FM Synthesis
Phil Burk has had a passion for electronics since he was a kid growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area. He built radio circuits before he was a teen and combined that interest with his love of music. He later developed his skills at Mills College Center for Contemporary Music and worked in the...
Peter Schwartz is a pianist, composer, and synthesist who has worked for KORG on such projects as the M1, Wavestation, Prophecy and OASYS. After a wonderful experience with his classical music education and growing up alongside the explosion of synthesizer technology, Peter landed his first job in...
Dan Phillips enjoyed his experiences playing drums in his junior high school marching band and singing in the choir. He pursued music in college and became fascinated with the quickly developing electronic technology used in musical instruments. In 1989 Dan began writing for Electronic Musicians...
Andy Leary bought his first synthesizer when he was in high school and has been hooked ever since. His passion for music and electronics led him to attend a few classes at Stanford University taught by Dr. John Chowning, who is best known for his discovery of FM Synthesis. In 1991, Andy began...
James Sajeva is the Senior Brand Manager for KORG USA, a firm he has worked for since 1996. His passion and love of music began at a young age and throughout his youth KORG instruments were a part of his musical development. While working for a Sam Ash store, James was approached by a KORG rep...
Hirokazu Kato took part in the innovative engineering team at Yamaha in Japan who utilized FM Synthesis to create an electronic musical instrument, first the TRX prototype and then the revolutionary DX7. Kato-san began his career with Yamaha in 1965 when he helped design the company's first...
Alan Kay has always had a love for music and in fact often found himself thinking in terms of a musician when he was designing computers and computer code. Alan is a computer science pioneer who spent a decade at the famed Xerox PARC helping to design and engineer personal computers, computer code...
Ed Cornett was hired by Yamaha to head the team in charge of creating the DX7. His story of the long hours, creative and innovative team members and the support of the company uncover the key elements that came together to create one of the most successful musical instruments of its time. Ed grew...
Dr. John Chowning is known throughout the world for his discovery of FM sound synthesis, which, when used in the context of electronic musical instruments, provided an alternative to the way synthesized music was being created. The technology was first used with great success in the Yamaha DX7,...