Hello! This is Jooyoung Kim, an audio engineer and music producer.
Last week, thankfully I got an acceptance from the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society (JAES).
I’ve moved it to My Sent Mail folder so it doesn’t get mixed up with other emails.
Previously, I submitted my work to other journals like IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Applied Acoustics, and Signal Processing. Having gone through the process of rejection, I really appreciate this positive decision from the JAES. In fact, JAES has always been the journal I dreamed of publishing in the most, which makes this acceptance even more meaningful to me.
Initially, I was concerned that my idea was perhaps too simple, so I conducted an extensive review of existing research to see if it had already been addressed. To my surprise, I discovered that there was a lack of research specifically covering this simple approach.
Since the template was updated, I had to go through the process of rebuilding my PDF files in the editorial manager multiple times. The long list of submission records reflects the effort and patience required to get everything formatted just right.
The review process took quite a bit of time. I submitted my initial draft on December 11, received the revision decision on April 15, and finally, the acceptance on May 18. If the result had been a rejection, I would have been devastated, but given the significant workload of reviewers who dedicate their valuable time to evaluate others’ work, I was quite satisfied with this timeline.
However, as an independent researcher, I am entirely self-funded. I worked hard to condense my manuscript to stay within the 10-page limit for free publication, but I unfortunately exceeded it. Now, I have to cover the page charges myself. With the recent sharp rise in the exchange rate between the Korean won and the U.S. dollar, these additional costs have become quite a financial burden.
Despite the financial challenge, I am more than happy to pay this fee because JAES is the journal I have always aspired to publish in. Seeing my work accepted there is truly one of the most rewarding moments of my research journey.
Once my paper is officially published, I will write a follow-up post to explain the research in more detail. Stay tuned for the next update!
Hello! This is Jooyoung Kim, an audio engineer and music producer. Today, I’ll begin a new article series, Advanced Synthesizers & Gear.
In this series, we’ll talk about the history of modular synthesizers and the equipment. Also, we’ll figure out why famous synthesizers became so popular and how they work.
Before we focus on these topics, we need to know about the history of synths and how electricity can be turned into sound.
Let’s dive in!
Harald Bode
Harald bode, a German engineer and physicist(as a physics major myself, I feel a deep sense of kinship with Harald Bode), was a pioneer of the synthesizer.
He started a recording business, but soon ran into a major obstacle: the grand piano. At the time, recording technology was in its infancy compared to today, making it incredibly difficult to capture the true depth of the instrument.
Driven by this limitation, his inner physicist took over. Instead of trying to perfect the replication of acoustic instruments, he envisioned a completely new path—creating musical sounds 100% out of electronics using vacuum tubes. Guided by the physical principle that human voice timbres (Klangfarben) change based on the intensity of overtones, he laid the very foundation of modern synthesis by designing a system where parameters could be shaped with half-rotary knobs.
His groundbreaking concept of using voltage control to adjust parameters quickly spread through the pioneer community, deeply inspiring the figures who would go on to invent the world’s most iconic synthesizers: Robert Moog and Don Buchla.
Robert Moog
Robert Moog also majored in Physics during his undergraduate years, earning his Bachelor of Science from Queens College in 1955 before completing a PhD in Engineering Physics at Cornell University. With this background, Moog approached electronic music through a technological lens very similar to Harald Bode’s.
In the fall of 1960, at the Audio Engineering Society (AES) convention in New York, Moog attended Harald Bode’s presentation of his modular ‘Audio System Synthesizer’. At this convention, Bode demonstrated the concept of using voltage control to manipulate audio parameters within a modular architecture.
Following this exposure to Bode’s design, Moog set out to develop a compact, practical synthesizer for musicians, contrasting with the room-sized systems of the era like the RCA Mark II. While previous instruments relied on hundreds of vacuum tubes, Moog utilized newly available silicon transistors, leveraging the exponential relationship between input voltage and output current.
Moog Minimoog
This application of transistor physics led to his principal innovation in 1964: the Voltage-Controlled Oscillator (VCO). While Bode established the foundational concept of altering parameters via voltage, Moog engineered the precise circuitry that mapped input voltage to specific musical intervals. Through this hardware, Moog standardized fundamental synthesizer concepts, including modularity, envelope generation, and the pitch wheel.
Moog viewed his role primarily as a toolmaker for artists rather than a corporate businessman, choosing not to patent core innovations like modularity or voltage control.
Don Buchla
Interestingly, the application of physics to modular synthesis was not confined to Harald Bode and Robert Moog. Donald Buchla, another pioneer who co-invented the voltage-controlled modular synthesizer independently during the early 1960s, also graduated as a physics major from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1959.
In 1962, Buchla formed his company, Buchla and Associates, in Berkeley. He was commissioned by composers Morton Subotnick and Ramon Sender of the San Francisco Tape Music Center to create an electronic instrument tailored for live performance. Guided by this request, Buchla began designing his first modules in 1963.
Buchla Skylab
While Robert Moog was developing his system on the East Coast, Buchla was working independently on the West Coast. In 1965, utilizing a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, he assembled these modules into the Buchla Modular Electronic Music System (later known as the Series 100), which entered commercial production in 1966.
Like Moog, Buchla utilized voltage control as the core mechanism to alter audio parameters. However, his approach to user interfaces and musical philosophy differed significantly. While Moog standardized the traditional piano-style keyboard to make the instrument accessible to conventional musicians, Buchla deliberately rejected the keyboard, viewing it as a limitation carried over from acoustic history. Instead, he pioneered alternative control interfaces, such as touch-sensitive plates that allowed for non-traditional, expressive manipulation of voltage.
Because these two distinct styles of synthesizers were developed independently based on the geographical regions where their creators worked, Moog’s system became known as the East Coast style, while Buchla’s was termed the West Coast style.
Doepfer
The historical lineage of physics-driven modular synthesis culminated in the late 20th century with the establishment of the Eurorack standard. Developed in 1995 by Dieter Doepfer, the founder of Doepfer Musikelektronik, Eurorack solved a critical fragmentation problem in the modular synthesizer market. Like Bode, Moog, and Buchla before him, Doepfer formally studied physics, beginning his academic training at Munich in 1972.
Doepfer’s entry into hardware development was directly influenced by his background in physics. While completing his mandatory community service in the ophthalmology department of a Munich hospital, Doepfer utilized the department’s dedicated electronics laboratory—originally built for laser eye surgery research—to quietly develop his earliest synthesizer circuits. This research resulted in his first complete system, the Polyphonic Module System (PMS), released as a DIY kit.
Throughout the 1980s, Doepfer continued to expand his technical expertise. He integrated specialized integrated circuits (ICs) from Curtis Electronic Music Specialties (CEM) to build highly efficient analog systems, and later adapted to the digital transition by developing 8-bit sampler cards and MIDI master keyboards. However, the commercial market shifted during the 1990s; a resurgence of interest in analog synthesis led to the unexpected success of his MS-404 monophonic synthesizer in 1994, which prompted high demand for expanded modular options.
To address this demand systematically, Doepfer introduced the A-100 system in 1995, establishing the Eurorack format. Prior to this, systems by Moog or Buchla used incompatible dimensions and electrical standards. Doepfer unified the ecosystem by introducing open, standardized physical and electrical specifications:
Physical Dimensions: Height was set using the sub-rack unit standard at 3U (approx. 128.5 mm), and width was measured in HP (Horizontal Pitch), where 1 HP equals 0.2 inches (5.08 mm).
Electrical Connectivity: Power was distributed via standardized ribbon cables supplying ±12V DC.
Signal Interface: Control Voltages (CV) were routed using compact 3.5mm mini-jacks rather than the bulky 1/4-inch or banana jacks of earlier decades.
By keeping this format open, Doepfer created a universal framework that allowed third-party manufacturers and boutique designers to build compatible components. His designs even attracted pioneers of the genre; Florian Schneider of Kraftwerk collaborated with Doepfer to modify hardware for speech synthesis triggering, a relationship that later influenced the development of the MAQ 16/3 MIDI analog sequencer.
Through these modular standards, Eurorack transformed synthesis from a market of isolated, proprietary hardware into a decentralized, global ecosystem.
Furthermore, because this standard has become so widespread, even non-Eurorack standalone hardware instruments often feature compatible 3.5mm patching connectors. Thanks to this universal connectivity, users can cross-connect entirely different, independent synthesizers to act as interlinked sub-components—such as routing one synthesizer’s output to serve purely as an oscillator, bypassing into another instrument’s filter, or patching through separate external units for saturation and effects.
I will explain the technical details and creative mechanics of these Eurorack modular synthesizers in a later post.
Hello! This is Jooyoung Kim, an audio engineer and music producer.
I’ve been working on so many projects lately that I haven’t been able to post any articles to this blog. Some of them are currently in progress, so I’m just writing a simple life update today.
Let’s start!
Two weeks ago, I participated in a modular synthesizer seminar as a lecturer. I was already familiar with the principles of sound synthesis, and I own a semi-modular synth and a vocoder. However, it was my first time dealing with a full modular synthesizer (Eurorack standard). So, when I was preparing the seminar materials, I studied quite hard. Of course, it takes long time.
The organizer said they would send me some photos from the event, but I haven’t received them yet. Once they arrive, I’ll share the full story in more detail.
At the same time, I received a minor revision decision on my paper from the Audio Engineering Society. I was very grateful for the decision, but unfortunately, I also caught a bad cold. Because the reviewers suggested adding some simple measurements, I pushed myself to complete them, which made my cold even worse. I ended up having to lead the modular synth seminar while feeling quite ill.
Building the audio hardware—which I designed entirely from scratch—is now almost finished. Twisting all those wires and soldering the power lines was exhausting, but it has been quite rewarding. Now, I just need to solder the switches and potentiometers, and I’ll be all done. I’m really looking forward to it.
I also submitted my new research on deep learning related to audio hardware. I’ve been preparing this paper since last May, so it has been a year-long process. Personally, I don’t feel the experimental results were groundbreaking, but I submitted it anyway in hopes that it might be helpful to other researchers. I really hope it gets accepted!
I was selected for the ‘RE:SEARCH’ grant program by the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, so I’ll be receiving some research funding. Since my proposed study includes listening tests, I’ve been busy designing the experiments, preparing documents for IRB approval, and conducting a literature review for the paper. These tasks are quite time-consuming, so I’ve been spending most of my time lately wrestling with all this writing.
The research funding will be released in May, which is also when the budget execution begins. Since the actual IRB review takes place in June, I have to submit all my documents by the end of May. The final approval usually doesn’t come out until early July, so I need to finalize the experiment design and paperwork very quickly. I think I’m going to have quite a headache dealing with all of this over the coming week.
With all these tasks piling up, I haven’t had a spare moment to focus on this blog. Once things start to wrap up—whether it’s finishing the hardware, getting my paper published, or receiving the photos from the modular synth seminar—I’ll make sure to post about them one by one.
Hello! This is Jooyoung Kim, a mixing engineer and music producer.
Today marks the final article in my ‘Basics of Synthesizers’ series. I may add more articles in the future if I come across interesting topics, such as modular synthesizers (which I’ve recently started exploring—stay tuned!). For now, however, I feel I’ve covered enough to complete this category.
Let’s start!
The PCM (Pulse-Code Modulation) method is essentially a form of digital sampling that represents analog signals through discrete digital steps. While modern virtual instruments load massive recorded data into RAM to trigger sounds via MIDI, hardware PCM instruments utilize ROM in much the same way—storing high-quality, pre-fabricated waveforms that are ready to be played instantly.
Because these instruments play back pre-recorded samples from internal memory rather than synthesizing them from scratch or recording new ones, they are commonly called Romplers (a blend of ROM and Sampler). Unlike pure samplers, Romplers focus on the immediate reproduction of realistic acoustic and electronic sounds, making them the backbone of music production since the late 1980s.
Implementing such a system requires significant computational power and memory resources. Thanks to rapid technological advancements, these requirements were finally met in the late 1980s. During this period, ROM prices decreased significantly, allowing for the emergence of instruments installed with long-cycle samples, which offered a level of realism previously unattainable.
The Kurzweil K250 was the forerunner and the first PCM-based synthesizer.
These instruments utilized samples of each sound phase—attack, decay, and release. This approach allowed them to produce more realistic and dynamic sounds. Many people requested authentic sounds and in the 1990s, these kinds of instruments became mainstream.
The PCM method is now the standard for recording systems, DAWs, and virtual instruments. You might assume that modern virtual instruments are simply evolved versions of PCM-style synthesizers, and that is largely true. However, as many musicians today find themselves missing the characteristically thin and lo-fi sounds of vintage PCM hardware, many software companies now provide these classic instruments in digital formats.
The Korg M1
The Korg M1 was a famous PCM-style synthesizer in the late 1980s. It became one of the best-selling synthesizers in history. Its specific presets, such as the M1 Piano and Organ 2, defined the sound of 1990s house and dance music. These sounds were so distinct that they are still widely used in modern electronic music productions.
The M1 also featured external card slots, allowing users to expand its sound library by inserting PCM and Program cards, providing additional waveforms and presets beyond its internal memory.
The E-mu Proteus Series
The E-mu Proteus series were also famous PCM-style synthesizers in the late 1980s. Unlike the Korg M1, they were rack-mount module swithout a keyboard. they were designed to provide high-quality samples at a lower price point, making them standards in many project studios. Their presets were widely used in film and television scores, including the iconic whistling sound in The X-Files theme.
The later models of the Proteus series were also highly expandable; they featured internal slots where users could install additional ROM SIMMs, such as the Orbit or Mo Phatt cards, to instantly add hundreds of new sounds tailored to specific genres.
The Roland JV-1080 and JV Series
In this perspective, you should know about the Roland JV series. The JV-1080 and 2080 are legendary icons of the Rompler era. Released in the mid-1990s, these units became industry standards, found in almost every professional studio worldwide. Their massive success came from their ability to provide high-quality, ready-to-use PCM samples through various expansion boards, allowing musicians to access realistic orchestral, synth, and ethnic sounds instantly without the need for complex sampling.
This picture shows sound expansion slots of the JV-1080 synthesizer
You can hear the sounds of the official Roland Cloud recreation of the JV-1080 in this video, as demonstrated by ADL-MusicLab. It’s easy to associate these sounds with 1990s and 2000s classic pop, TV commercial soundtracks, and film scores.
The Korg Trinity and Korg Triton
The Korg Trinity and Triton were also iconic instruments of that era. Beyond hip-hop, these workstations defined the sound of mainstream pop. For instance, The Neptunes were among the most famous users of the Triton, while the instrument’s distinctive patches were also featured in many of Britney Spears’ hits. These units weren’t just for one genre; they were the great tools for producing the global hits of the early 2000s.
Similar to the JV series, the Triton also offered expandability through EXB-PCM boards and even allowed for the addition of the MOSS synthesis engine.
The Yamaha Motif
The Yamaha Motif was another famous instrument of the era. It produced more realistic sounds than its competitors, so its Acoustic Piano, Rhodes (E. Piano), and Acoustic Guitar presets were widely used in churches. In particular, it became a standard keyboard for global worship teams like Hillsong and Bethel, defining the sound of modern gospel music. The Motif stood out for its PLG expansion boards, which allowed users to add entirely new synthesis engines, such as FM synthesis, directly into the unit. (In South Korea, the Motif is still widely used in worship services.)
Interestingly, the thin and lo-fi quality of these sounds has become a source of classic pops. If you want to recreate an authentic vintage pop vibe, I highly recommend exploring these types of virtual instruments.
With this, I would like to conclude my ‘Basics of Synthesizers’ series. I have put a lot of effort into researching and explaining these concepts, and I hope you found them helpful.
Thank you for reading, and I will see you in the next article!
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