Synclavier

Two Synclavier consoles. An original-model console is shown at the bottom, and a Synclavier II console at the top. Courtesy of matrixsynth.com

A digital synthesizer, created and manufactured by the company New England Digital (based in Vermont in the USA). Across various models, the Synclavier was sold over a period of nearly two decades, and its capabilities evolved considerably from the start to the end of the production run.

The Synclavier evolved from a project at Dartmouth College led by professor Jon Appleton, an alumnus of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. This involved creating some custom digital hardware that had the capability to perform FM processing, and some additive synthesis, in real time -- a technological advance at the time. Two of Appleton's students, Sydney Alonso and Cameron Jones, formed New England Digital to commercialize some of the work being done in Dartmouth's electrical engineering program. Their first product was a minicomputer called the ABLE, which was introduced in 1975 and sold for a number of non-musical applications. (The ABLE in itself was an interesting project, for those interested in computer instruction sets and architectures.)

The next year, New England Digital set about creating the first version of the Synclavier, by combining improved versions of the Dartmouth-developed FM processing hardware, with an ABLE computer for controlling everything. A simple keyboard and a DEC computer terminal formed the computer interfaces; most of the patch editing was done by typing in commands on the computer terminal. This first version was introduced in 1977 and was sold mostly to university music departments and a few studios. As the model evolved, a master keyboard was developed that contained some patch editing controls, consisting mainly of an array of buttons that lit up orange to show which functions were selected, and a value entry rotary encoder. The keyboard with all of the orange buttons become an iconic image of the synth, although this was only a small part of the total hardware complement -- depending on the configuration, the synth included one or more rack-mounted chassis containing the voice processing cards, the ABLE computer, external disk drives, and audio D/A converters and interface hardware.

A Synclavier II model, introduced in 1980, contained many improvements suggested by the consulting performer Denny Jaeger, making the synth's features more musically useful. Throughout the decade, hardware and software improvements introduced new features, notably the ability to perform sampling, process samples by doing Fourier transforms on them, and then use the extracted spectrum to perform resynthesis. The additive synthesis capabilities were improved and some virtual analog features were introduced. By the end of the 1980s, the Synclavier was a true multi-algorithm synth. The user interfaces were also improved; the original simple keyboard was replaced with a sophisticated velocity and aftertouch sensitive one (sourced from Sequential Circuits, which used the same keyboard on its Prophet T8), and the original alphanumeric terminal was first replaced by a DEC VT640 graphics-capable terminal, and then around 1990 by an Apple Macintosh II computer. The synth received considerably more memory and disk storage, as did the embedded ABLE computer. As the system grew, it become popular with well-heeled performers and studios who could afford the high price tag, and many were used for foley and effects work in addition to music.

The synth's recording capability and the availability of cheap disk storage in the late 1980s allowed the synth to be developed to also function as a digital audio workstation, with the ability to record data from external sources as well as its own audio, process and edit tracks, and produce mixdowns. Software developed also allowed the synth hardware to serve some other non-musical purposes, such as signal analysis and some forms of numerical simulation. A notable feature was the Synclavier's on-the-fly audio compression and decompression, a pioneering technology at the time which extended the effective capacity of memory and disk drives.

However, as the 1990s involved, personal computers began to catch up with the processing power of the Synclavier's hardware, and performers found that they could achieve similar capabilities at considerably less expense with soft synths and plug-ins. Sales declined, and New England Digital decided to fold in 1993. Some of the company's assets were sold to Fostex, which used some of the technology to create a series of small hard disk recording systems in the early 2000s. There is no way of estimating how many Synclaviers were produced, since the modularity of the systems meant that they were often combined, split, and reconfigured in various combinations, and many software and hardware revisions were issued over the years. This also makes it difficult to determine the market value of a specific unit, since it is rare to find two that are exactly alike. Keeping a Synclavier running today is an exercise, due to the difficulty in finding either parts or documentation.

Notable users

• Alan Silvestri: in producing the scores for the 1980s films The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986), Flight of the Navigator (1986) Overboard (1987) and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).
• Benny Andersson: his personal studio room is still centered around a Synclavier system — he has four systems. He’s been using it since Chess in 1985.
• Chick Corea used the Synclavier on various Elektric Band albums from 1986 to 1991 as well as various Elektric Band tours.
• Christopher Boyes, supervising sound editor/sound designer for the 2009 film Avatar, used the Synclavier for blending or layering different sound effects and matching pitches.
• Crimson Glory used acoustic drums blended with Synclavier-sampled drums on their 1988 album Transcendence.
• Danny Quatrochi used Synclavier on Sting's album The Dream of the Blue Turtles (1985).
• Dave Lawson
• David Wolf used Synclavier for the Chuck E. Cheese Showtapes from 1989 to 1990.
• Depeche Mode had access to producer Daniel Miller's Synclavier, which was responsible for the character of the sound of the albums Construction Time Again (1983), Some Great Reward (1984) and Black Celebration (1986).
• Duran Duran used a Synclavier on the 1984 single "The Reflex".
• Eddie Jobson: the 1985 album Theme of Secrets was completely made with a Synclavier.
• Frank Zappa: in 1982 one of the first Synclavier owners; 1984's Thing-Fish (underscoring), Boulez Conducts Zappa: The Perfect Stranger (1984, underscoring) and Francesco Zappa (1984, solely Synclavier); 1985's Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention (sampled sounds); 1986's Grammy-winning album Jazz from Hell ("St. Etienne" excepted, solely Synclavier); 1994's Civilization Phaze III completed in 1993 shortly before his death, released posthumously, musical portions composed and recorded exclusively using the Synclavier. Zappa also used the instrument to create the music posthumously released in 2011 on Feeding the Monkies at Ma Maison.
• Greg Hawkes of The Cars used a Synclavier II on the Hearbeat City tour as well as Live Aid, primarily for the backing vocal samples in Drive.
• Howard Shore, film score composer: pictured with a Synclavier on the cover of Berklee Today, Fall 1997.
• James Stroud: producer who used a Synclavier II on many hit albums he produced.
• Joel Chadabe: composer/founder of Electronic Music Foundation. In September 1977 he bought the first Synclavier without musical keyboard (ORK) and wrote custom software to control the Synclavier via various devices.
• John McLaughlin used it on the albums Mahavishnu (1984) and Adventures in Radioland (1987).
• Kashif Saleem, American post-disco and contemporary R&B record producer, multi-instrumentalist, also a creative consultant with the New England Digital Corporation: Bass synthesizer music pioneer and an early Synclavier II avid user who used Synclavier in production, for instance, of his Grammy-nominated instrumental piece "The Mood" (1983). His innovating vocalist-related sampling methods (created using Synclavier) are still in use.
• Kraftwerk acquired one in the early to mid 1980s and initially used it to re work the material later released as Electric Cafe / Techno Pop, and also on live performances in the 1990s.
• Laurie Anderson is credited with using the Synclavier on her albums Mister Heartbreak (1984), United States Live (1984) and the 1986 soundtrack album Home of the Brave.
• Lourett Russell Grant used a Synclavier on the 1979 disco hit "Hot to Trot".
• Mannheim Steamroller: used on most of their albums to present.
• Mark Knopfler: Used on the scores for the films The Princess Bride (1987) and Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989), in which all sounds except guitar (and in the latter case, violins) were produced by the Synclavier. The Synclavier is also heard on the Dire Straits albums Love over Gold (1982, played by Alan Clark), Brothers in Arms (1985, played by Guy Fletcher), and On Every Street (1991).
• Mark Snow: film and television score composer; Synclavier used on The X-Files (1993–2002).
• Marlon Jackson
• Men Without Hats used on the 1984 album Folk of the 80s (Part III).
• Michael Hoenig: film scoring work on the Synclavier, including the 1986 action-fantasy film, The Wraith.
• Michael Jackson: particularly on his 1982 album Thriller, programming by Steve Porcaro, Brian Banks, and Anthony Marinelli. The gong sound at the beginning of "Beat It" comes courtesy of the Synclavier. The Synclavier was extensively used on Jackson's 1987 album Bad and on its accompanying tour, programmed and played by Christopher Currell.[37] The Synclavier was also used by Andrew Scheps to slice and edit Jackson's beatboxing on his 1995 album HIStory.
• Mike Thorne: producer, one of the first musicians to buy a Synclavier; used it on records by Siouxsie and the Banshees, Soft Cell ("Tainted Love", 1981), Marc Almond, and Bronski Beat, among others.
• Mr. Mister: used Synclavier on albums I Wear the Face (1984), Welcome to the Real World (1985), and Go On... (1987).
• Neil Young, who used an early Synclavier II on his 1981 album Re·ac·tor, and more extensively on his uncharacteristically electronic Trans (1982).
• Pat Metheny: American jazz guitarist.
• Patrick Gleeson: film score composer. Used the Synclavier to score Apocalypse Now (1979) and The Plague Dogs (1982).
• Paul Hardcastle: composer and musician.
• Paul Davis: singer/songwriter, producer at Monarch Sound in Atlanta.
• Paul Simon: on Simon's 1983 album Hearts and Bones, Tom Coppola is credited for Synclavier for "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".[58] On his 1986 album Graceland, Simon is credited under "Synclavier" for "I Know What I Know" and "Gumboots".
• Pete Townshend: started using the Synclavier on the recording of All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes (1982).
• Puscifer: the group used Synclavier on their 2020 album Existential Reckoning.
• Robert Henke: composer, musician and software engineer. Often recording under the moniker Monolake, Henke renovated a Synclavier II and used sampled FM from it on various releases.
• Shane Keister: used in the 1987 American comedy film Ernest Goes to Camp.
• Stevie Wonder: used a Synclavier to sample the voices of Clair Huxtable and children in an episode of The Cosby Show.
• Suzanne Ciani used a Synclavier to design sounds for the Bally Xenon pinball game released in 1980.
• Tangerine Dream: used a Synclavier on several of their studio albums including Exit in 1981.
• The Church used it on "Under the Milky Way" (1988). The way it is arranged gives a sound similar to bagpipes.
• Tony Banks of Genesis used a Synclavier II (ORK version) on the albums Genesis (1983) and Invisible Touch (1986) and their respective tours, along with solo albums and soundtracks of that period, notably on "Mama" and "Home by the Sea".
• Trevor Horn: used the Synclavier to produce records by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Yes, and Grace Jones' 1985 album Slave to the Rhythm, among others.
• Triumph: Rik Emmett used a Synclavier 9600 around the period of Thunder Seven (1984) to Surveillance (1987).
• Vince DiCola: used the Synclavier extensively in creating studio albums; also for soundtracks Rocky IV (1985) and The Transformers: The Movie (1986)
• Wally Badarou: used the Synclavier II on Level 42 and solo studio albums, as well as on the 1985 Kiss of the Spider Woman movie additional soundtrack.
• Walter "Junie" Morrison: used a Synclavier on his 1984 album, Evacuate Your Seats.
• Whodini: Synclavier II was used on albums Escape (1984) and Back in Black (1986).