Keyboards-Sound Synthesis

Mike Adams has a background in mechanical engineering as well as manufacturing, which seemed to fit perfectly when he began working with Bob Moog back in 2002. Bob was looking to expand his small company and to finally complete work on the Mini Moog Voyager, which he has been working on for several years. Mike began working at Moog Music as a consultant and soon became a partner in the business and later the president. He was able to work with Bob for only three and a half years before Bob became ill. Bob passed away in 2005. Since that time Mike has continued to run the company in the direction Bob made possible through his innovative and creative instrument designs.
 

Will Alexander worked for Oberheim in the heyday of the synthesizer boom of the 1970s. He helped engineer the Oberheim Four Voice System as well as the popular OB-X units. He soon realized the role computers could play in music making and by using the early Apple products he began engineering instruments on his own. Over the years he played a vital role in designing and maintaining the electronic instruments for performers such as Keith Emerson. In fact, Will’s engineering helped create the sounds used in Emerson’s recordings of “From The Beginning” and the first hit for Emerson, Lake and Palmer entitled “Lucky Man.”
 

Marco Alpert has had a fascinating career in the music industry and lucky for the NAMM Oral History collection he shared many of his stories with us. Marco was an electronic music composer in Los Angeles when he happened to meet the two founders of E-mu. Marco was hired to promote the innovative synthesizers that Dave Rossum and Scott Wedge were creating for E-mu. Marco was later involved with other amazing products and companies working on several of the most influential musical products during the last 30 years.

Craig Anderton was among a very small group of engineers at the dawn of the synthesizer revolution during the 1970s that was in the position to report, educate and compose music based on this new technology as it was being created. His monthly articles for Keyboard magazine have become a historic chronicle of the evolution of the new electronic music age. Craig’s compositions continue to establish new forms of musical expression and have long since been the source of inspiration for up and coming composers around the world.
 

Rod Argent had an idea for a new sound, a new band in a new era of music. After creating a group and writing songs to perform and record, Rod’s dream of a new style of rock was born (with the help with his fellow countrymen, the Beatles). His group, the Zombies, helped change the face of music and scored several hits in the 1960s including “She’s Not There,” “Tell Her No” and “Time of the Seasons.” After the group dissolved he formed the band Argent, which toured and recorded for nearly a decade before he reestablished the Zombies for world tours in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Mike Bates is the senior member of the Institutional Solutions Group in the Keyboard Division of Yamaha Corporation of America. Over the last 28 years with the company, Mike’s career has included nine years as the general manager of the Music Education Division. In his long career with Yamaha, he has been responsible for numerous special projects on behalf of both Yamaha and the music industry, including working on the team that developed the music and arts advocacy materials created by NAMM/MENC in the early 1990's. Mike was also on the small team that developed the initial Technology Guidelines for Music Educators, published by MENC and was a founding board member of The Technology Institute for Music Education (Ti:ME).

Bryan Bell was given the task of engineering a working synthesizer using all of Herbie Hancock’s favorite keyboards back in the early 1970s, well before MIDI. Herbie’s single instruction to Bryan was that he wanted all of the sounds of his 20 plus instruments powered and fully controlled by one unit to allow Herbie to make all of the musical changes on the entire bank of synthesizers. Bryan succeeded and went on to play a vital role as one of the music industry’s most innovative sound engineers. Bryan’s NAMM Oral History interview was completed on January 21, 2005 

Athan Billias had a rather impressive vantage point to witness the growth and development of the synthesizer in the late 1970s and early 80s. After performing as a professional musician in New England for several years, Athan found himself working on the landmark M1 keyboard as an engineer for KORG USA. He was later asked to work in Japan, where he lived for six years before returning to the United States. He would later serve as Director of Marketing for Yamaha Corporation of America in the Pro-Audio Division, where Athan continues to serve the industry.
 

John Booth has played an enormous role in the development and growth of Roland within the United Kingdom. As President of Roland UK, he has witnessed the expansion of the market in England and assisted in creating the infrastructure to accommodate the growth within the company. As an industry leader, John has provided many contributions to address worldwide industry issues through his participation in the Global Economic Summit.  

Don Buchla grew up with a passion for music and a passion for engineering. When he combined the two loves, he created electronic musical instruments the world had never dreamed of before. His early synthesizer pre-dates the work Robert Moog was doing on the East Coast while Don was working in Berkeley, California. Composer Morton Subotnick commissioned Don to build an electronic musical instrument for live performances and recording. As a result Don introduced the Buchla Series 100 in 1963 and began selling them three years later. Over the years he has introduced the first digitally controlled analog synthesizer, the Buchla Series 500 in 1971 and the portable Music Easel a year later.