History of art- The Synthesizer "Keyboard"

            Parallel to the developments of the tape recorder was the invention and evolution of various electronic devices: oscillators, Filters, modulators, and other, each device produced or controlled sound in some way.

            Finally these components were consolidated into a single instrument. This compact, all is one unit was called a synthesizer; The Composer now had a instruments capable of unprecedented control over the creation of synthesis of sounds.

            In 1955 the first and most elaborate synthesizer was unveiled: the room size RCA electronic Music Synthesizer, an instrument that today would cost several hundred thousand dollars to duplicate. But with the modern benefits of micro miniaturization, some of the best and most sophisticated synthesizers are table size instruments, available today at a tiny fraction of that cost.

            The evolution of the synthesizer has been paralleled by an artistic evolution I its use: it is now regarded not as a gadget but as a function part of a composer’s complete storehouse of instruments. Milton Babbitt moved from his purely electronic composition for synthesizer (1961) to Philomel (1964), a work for soprano and taped synthesizer accompaniment. Mario Davidovsky (a director of the Colombia- Princeton Electronic center) wrote his Synchronism. No.1 for flute and electronic sound; Leon Kirchner, a chamber work for string quarter and electronic tape; and Luciano Berio, a work called Visage for an electronically modified human voice.

            The tiny lists barely suggest the variety and scope of the new music made possible by the synthesizer. Yet, seen as a part of the historical Development of musical instruments, it is but one point on the long line of a musical history. In time as even more advanced instruments are invented and perfected, the synthesizer will be regarded as no more extraordinary then any of its predecessors.