[polyphony, etc....]

[Jason D Stephens]

On 27 Apr 99 19:28:41 EDT Harry Bissell <harrybissell at netscape.net>
writes:
>Jason: You will receive MANY replies. Here's mine
>
>The earliest synths were monophonic because of the enormous complexity 
>of the
>circuits at that time... Polyphonic keyboards were limited to somewhat 
>crude
>electronic organs, and the Hammond organ which used mechanical wheels 
>(think
>gears) to make the sound. Circuits that had to be duplicated forty or 
>fifty
>times were too expensive. The technology wasn't there.
>The earliest electronic computer (ENIAC) was in two large rooms, one 
>for the
>computer and one for the power supply.

**Believe me, I'm familiar with the ENIAC.  Huge mother....

>    The first real synthesizer (flames welcome here...) Was the RCA
>synthesizer, so complex it had to be programmed in advance usinf paper 
>punched
>tape (like a player piano).

**Also like early computers.....


>    The ARP 2600 was "duophonic" one oscillator could track the 
>highest and
>lowest key played.

**How does that type of system work?  Or just sensing which not was
played first, or which one is highest or lowest....etc....?

>    The Z-80 is a microprocessor that was commonly used to control 
>processes,
>like running a mnachine (or a synth....)

**Tell me more of what you know about the Z80.....(Does that have
something to do with my last question?)

>    There was a synth with Monophonic and Polyphonic capability, 
>Called (get
>this) the Korg MonoPoly.... IT could be a four voice with one 
>oscillator per
>voice, a two voice with two VCO/voice, or a Whopping 4VCO monosynth, 
>all
>sharing the same filter, unfortunatly.

**Why the same filter?  Ain't that kinda dumb?

 (Prophets, oberheims, etc could 
>have
>all voices play in Unison mode, which is sort of the same thing.
>    A polysynth will encourage you to play chords etc. just like on a 
>piano or
>organ (usually). A Monosynth is best for single note leads. And a 
>MODULAR is
>what you want to boldly go where no man has gone before... 

**Modular....still learning about those....could they be patched into any
keyboard/synth that had the right inputs(or outputs) indefinitely?

>Today, mono or poly is easy and sometimes even cheap... :-) Harry

**HA!  Nothings cheap when you're broke!!  ;-)

Jason


___________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html
or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]