This Is What Digital Synths Looked Like In 1977

This video, via urcich, captures a vintage look at what digital synths looked like in 1977. 

In the video, Bell Labs engineer and inventor Hal Alles introduces the Bell Labs Digital Synthesizer. Then keyboard guru Roger Powell gives a musical demo, showing off features that were at that time cutting-edge.

The Bell Labs Digital Synthesizer (aka the Alles Machine or Alice) is considered to be the first digital additive synthesizer.

19 thoughts on “This Is What Digital Synths Looked Like In 1977

  1. so by the comment “in the future we expect human beings to be able to talk to computers over the telephone”, I can therefore blame this guy and his pals at bell labs for the curse of automated telephone systems!

  2. Wow. This was very informative.
    Looks like they may be the inventors of velocity sensitive keys:
    @ ~4:55 “we added an organ keyboard with 100 different positions on each key”

  3. I have been trying to get to hear this Bell Labs synth for some time and now here it is. It sounds quite nice actually I am sure the real thing has to be gritty as hell just to the right taste!

  4. That was a fascinating video. I’m sure this is all running in 4K of RAM or something equally minuscule.

    And whilst the technology has progressed by 10 orders of magnitude since then, I’m not sure the musicianship has 🙂

  5. An interesting vid. Yet the word ‘vintage’ is used here and on youtube to describe this, which seems odd. Does it stand up? When we say a CS-80 is a ‘vintage’ synth, in using the word ‘vintage’ we mean that it is something from the past of high quality. But I don’t think anyone can say that a digital synth from 1977 is high quality, compared to the most basic modern digital synthesis. It is just old.

    1. Is a 4-track analog tape machine not vintage simply because a 24 track analog tape machine with far higher sound quality became available 20 years later? Or because a modern 4-track analog tape machine has higher sound quality? The word ‘vintage’ has no implication of quality relative to newer items. At best, it is applied to items that have a certain degree of desirability for enthusiasts, but even that is completely subjective. Otherwise, the only things that would qualify as vintage would be the final form of a device before it was finally replaced by a completely different technology, such that it is representative of the highest quality version of the old, obsolete tech.

  6. The word does have a specific meaning in this context, is it different for synths? Vintage means that it is something from the past that has a quality that stands up today – a vintage car isn’t just any old car being given away, a vintage guitar isn’t just any old guitar you can pick up in a junk shop. And a 4-track tape deck isn’t vintage just because it is old and almost obsolete. And I think you are right, the desirability of an old object is subjective, but that process doesn’t make an item vintage – that makes it collectible. In a digital world it is hard to have vintage, it rarely stands up – I wouldn’t be surprised if we have sites dedicated to vintage computers, but it is the wrong use of the word in any context – if that computer was as good, or in some ways better, than modern computers then we can call it vintage – or just one small advantage. A good example would be the Atari ST, I can see why the midi implementation of that could make it vintage, as it makes a nice tight computer based sequencer that stands up today – it is outclassed and outmoded on every level, but has that one nice MIDI trick that could make it more than a collectible old machine, as MIDI is still MIDI. Otherwise it is rare, antique, maybe collectible, a joyful memory, or just plain junk. If something is obsolete then it can’t be called vintage, you would drink vintage wine, drive a vintage car, play a vintage guitar, maybe use a vintage Atari ST but you wouldn’t want to walk around with an early brick mobile phone, why? Because it isn’t vintage, it is just shite from the past that is obsolete.

    1. You’re definitely way over-thinking this. Most people (at least in America, currently) use the term much more vaguely to mean “of another time”.

  7. F.Y.I. Synclavier mk1 was released in 1976 with FM synthesis licensed from Dr John Chowning’s work at Stanford,
    Had the same excellent keyboard as the prophet T8 full 16 track sequencer with score display.,
    later came polyphonic sampling and hard disk recording,they went on to sell hard drives to NASA

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