Music Book Reviews

by Mark Vail
There are many books about synthesizers and electronic music, but Mark Vail’s Vintage Synthesizers is one of the best.
Vintage Synthesizers collects articles originally written for Keyboard magazine by Vail and others. The articles cover notable synthesizers and the companies behind them. In doing so, Vail tells the stories of the people that created [...]

Frank Samagaio
Back before samplers made the scene in the 80’s, the Mellotron ruled as a source of “lifelike” playback of prerecorded sounds. The Mellotron Book takes you back to the early days of sampling, and explores the unique qualities of this strange instrument.
The Mellotron is a keyboard that basically has a tape player assigned to [...]

Edited by Peter Shapiro
Modulations serves as a good introduction to the various genres of modern dance electronica. It was was written to accompany Iara Lee’s 1998 film of the same name. It is written in a hip style by people you can tell really love electronica. It is stylishly put together, and includes many great [...]

Frank Trocco, Trevor Pinch
This book is a must-buy for any synth-fan or electronic music lover.
This book tells the history of the origin of the synthesizer. But it doesn’t just tell the dates and stories. Instead, it gives you insight into the people that built the first synthesizers. It gives you a feel for the times, [...]