Digital Recording – NED Synclavier
If there ever were a high-end digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system and music workstation, it would have to have been the Synklavier, which was designed and manufactured by the New England Digital Corporation in Norwich, Vermont. During the years that I spent at UCLA completing my doctorate in music composition, I used one of these machines and was aware of the popularity of the systems through the film industry. I had several friends that owned Synclaviers and my first studio was the former home of the Los Angeles NED office.
The machine was originally conceived as an electronic/computer digital synthesizer at Dartmouth College under the direction of Jon Appleton. Jon has been a very active composer of electro-acoustic music since the 60s and was the director of the Bregman Electronic Music studio, one of the first and most influential studios in America. I knew Jon during the mid 80s through the Society of Electro-Acoustic Music, U.S. One of the university teaching positions that I applied for (and really wanted!) was at Dartmouth working with Jon and his colleagues. I didn’t get the job.
In 1973 Appleton began his collaboration with engineers Sydney Alonso and Cameron Jones, which led to the creation of the Dartmouth Digital Synthesizer and ultimately the Synclavier.
The Synclavier I (1977-78) used FM (Frequency Modulation was invented some years earlier at Stanford by composer John Chowning) synthesis as the primary sound generating mechanism and consisted of a computer, synthesis modules and usually a piano-like keyboard. A number of units were sold to universities and used in the emerging world of computer music. The initial machines did not, however, have the ability to record digital audio. Instead the sounds could be performed using the keyboard or sequenced using the on board computer.
Figure I – Jon Appleton and the Dartmouth Synclavier
The next generation of the Synclavier was developed over the next few years and was launched in 1980. The FM synthesis capabilities were improved and expanded to include polyphonic performance capabilities (the ability to produce 4-voices simultaneously) AND the new machines added the ability to digitally sample real instruments and other sounds at 16-bits and up to 100 kHz sampling rate! This was definitely a machine that cared about the quality of the sound it produced. The 100 kHz sample rate was also chosen so that the “reclocking” algorithms that were used to spread the samples throughout the keyboard range wouldn’t suffer from aliasing. The Synclavier II also increased to 16 the number of notes that could be produced simultaneously.
It was this ability to digitally record samples and longer segments of audio or music that propelled the synclavier to commercial success. The NED Post Production versions of the hardware and expansions to the software made it one of the best systems for filmmakers and experimental musicians. Frank Zappa and many other successful composers and sound designers owned full-blown Synclavier systems.
We had one at UCLA and a friend of mine from CSUN and his partner were very successful in the world of music for commercials using their Synclavier. It was difficult to use and required constant (and expensive) software updates but the system had few competitors in the 80s. The only other company making machines like the Synclavier was Fairlight CMI, an Australian company that developed an early 8-bit sampling musical instrument (the original Fairlight was used in the first Terminator movie).
The cost of these machines was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars with regular updates costing many thousands more. As other more cost effective technologies from other companies like Roland, Yamaha and Digidesign were introduced in the late 80s; NED struggled to compete. Their financing collapsed in 1992 and the company folded. Many staunch users of the machines banded together to continue supporting the platform. Fostex of Japan purchased the assets of the company and although the system is no longer supported there are still systems in use.
The NED Synclavier was a breakthrough development incorporating sound synthesis, sampling and digital recording at audiophile standards. It was clear that the future of music production would depend heavily on PCM digital technology following the success of the Synclavier.
Best and probably most famous user of the Synclavier was indeed Frank Zappa. I own all of his records made on the Synclavier and even though the earlier records from 1984 and 1985 sound a little antiquated by today’s standards, the last album he approved – Phaze III – is a stunning example of what could be done, even in the early 90’s. Highly recommended if you like modern classical music. Don’t expect HD or even natural sound. that was certainly not the idea.
cheers
Frank Zappa was one of very few composers/musicians that was able to cross the line between commercial “rock” and the world of contemporary classical music. He’s the only one that I can recall that worked along side Pierre Boulez at IRCAM.
I had many friends that worked with Frank although I never met him. Modern music was my life for more than a few years. I met and worked with John Adams, Steve Reich, Ioannis Xenakis, Milton Babbit and many others during the annual Cal Arts Contemporary Music Festival. A very fun time with some very interesting music.