Synclavier: Tapeless Studio of the Late 70's

Today we're going over one of Frank Zappa's legendary weapons: the Synclavier digital synthesizer.
This music workstation was one of the earliest made and brought to a reality by New England Digital corporation in Norwich, Vermont. Many prominent musicians have relied on the machine for years and is still a major component of music today.
In this video, the first Synclavier, Synclavier II, and Synclavier PSMT is discussed.
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[@hermeslord]

when a pretty lady talks about synths, you drop everything and listen.. there is nothing like a perfect day that comes along for months

[@sawsquaresinetube]

Just a note that lawsuit was for “Beat it” not Thriller

[@avace917]

I've seen a Synclavier on three separate occasions. First at a recording studio in NYC called Planet Sound. Next at New England Digital's offices near Times Square during which they gave me a demo playing "Skeletons" by Stevie Wonder and "Break Out" by Swing Out Sister and finally at Sting's apartment in NYC. My Dad was in a Broadway show with Sting and we were invited to his apartment for a New Year's Eve party

[@skyscrapersx5877]

that's silly because Sting doesn't even play keys lmao

[@avace917]

@@skyscrapersx5877doesn't mean that he doesn't know how. He had the money to buy it. You assume a lot

[@TheZenguitarguy]

As someone who started as one of the first freelance Synclav ops and then ended up owning 4 of the beasts I can say it was a nice nostalgic visit down memory lane. I did a lot of work for many of the people that you mentioned and the thing to remember is that this system pre-dated most viable workstations and was at the cutting edge of not only sampling but sequencing and hard disk multi track non-linear recording. Decently researched, but not quite accurate historically, but the effort is appreciated. $200,000.00 was low in the early days. Very low... Back in the day 1 meg of RAM or or Hard disk space was $1000.00, you can do the math. A decent sized system with 64 meg of RAM, 64 meg of Hard drive space and 64 voices starts to add up. The downturn was not the downfall of the company, many other factors were at play. Thanks for taking the time to put this together. I have a lot of great memories from the Synclavier community and it is nice to see ongoing interest in the work we all did at that time. PS Cameron Jones is a bonafide genius and was way more instrumental in things than Denny. Just FYI...

[@SpacePatrollerLaser]

In the '70's, even on a mainframe, 512k ofRAM was about it. I didn't even see 1 meg until '81 or 2. The first computer I got had 80 meg on the HD in c1998 as a learner model Now I just got an Acer Predator Orion 5000 that I intend to use for content creation (graphic arts, music, videoeditiong) with 16 GIGABYTES Ram, to be upgraded to 32, 1 TARABYTE SSD and 12 core CPU. The first ever computer I programmed was a TRS-80 16k RAM/16k ROM. Model I, that could be expanded to a whopping 48k RAM. The contemporary Model II had a whole 64k RAM and had to upload the OS when turned on. I've actually used 5--1/2" floppies in '86 on an Apple IIe to compile Pascal programs that I wrote. I'd love to see how fast a compiled program would run on 12 cores at 2.10 GHz. I have more memory interms of cards and RAM at my desk than existed in the entire world in '75. To paraphrase Carl Sagan Billyons and billyons of bytes. And don't forget, an SD transflash card or thumb drive can beintegrated into an SSD by simply mounting it and creating a folder in the SSD and I have a 2 TB thumb drive. But you're right in the age of the Synclavier 64 meg RAM and a 64 meg HD was a real badarse piece of machinery

[@MNIKING]

After reading the first few word of your comment, I knew who it was immediately. What's up dude!!!!

[@TheZenguitarguy]

@@MNIKING Jason? Wow a blast from the past...how are you doing?

[@MNIKING]

@@TheZenguitarguy I am great, still living the sound design life in LA. Happy and healthy. How are you man? Any Japanese rap sessions lately? Hahahahha

[@singlesideman]

Every single video and article about innovative electronic instruments and the artists who used them mentions artists other than the ones I think of. When I think of the Synclavier I think of Laurie Anderson, Wendy Carlos, and Frank Zappa.

[@skyscrapersx5877]

it has to speak to the masses

[@MusicSoundScienceSpirit]

Doris and Matt, thanks for bringing this machine to your users' attention: NED deserves to be known as original thought leaders in digital audio. I made my living on Lee Kopp's mighty Synclavier 9600 in North Canton, OH from 87-90, then moved to teach it at Full Sail in Florida. Other tidbits to mention. Comparing tracks from then and now, the Synclavier sounds as good if not better than the best of today. It's a mystery. Perhaps it was the overbuilt military grade cards, the higher power architecture of the day, the way the anti-aliasing filters were made. Still no company compares to the way you can route any audio out any of the 16 +4vXLR outs, the multi-channel keyboard pressure sensitivity (What a difference!), the ease of shaping a sound with the knob, the quickness of capturing and composing, the beauty of the FM 8bit and usefulness of the resynthesis, there's so much more... The drawbacks are its size, power requirements, cpu tower fan noise and difficulty to repair if a card goes. There's still support from Cameron and owners - and it works with modern Macs, too. I'm resurrecting a 3200.

[@squishmallowfan025]

We had one when I was at Ithaca College and sound quality wise I remember how "bottomless" and clean it sounded - really amazing. You'd be hard-pressed to reach that quality now but you certainly paid for it. And so well-designed you could figure the basics out pretty quickly.

[@JohnH108]

The very best Synclavier track was Grace Jones' Slave to the Rhythm produced by Trevor Horn.

[@marzzz1]

YES

[@adamthomas1246]

Agreed!

[@Keyboardistmatt]

My favorite synthesizer that I never touched! Used for the entire soundtrack to The Flight Of The Navigator.

[@SuperEvilC]

I feel like a funner, happier, and more desirable person to be around after learning this!! Thanks

[@EarmonkeyMusic]

Another cool vid. You guys should check out Thomas Dolby's autobiography. It's great all around for any creative person. He and Michael Jackson compared notes on the Fairlight (which Dolby had) and MJ's new Synclavier. There are other weird MJ stories but the whole book is great. The Audiobook is read by Dolby. Anyway, this was a fun watch. Keep doing these.

[@ajh180]

Pat Metheny had one. He played his Roland G303 guitar synth controller through it. He had the interface attached to his guitar. Very cool!

[@crhkrebs]

Haven’t kept up with Metheny’s music. Does he still use guitar synthesis?

[@ajh180]

@@crhkrebsHe still uses the Roland GR-300, but not the Synclavier.

[@crhkrebs]

@@ajh180 thanks for that. Any idea what synth/ software he controls with the G303? No worries if you don’t know.

[@ajh180]

@@crhkrebsThe old GR-300. On his most recent tour I believe he uses the same guitar to trigger his orchestrion. The guitar has to be hooked up to some kind of modern adapter/converter to convert into midi. I’m not sure about the modern stuff.

[@char1737]

One of my favorite albums theme of Secrets by Eddie Jobson a tour we force for the Synclavier

[@artao5]

I just discovered your channel today. Good stuff! Thanks youtuber. Since no one can afford a Synclavier, let me highly recommend Arturia's emulation. The original creator of the Synclavier was directly involved, as well as the original source code and samples. It's wonderful.

[@SpacePatrollerLaser]

Now, almost anyone can have this iconic instrument and with the help of one of the creator; thanks to Arturia

[@YOUWIDEaudioSTUDIO]

On ipad as well 😍😍😍😍 synclavier Go

[@BillyBatsonMarvel]

Is that true?

[@SpacePatrollerLaser]

@@BillyBatsonMarvel Head on over to Arturia and go through the "V Collection"'s. The Synclavier emulator was designed by one of the creators for Arturia and is a bit of an upgrade to the original. You will also find the other drool generator, the Fairlight as well as the usual DX-7 (that actually reads DX'7 files), acouple of '70S combo organs, the classic String Ensemble and the dreaded MiniMoog, ARP 2600 and Modular Moog. All in either pligin or standalone for live play

[@kevcio7790]

Hey Guys, I stepped into your channel while looking for Tascam 388 info, and I gotta say that I appreciate your authentic style and your love, it's a very special channel with fantastic aesthetics. Great mustache and shirts man! You're both beautiful.. I'm also doing some music, try it if you want some soulful, amateur rock and roll! Peace and love, Americans! Kev 🤠🤝✌🌟

[@Psztyk236]

Same here, love this channel!

[@skyscrapersx5877]

wrong channel dumbass

[@skyscrapersx5877]

@@Psztyk236 dumb ass

[@nedward5871]

I took Music 55 with Jon Appleton back at Dartmouth in Spring '88, and a big part of it was getting to use the full-blown Synclavier with 100KHz sampling, etc; one of my classmates is in the process of restoring one out of 2 different ones to get the parts.... Jon added a lot of the performance specs to make it more open ended for creating music. Jon passed away sadly Jan 20th 2022. Synclavier Go! is an iPad app that's fully endorsed by Cameron Jones, and I believe he also approved the Arturia version.

[@mollygriswold7979]

I enjoyed your impression.

[@aaronberns8485]

An awesome young woman reviewing old synths. I love this. ❤️

[@tango__mike]

Great presentation! Thank you.

[@lars1588]

I thought it was really cool what Pat Metheny was doing with the Synclavier back in the day. You could control it with a guitar, which sounded wild. You can find several videos of him demonstrating how versatile it was, even for jazz.

[@Dangerousdaze]

Thanks for spotlighting an instrument that deserves so much more attention than it gets. I became a fan after hearing Alan Silvestri's "The Clan of the Cave Bear" soundtrack which was by far the best thing about that film. Well worth a listen!

[@Dangerousdaze]

You can really hear the Synclavier influence in Silvestri's Flight of the Navigator soundtrack as well, not to mention other films like No Mercy which have parts lifted straight from CotCB.

[@Chad48309]

This is so cool, great video!!

[@issiewizzie]

I learned something new today ..thought I knew everything about synclivier

[@sonicacoustics9176]

Awesome video content! Nice to know the history! :)

[@berndschimmele5143]

Doris you're so cute and gorgeous I could hear you all day and great Video about the SC! Thanks!

[@t.michaelbodine4341]

Cool video! I'm liking your channel. The Synclavier was such a beast. Way ahead of its time.

[@christianwelde]

Great series!

[@eccremocarpusscaber5159]

So cool that you thought my suggestion worthy of a video! What about a nice wee look ( I’m Scottish!) at either the emulator or the Kuzweil 2000 - both different in technology and the times they were produced, but both very interesting in their own ways. Oh, and the Atari ST as a sequencer. Love your work guys.

[@ivanemeny8634]

Love it Doris!

[@ACURAOCULTA]

Very nice

[@thesynthfloyd]

The best video of an instrument ever!

[@marzzz1]

Eddie Jobson. Theme of Secrets

[@crominion6045]

Was looking for this comment. Right on!

[@AbstractCatsMedia]

I believe this synth is all over Laurie Anderson's Big Science, too.

[@pontram]

I don't believe that, she is more of a DYI instrument/tape recorder person, but on Mr. Heartbreak (because of Peter Gabriel) or HotB it could be. Maybe you meant Anne Dudley / The Art of Noise :)

[@clivemicheljarre2459]

A gorgeous woman who knows her gear, from a Synclavier II owner of Tangerine Dream

[@richardcrook2112]

I love her

[@oubrioko]

If you want to hear a *Synclavier,* watch the movie _Starman_ (1984) starring Jeff bridges and Karen Allen. The entire film was scored on a Synclavier. You'll probably grow tired of hearing the notoriously repetitive theme by the time you're halfway through the movie.

[@jimmy_jamesjams_a_lot4171]

Isn’t this the synth that would come with an actual LIVING PERSON, if you bought the deluxe service package?!? WOAH, you have actual esoteric insight about this!! I’m gonna stop commenting and start your video from the top! THANK YOU!! for sharing about this valuable and complicated tool.

[@TamersLoreguide]

6:11 Zappa's deserved reverence for his music

[@SixStringStudioAB]

Thanks so much, you are amazing in education. Think ABBA used one too. :-) Regards Mikael Sweden

[@BliterTV]

Thank's Doris for this interesting en really cool video, the synthesizer who fuck up my mind in nineteen eighty nine, are the Yamaha SY77. And historically, the first french "synthesizer", "Les ondes Martenot"

[@revokdaryl1]

Fun fact: New England Digital tried incessantly to sell the late maestro Vangelis a Synclavier II. He noticed the keyboard was missing an octave. They said it would cost an additional $20,000 or something for the additional octave. And Vangelis said "So you're selling this thing for $200,000 USD and you want even more for the missing octave? I'll pass." In so many words, this is what he said. Be also never used a Fairlight as far as I know. Or a PPG Wave. But he did use the Emu Emulator and Emulator II.

[@bigbay4740]

Don't forget about the McLeyvier, the most powerful polyphonic analog synthesizer of that time.

[@adelinrapcore]

Foxy lady

[@petertorda5487]

Quite fancy machine, it's re-sampling feature can break down sample into many small snippet and combine them with FM synth engine. It was also used to create intro for "We are the world" song, also for Jurassic Park sounds design. Somebody mentioned, that 1MB RAM upgrade costed for it around 4000$, so full 32MB could afford only somebody like a Michael Jackson (in 80's)😀

[@MISSINGPICTURES-band]

A demo of the Realistic MG-1 would be awesome.

[@baddriddimworkshop]

2 years later: got me one o' dem, and it's even more powerfull using a dsp (50khz... that's wht keeps it sounding like a synclavier imo, even with the extras... filters...). Damn am i thrilled with my SYNCLAVIER REGEN in the studio...

[@dreammachine432]

Nice!!!!!!

[@carriersignal]

7:34 ROFL!!! So true!

[@mathewreichardt3832]

Great forgotten history, however you forgot Pat Metheny. An early adopter of the synclavier, the song Ate you going with me is a great example of the synclavier, also not midi and standardization of low cost components that have more capability killed the synclavier

[@gman6135]

I remember 1978. I wanted to be a Rolling Stone.

[@dessiplaer]

I had that blue demo record. I wanted one so bad, but it was not to be.

[@late4suppa1]

Hey Matthew and Doris, recent subscriber here. I just ordered a Teac 3 mixer inspired by Matt's mixing with a vintage board. Anyways, I know nothing about these older mixers so what are the little plugs on the back that connect one RCA style output to the other? I'm assuming they're just different ways to control signal flow through the board but was wondering if this assumption is correct. Thanks in advance for any help you can provide around how you get in and out of one of these boards would be much appreciated. Love your channel.

[@philipjohnson2652]

I assembled all NED keyboards the last three years of their existence.

[@arthurcrime]

Someone I know sold their house to buy one of these,(2) I don't know how long it took to recover the investment. I know he did quite a few film soundtracks.

[@CaptainFullHD]

0:42 You don’t even have to be a die-hard fan of MJ to tell she got it all mixed up.

[@willramirez75]

Four sets of two unstoppable ads in an 11 min video. KZbin is getting out of hand.

[@dreammachine432]

So 8 ads total? That's unheard of!!!

[@gabrielgolden4336]

Let's not forget Lyle Mays and Pat Metheny, who used it better than just about anyone. Check out their album "As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls."

[@CrossCuntryFranco]

I thought that album, being released in '81 (recorded in '80), used Oberheims and the Prophet-5?

[@gabrieldavidie]

If you can do the ensoniq VFX SD or the Sd1 that would be great.

[@mobius273]

Depeche mode mention w

[@damienlobb85]

Hi guys! Can you cover the Fairlight? It was another cool sampler synth from the 80s that was all over many records including Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" (that asian flute sound, anyone?).

[@dreammachine432]

I gotchu! kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIrWaKZjm8ecg6s

[@DisastrousNonsense]

Is there no recording of Dialogue for Synclavier and Orchestra?

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

Does that not smack of CMI's FAIRLIGHT synthesizer that used based on the MC6809 CPU that had the mul and div instructions.

[@fender1000100]

Incredible instrument for its time. But very expensive. Like 200k in todays money.

[@NCMountainDavis]

Tony Banks of Genesis used one…

[@jessewarren817]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m nearly positive it’s pronounced “Denny YAY-ger” and not “Denny Dzhay-ger”

[@sinenkaari5477]

Vox Continental

[@Station2Station-du2gh]

The lens of your camera is dirty or smudged

[@barkbarkbarkbarkable]

Doris....you should seriously consider doing a daily show on world wide news topics....just 5-7 minute clips....with your appealing persona and photogenic allure, I think it would quickly evolve into a viable income stream and a valuable public service !

[@Sancld]

Sq 80 of ensoniq❤

[@remc0s]

I only clicked because i misread the title as Topless Studio.

[@jamesconnolly741]

0.08

[@keymusic]

Please stop being so adorable. It’s distracting me from the information. ❤

[@jamessisson3703]

Oh come on. Nobody could afford that. I saw one on the bay a few years ago for a few grand in England, only a few miles south of me. It was highly expanded with racks of storage etc. I opted out because, new systems are so wonderfully reliable and migratable. As wonderful as those old systems sound, old systems are jeopardous and prone to failure in the technical department. I'd take Cubase over a CMI any day Great history lesson though and thank you for making this. I love listening to your works. Cheers

[@markaprill6501]

You actually pronounce the I it’s not sink-LA-veer.

[@danielstone5949]

Godess I think love you...but I wanna know for sho!

[@Freebarberscut]

mostly man if not only, have bothered to comment, how unorthodox...

[@BartvanderHorst]

Yeah well if you listen to the Zappa album with only synclavier, it sounds horrible.

[@jogibaerr50000]

Making a documentation of a synth, without playing a single note. Thats boring. Sorry, too much talk...

[@scottptolomey3498]

Beat it you mean not Thriller ?

[@skyscrapersx5877]

Synclaviers suck