A brand of modular synthesizer that originated in California in the 1970s, and has been through several transformations in terms off manufacturers and offerings. The brand is named after Serge Tcherepnin, its origunator, who designed his first systems at Cal Arts in 1974. Tcherepnin wanted to offer a synth with the capabilities of a Buchla system, but at a lower cost. One cost-saving measure was that Tcherepnin built his systems using pre-fabricated 17" (43.2 cm) panels, which were pre-punched with a standard hole grid of 6 rows by 16 columns. The customer could choose, from a catalog, which functions and circuits they wanted on a given panel, and Tcherepnin installed the various controls, indicators and signal jacks into the pre-punched holes in a pattern which was standardized for a given function. Panel graphics were printed on paper, which was glued to the panel; the paper also served to cover up unused holes. After a while, Serge began to offer selections of standard panels, each containing a selection of related functions.
The various functions offered were influenced by the West Coast school of 1970s electronic music (as was Buchla). Capacitive touch keyboards, which each note individually tunable, served as an alternative to a conventional keyboard. The modules emphasized achieving timbral variation by blending different waveforms, and by various types of voltage-controllable wave folding and distortion. A notable design was the "New Timbral Oscillator", a VCO with variable waveforms, and a frequency modulation capability with a built-in VCA for controlling the modulation.
Serge was one of the few 1970s modular manufacturers to survive the 1980s. Panels remained in production until 1986; after that, Tcherepnin continued doing low-volume custom builds. In 1993, he sold the business to associate Rex Probe, who established a new company, Sound Transform Systems. With STS, Probe decided to make some changes and go after a higher price point. STS replaced the pre-punched panels with their paper face plates, with custom drilled panels and engraved graphics. Although custom panels could still be ordered, about 10 standard panel designs designated "Shop Panels" were the main product. STS introduced a new set of pre-configured panel called the "M-class" panels, which were hall-width; two could be joined to form a 17" panel using a special center piece.
In 2018, Tcherepnin, after being out of the synthesizer business for some time, joined with the German company Random*Source to start offering some new designs. New full-width panes are now being offered by Random*Source, as well as "4x4" modules which typically contain one or two functions. The company also offers some Serge circuits in Eurorack format.
Serge panels and modules have a height of 4 rack units, or 7" (17.8 cm). The full-width panels are designed to be mounted in a standard 19" rack. The Random*Source 4x4 module are each 4" (10.2 cm) wide. All take +/- 12V DC power; some early designs also require +6V, which might or might not be supplied by a regulator adjacent to the power input.
Serge Crocodile 17" panel, courtesy of Random*Source.