Developing a Commercial Digital Sound Synthesizer
Sezgin Kaplan · Computer Music Journal · 1981
In September 1978, a project was proposed: to design and build a high-quality all-digital keyboard synthesizer for the commercial market currently served mainly by analog devices. The proposal was motivated by the successful prototyping of a digital circuit that simulated 32 oscillators and provided convenient mechanisms for controlling their amplitude and frequency independently in real time with an inexpensive microprocessor. With a working example in hand, it seemed to everyone involved that the hard part was over. All that remained was to incorporate the device into a suitable package, program the desired features, and sell it. Initially, it was estimated that this process might take a few months.