[sdiy] Much Ado About Almost Nothing: Man's Encounter with the Electron

[Scott Nordlund]

> Now we need someone to 'do the nasty' to all the developers of
> the synthesizer. Surely there is some dirt to be had there. I won't
> print a list of names, but think of "who stole which circuit from
> whom..." would be fun (especially in the s-diy arena :^)
>
> Now you guys stop using my ladder filter, eh ???
>
> H^) harry

I highly recommend this article:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1541-0064.2006.00143.x/abstract

It's an excerpt from a PhD thesis in geography (improbably enough), 
but it focuses on the rise of the Japanese synth industry.

The rest of the thesis has info on Yamaha, Roland, Korg, Kawai and Casio,
but I think this is the most interesting part, with the most firsthand 
accounts and previously unknown information.  It interviews Dave Smith
and Ralph Deutsch; in particular I was interested in the Ralph Deutsch
stuff since he's a relative unknown, but also one of the most important
figures in the electronic music field.  He was responsible for the Allen
Digital Computer Organ and eventually Kawai K5, did a great deal of 
digital synthesis research for both Yamaha and Kawai, and held something
like 140 patents.  Interestingly, he's also the cousin of Herb Deutsch.

I got the whole article through some free registration thing; it's 
kind of a pain.  But I have it saved as an html file and can pass it 
along if anyone wants.