer music
* Electronic keyboards
* Guitar/synthesizer
* Keytar
* List of synthesizer manufacturers
* List of classic synthesizers
* Modular synthesizer
* Musical instrument
* Software synthesizer