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In reply to the discussion: Post a strange, odd or unique fact about music. [View all]cemaphonic
(4,138 posts)In pop/rock/commercial music, the Moog (polyphonic, keyboard controlled, subtractive synthesizer) was the first widely adopted example of what most people think of as a synthesizer. But a music historian, or an electronic music composer would consider many of the earlier machines to be synthesizers, since they produce sound in much the same way that the commercial synths do (just not in a package that lends itself to live performance very well).
Also, I just discovered this instrument from the early 40s- the Hammond Novachord. It has a similar synthesis approach (subtractive, with ADSR envelopes) as the Moog, except that it uses vacuum tubes instead of transistors for the oscillators and filters. I'd say that most people today would consider it to look and sound like a synthesizer.