Analog Synthesizers: Understanding, Performing, Buying, 2nd Edition

Introduction: what's so great about analog?

How do we usually describe modern high-tech musical instruments? Terms such as “digital”, “sampled” or “virtual” are commonplace, though tell us very little about what the instrument actually sounds like. But when we hear the word “analog”, we get an instant idea of the type of noise we can expect – a certain sense of power, simplicity, and richness, which dates back to the earliest days of electronic music.

Of course, those times aren’t so very far in the past. We’re talking about a field which has a modern history of only 60-odd years – so that a few musicians still very active in the field today have been creative throughout the whole period of its development, not something which can be said of ...