User Guide

The philosophy behind Neuron
23
A short trip down memory lane
An explanation of the true breadth and depth of the
concept behind Neuron requires a trip down memory
lane to recap the history of electronic musical
instruments and synthesizers.
Almost a century ago, the pioneers of electronic
music began experimenting with colossal synthesis
engines powered by electricity. On a quest for new
sounds that classic instruments were incapable of
producing, these musical modernists spawned
devices that would inspire many great tunesmiths
and composers of film scores. The driving force
behind this crusade was the desire to explore the
great sonic frontier. That would change over the
course of the coming decades. Commercialization
and corporatization changed the way music was
perceived and made. Technological advances,
particularly strides made in the past 30 years, made
it possible to produce entire compositions using
electronic instruments called synthesizers and
samplers.
The new market paradigm for instrument builders
was to fashion "authentic" sounds – timbres and
tones as close as possible to those produced by
traditional instruments.
Imitation gave way to innovation in the last decade
or so when musicians began to see the tremendous
creative potential that the all but forgotten classic
synthesizers harbored.
Concurrently, a new musical style emerged that
celebrated the sound of electronica as such.
Today contemporary productions are for all practical
purposes musical hybrids in which synthesizer
sounds typically share sonic space with the time-
honored instruments of pop music. That explains the
modern-day renaissance of archetypal synthesizers,
albeit in the guise of the aforementioned digital
emulations rather than as a box full of complex
discrete circuits.
In every era of sound synthesis, half-mad audio
scientists toiled away in their labs, concocting all
manner of approaches to synthesis. Key technologies
emerged and held sway over the synthesizer market
for many years. Hordes of companies embraced them
and incorporated them in proprietary products. A
handful of technologies prevailed – to this day, they
provide the coordinates by which every manufacturer
charts his synthesizers’ course.
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