Synthesis dates

Question 1

Robert Plumb articles in New York Times

Answer 1

1955

Question 2

Title of one of Plumb’s articles

Answer 2

“Electronic Device Can Duplicate Every Sound”

Question 3

Joseph Fourier - date and idea

Answer 3

1820s - idea that periodic waveforms could be deconstructed into sine waves of various amplitudes and frequencies

Question 4

Georg Ohm - date and idea

Answer 4

early 1840s - applied Fourier’s theory to the properties of musical notes - complex musical tone composed of multiple simple tones

Question 5

Hermann von Helmholtz - book - date - idea

Answer 5

‘On the Sensations of Tone’ - 1885 - argued that the quality of a tone (its timbre) depended on the number and relative strength of its partials

Question 6

1706 medical definition of “synthesis”

Answer 6

“method whereby divided parts are re-united”

Question 7

Harry F. Olson book - title and date

Answer 7

‘Music, Physics, and Engineering’ - 1967

Question 8

Stockhausen - Studien I and II

Answer 8

1953, 1954

Question 9

Stockhausen - Gesang der Junglinge

Answer 9

1955-56

Question 10

Name of biblical tale in Gesang der Junglinge

Answer 10

Benedicite

Question 11

Richard Teitelbaum - In Tune - date

Answer 11

1967

Question 12

Film soundtracks

Answer 12

Forbidden Planet - 1956

A Clockwork Orange - 1971 (Wendy Carlos soundtrack)

Question 13

Rudimentary sample manipulator - name and date

Answer 13

Phonogène - 1953

Question 14

Harold Bode article

Answer 14

1961 - on transistor-based devices

Question 15

Robert Moog - instrument for composer

Answer 15

1964 - Herbert Deutsch

Question 16

First commercial synth models released

Answer 16

1966 - Moog and Don Buchla

Question 17

Elisha Grey, “Musical Telegraph”

Answer 17

1876

Question 18

Thaddeus Cahill

Answer 18

Telharmonium - 1906

Question 19

Ondes Martenot

Answer 19

1928

Question 20

Lauren Hammond

Answer 20

1934

Question 21

Raymond Scott

Answer 21

Electronium - 1950

Question 22

RCA Mark II Synthesizer

Answer 22

1951

Question 23

Milton Babbitt - Philomel

Answer 23

1964

Question 24

Babbitt - introduction to the RCA synthesizer

Answer 24

1964

Question 25

German musicologist

Answer 25

Walter Reizler

Question 26

Reizler talk - date and title

Answer 26

1954 - “The Arts in the Age of Technology”

Question 27

Wendy Carlos - Switched on Bach

Answer 27

1968

Question 28

First MIDI instruments produced

Answer 28

1983

Question 29

Most successful commercial synthesizer

Answer 29

Yamaha DX7 - 1983

Question 30

First polyphonic synth

Answer 30

Dave Smith - Prophet 5 - 1978