Synclavier

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Synclavier I

The Synclavier System was an early digital synthesizer and sampler, manufactured by New England Digital. First released in 1975, it proved to be highly influential among both music producers and electronic musicians, due to its versatility, its cutting-edge technology and distinctive sound.

First developed at Dartmouth College, the Synclavier was one of the first synthesizers to completely integrate digital technology. It used FM synthesis as well as sampling in order to create sounds, which were stored on large, magnetic disks. It was often referred to, by New England Digital and others, as the "tapeless studio," due to one's ability to compose and produce an entire song, solely on the Synclavier. Synclavier Systems were expensive - the highest price ever paid for one was about $500,000, although average systems were closer to about $200,000 - $300,000. Although this made it inaccessible for most musicians, it found widespread use among producers and professional recording studios, and it competed in this market with other high-end production systems, such as the Fairlight CMI.

For the price, users got a system with custom parts, built by hand, all to the highest specifications available. Users enjoyed most of the abilities of modern PC "virtual" sound studios - recording, sequencing, playback, and disk storage. All were integrated seamlessly with the hardware, with a high degree of parallelism built into the electronics (for example, two digital to analog converters for each stereo channel of sampled sound, with analog volume control) to avoid the issues of digital mixing artifacts, latency, and heavy CPU usage that are concerns of modern PC-based studios. In these respects, the Synclavier system still surpasses modern methods.

Two generations of the Synclavier System, the Synclavier I and the Synclavier II, were produced. Synclavier II boasted upgraded sampling capacity and memory, as well as a velocity- and pressure-sensitive keyboard. This tends to be the more commonly found, as most Synclavier I owners upgraded after the release of the Synclavier II.

The Sample-to-Disk option offered in 1982 was the first 16-bit digital audio hard drive recording device on the market. It was capable of monophonic recordings with a sampling rate of up to 50 kHz. Greater throughput was not possible due to the limitations of hard drives at the time.^[1]^[2]

New England Digital went out of business in 1991, and the Synclavier is no longer manufactured. It is, however, still in use in the recording industry, particularly among soundtrack composers and sound designers.

[edit] Notable Synclavier users

Depeche Mode
Frank Zappa - composed his 1986 Grammy-winning album Jazz From Hell on the instrument, and whose posthumous two-hour Civilization, Phaze III was allegedly around 70% Synclavier-made
a-ha - the album " Hunting High and Low " ( 1985 )
Paul Simon - on Simon's 1983 album Hearts and Bones, Tom Coppola is credited for Synclavier for the following tracks: "When Numbers Get Serious," "Think Too Much (b)," "Song About the Moon" and "Think Too Much (a)," and Wells Christie is credited with Synclavier on "Rene And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War." On his 1986 album Graceland, Paul [Simon] is credited under "Synclavier" for the following tracks: "I Know What I Know" and "Gumboots"
Laurie Anderson - her 1984 album "Mister Heartbreak" includes visual depictions of Synclavier sound waves in the liner notes
Chuck Hammer - Guitarchitecture recordings 1983 - 1986, and recordings with, Nile Rodgers, Duran Duran and rehearsals with Laurie Anderson
Hall & Oates - Most of 1984's Big Bam Boom album.
The Cars
Genesis - Most musicians using the Synclavier kept it in the studio. Genesis used the instrument in arena shows, which is a high accomplishment as the Synclavier is huge and power to arena stages is typically very noisy.
Duran Duran - programmed by Chuck Hammer
Bob Boilen - Used during production of the 'whizbang' audio track for the Smithsonian Museum of American History
Sean Callery
Herbie Hancock
Jean-Luc Ponty - particularly on The Gift of Time, and presumably most of his 1980's albums.
Alan Silvestri - in producing the score for the 1980's sci-fi film Flight of the Navigator
Wally Badarou - keyboardist for Robert Palmer and others.
Producer Trevor Horn - used the Synclavier on records by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Yes, and Grace Jones, among others
Michael Jackson - particularly on his 1982 album "Thriller", programming by Steve Porcaro, Brian Banks and Anthony Marinelli. The famous gong sound at the beginning of "Beat It" comes courtesy of the Synclavier.
Brian Mendelsohn - The Simpsons soundtrack composer, who also used it on "The Simpsons Sing The Blues"
Pat Metheny - American jazz guitarist
Producer Daniel Miller - founder of Mute Records, who used it on many Depeche Mode records
Sting - primarily on "Russians", and other tracks from "dream of the blue turtles"
Producer Mike Thorne - used the Synclavier on records by Siouxsie & The Banshees, Soft Cell, Marc Almond, and Bronski Beat, among others
Brian Banks and Anthony Marinelli - film composers
Akira (film) - Made in 1988. The behind-the-scenes documentary The Akira Production Report features the Synclavier as one of the main tools for the film's soundtrack composition.
Stevie Wonder - In an episode of The Cosby Show, Stevie records different snippets of the Huxtables on to his Synclavier.
Neil Young - Used Synclavier extensively on his 1980s albums.
Gary Rydstrom - used the Synclavier for sound design, as seen in a bonus featurette on the Monsters, Inc. DVD
Howard Shore, film score composer - pictured with a Synclavier on the cover of Berklee Today, Fall 1997 [1]
John McLaughlin used it on Adventures in Radioland
Information Society used it on their Peace and Love,Inc. album in 1992
Monolake - Owns a refurbished Synclavier II. Used significantly on 'Polygon Cities' (2005), particularly 'Digitalis' track.
Chick Corea - used the Synclavier on Elektric Band albums and live performances as well.
Martin Rushent - used the Synclavier at his 'genetic studios' with various artists including The Human League, Hysteria (Human League album).
Kate Bush
Kim Wilde - used the Synclavier on her two albums "Catch As Catch Can" and "Teases & Dares"
Tangerine Dream - Used the Synclavier on their 1981 album Exit
Billy Squier - Signs Of Life album 1984
Scritti Politti - Provisions 1988 - Synclavier was used on the entire album
Paul Hardcastle - Used on all his tracks from 1986 onwards and used it exclusively to score music for TV
George Michael - his Faith album (1987)
Mark Knopfler - The Princess Bride (1987) - With the exception of the guitar sounds, every sound you hear is generated by the Synclavier, including hand claps etc. Last exit to Brooklyn (1989) - All sounds except guitar and horns produced by the Synclavier.
The Notting Hillbillies - Missing... Presumed Having a Good Time (1990) - All drums/percussion and bass are produced by the Synclavier.