Synthesizers

A tribute to the life and works of composer and synth pioneer Peter Zinovieff by James Gardner, featuring interviews with family, co-workers and collaborators.

Peter Zinovieff has been described as Britain’s Bob Moog. A renowned composer from the mid ‘60s to the present day, he was also one of the founders of EMS who produced seminal synthesizers such as the VCS3 and the Synthi AKS, as used by Brian Eno, Pink Floyd and the Chemical Brothers.

One of the original pioneers of electronic music in Britain, David Vorhaus has remained at the cutting edge of the genre for over 30 years.

Onboard effects may seem like a relatively recent synth innovation, but even old modular synths offered analogue effects. Although they were basic, the freely patchable nature of modular synths allowed them to be used to create convincing acoustic instrument sounds — thus effectively physical modelling. Gordon Reid explains how.