EMS Founder Peter Zinovieff Has Passed Away

Update: Image of Peter Zinovieff (previously in via Brian Kehew).

"Circa 1975: A photo from the Frankfurt Music Fair

Peter Zinovieff in the EMS synthesizer booth.

They are featuring the rare SYNTHI P model, just announced on the left side and stand. Underneath the board listing EMS musical artists is a SYNTHI HI-FLI effects unit is barely seen. Another unusual/prototype model is next to the Hi-Fli."


Peter Zinovieff and Electronic Music Studios video upload by JeffreyPlaide


Peter Zinovieff: Synth Pioneer video upload by Sound On Sound magazine Jul 21, 2016


Peter Zinovieff talks about modern musical interfaces video upload by Expressive E Jan 6, 2016


Peter Zinovieff feature uploaded by Erica Synths on Nov 23, 2020. This was the latest video to feature Peter Zinovieff that I am aware of.


Peter Zinovieff interview 2015 video upload by 香港電子音樂社 Hong Kong Electronic Music Society Jun 30, 2015


Dr Peter Zinovieff intro & performance excerpt - Deliaphonic 2017 video upload by Deliaphonic Aug 29, 2018

And a few perspectives from others:

Bright Sparks Behind The Scenes - The Brits video by GForce Software published Feb 16, 2021

Cosmic Tape Music Club Podcast hosted by The Galaxy Electric - E1 Peter Zinovieff

video by The Galaxy Electric published Jan 27, 2021

Peter Zinovieff Electronic Calendar

video by Mark Jenkins published Dec 9, 2019 - Electronic Calendar available through this post.

You can find a history of posts mentioning Peter Zinovieff here.

via The Guardian

"Peter Zinovieff, a hugely influential figure in British music whose early synthesisers helped to change the sound of pop, has died aged 88. He had suffered a fall at home earlier this month.

With its marketing slogan 'think of a sound – now make it', his company Electronic Music Studios (EMS) was one of the first to bring synthesisers out of studios and to the public. With products such as the portable VCS3 and Synthi A, EMS customers – including David Bowie, Kraftwerk, the Who, Tangerine Dream and Pink Floyd – were often taught to use the instruments by Zinovieff.

In 1967 he collaborated with Paul McCartney on Carnival of Light, a performance of a 14-minute avant garde composition created between Beatles sessions for Penny Lane that has never been released.

He was also a respected composer of his own work, including early experiments with AI composition and sampling – he claimed to have invented the latter technique." You can read the full post here.

via Wikipedia:

"Peter Zinovieff (26 January 1933 – 23 June 2021) was a British engineer and composer, whose EMS company made the VCS3 synthesizer in the late 1960s. The synthesizer was used by many early progressive rock bands such as Pink Floyd[3] and White Noise, and Krautrock groups[4] as well as more pop-oriented artists, including Todd Rundgren and David Bowie. In later life he worked primarily as a composer of electronic music.

Zinovieff was born on 26 January 1933;[5] his parents, Leo Zinovieff and Sofka, née Princess Sophia Dolgorouky, were both Russian aristocrats, who met in London after their families had emigrated to escape the Russian Revolution and soon divorced.[6] During World War II he and his brother Ian lived with their grandparents in Guildford and then with their father in Sussex. He attended Guildford Royal Grammar School, Gordonstoun School and Oxford University, where he earned a doctorate in geology.[7][8]

Zinovieff's work followed research at Bell Labs by Max Mathews and Jean-Claude Risset, and an MIT thesis (1963) by David Alan Luce.[9] In 1966–67, Zinovieff, Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson ran Unit Delta Plus, an organisation to create and promote electronic music. It was based in the studio Zinovieff had built, in a shed at his house in Putney. (The house is near the Thames, and the studio was later partially destroyed by a flood).[10][11] EMS grew out of MUSYS, which was a performance controller operating as an analogue-digital hybrid.[12] It was a synthesiser system which Zinovieff developed with the help of David Cockerell and Peter Grogono, and used two DEC PDP-8 minicomputers and a piano keyboard.[13] Unit Delta Plus ran a concert of electronic music at the Watermill Theatre in 1966, with a light show. In early 1967 they performed in concerts at The Roundhouse, at which the Carnival of Light was also played; they split up later in 1967.[11] Paul McCartney had visited the studio, but Zinovieff had little interest in popular music.[14]

In 1968, part of the studio was recreated at Connaught Hall, for a performance of pieces by Justin Connolly and David Lumsdaine.[15] At the IFIP congress that year, the composition ZASP by Zinovieff with Alan Sutcliffe took second prize in a contest, behind a piece by Iannis Xenakis.[16]

In 1969, Zinovieff sought financing through an ad in The Times but received only one response, £50 on the mistaken premise it was the price of a synthesiser. Instead he formed EMS with Cockerell and Tristram Cary.[17] At the end of the 1960s, EMS Ltd. was one of four companies offering commercial synthesizers, the others being ARP, Buchla, and Moog.[18] In the 1970s Zinovieff became interested in the video synthesizer developed by Robert Monkhouse, and EMS produced it as the Spectron.[19]

Jon Lord of Deep Purple described Zinovieff as "a mad professor type": "I was ushered into his workshop and he was in there talking to a computer, trying to get it to answer back".[20] Trevor Pinch and Frank Trocco, in their history of the synthesizer revolution, see him rather as aristocratically averse to "trade".[21]

Zinovieff wrote the libretto for Harrison Birtwistle's opera The Mask of Orpheus,[22] and also the words for Nenia: The Death of Orpheus (1970).[23] The section Tristan's Folly in Tristan (1975) by Hans Werner Henze included a tape by Zinovieff."

Update:

Peter Zinovieff: A Tribute by CatSynth TV

video upload by CatSynth TV

"We look back at the life and work of Peter Zinovieff, who passed away last week at the age of 88. His work at Electronic Music Studios (EMS) was a major influence on musicians of the 1970s and beyond. At EMS, he co-created the well-known and coveted VCS3 and Synthi series. But he was also a composer in his own right, working on pioneering electronic music in the 1960s and returning to active composition in the 2010s with several collaborations with artists in other media and exploring massive sound spatialization.

Additional background music provided via the Arturia Synthi V as a tribute."

You can find additional posts featuring Peter Zinovieff here.

The History of EMS Part 1

via Bitexion on VSE

"This is copied off the Analogue Systems user manual, since they have two cloned EMS modules in their line, the filter and trapezoid. Not written by me. Part 2 comes later, it's 10 pages of tightly written text.

The most interesting parts are the part about the awful control voltage scheme internally, and the quirky DK1 keyboard. Here you go. This part deals with the VCS3 and why it is said to be an effects machine. The next parts will deal with the success and fall of the company, no time to write all that down now.

THE EMS STORY

IN THE BEGINNING
------------------
Peter Zinovieff was born in London in 1933. A geologist who filled his home with samples (rocks, not audio) he was fascinated by electronic music, and used his wealth to develop a huge voltage controlled studio that occupied an entire room at his home in Putney.

When this became too unwieldy, he enlisted the help of engineer Dave Cockerell and programmer Peter Grogno, who helped him design an enhanced system. This used two DEC PDP-8 minicomputers to control the voltage-controlled modules of Zinovieff's early synthesizers. Their "MUSYS" system proved reasonably user-friendly,with a QWERTY keyboard and a velocity sensitive piano-style keyboard, much like today's computer-based studios.

Zinovieff's ideas and instruments were incredible. Twenty years before modern computing and sequencing packages, Zinovieff's PDP-8s could store and replay compositions, complete with sound shaping parameters. His software was even capable of twisting the music into bizarre new sounds and effects. In 1968, Zinovieff and Cockerell also invented a form of computer-controlled spectral (or 'additive') synthesis, using a system of 60 resonant filters that could analyse sounds and resynthesize them.

In 1969, when MUSYS became too expensive for Zinovieff alone, he decided to offer it 'to the nation' as a free resource for the arts. To this end, he placed an advertisement in The Times. Fortunately, a gentleman named Don Banks misunderstood this offer and, in return for a cheque for £50, he asked Zinovieff to "make me a synthesizer". So, together with Tristram Cary, a composer for electronic music for TV series such as "Dr Who", Zinovieff and Cockerell created a new company, Electronic Music Studios Ltd, and produced its first synthesizer. Cockerell's "VCS1" was a hand-built rackmount unit with two oscillators, one filter and one envelope. In an era when any synthesizer was, almost by default, a huge modular, this was not thought to be adequate, so the partners enhanced Cockerell's initial ideas, designing an instrument that was small, but powerful and flexible. It was the Voltage Controlled Studios no.3- The VCS3

THE VCS3
--------------
The VCS3 is, essentially, a modular synth that comes in two parts. The synth itself - nicknamed "The Putney" because EMS was located in that part of London - contains the bulk of the audio modules. It also incorporates two power amplifiers and speakers, making it a self-contained sound-effects generator.

Oscillators 1 and 2 are the primary sound sources, and these produce a remarkable range of frequencies, from below 1Hz to around 10KHz. Osc1 produces sine and sawtooth waveforms with a form of rectifying waveshaping for the sine wave. Independent level controls allow you to select the amounts of each waveform in the oscillator's output. The second VCO also produces two simultaneous waveforms, and again it offers independent level controls for each. This time, the waveforms are pulse and triangle waves, with simultaneous waveshaping from 0% to 100% on the former, and from sawtooth to ramp wave on the latter. It's a shame that, on an unmodified VCS3, none of the waveshapers can be voltage controlled, because this would introduce many forms of PWM and dramatically increase the range of sounds available. But there it is... Once selected, a waveform is static. A third VCO is similar to VCO 2, with pulse and triangle waveforms, but its frequency range is concentrated further down the spectrum, lying between 0.025Hz and 500Hz.

An independant section on the panel contains a noise generator, with a level control and a 'colour' control that varies from predominantly low frequencies (red) through 'white' noise, and up to predominantly high frequency (blue) noise. Another section contains the Ring Modulator which, as you would expect, offers just an output level control.

Many players and writers have described the VCS3's filter as a conventional lowpass filter with an 18dB/octave slope, but they are - to some extent - wrong. For one thing, the VCS3 filter exhibits a 'knee' in its cutoff profile; the first octave above the cutoff frequency rolls off at 12dB/octave, but the slope increases to 18dB/octave at frequencies above that. Furthermore, any amount of filter resonance significantly depresses the low frequency gain, so EMS described it as a combined low-pass/band-pass device. At high Response (the EMS term for 'resonance') the filter self-oscillates. This was mind-boggling stuff in the late 60's.

If the filter is unusual, the envelope generator (which EMS called a 'shaper') and its associated VCA are positively arcane. It has six controls. The first is straightforward enough - it's the Attack, which has a range about 2ms to 1s. So far, so good. The next control is laballed "ON", but nowadays we would call this a ustain level "Hold" because it determines the length of time the envelope stays 'high' after you release the gate. Control number three is more recognizable - it's a Decay rate, with a claimed range of 3ms to around 15 seconds. The fourth knob is labelled "OFF" and it determines the delay before autoretriggering of the envelope cycle. Until you understand that this must be in the '10' position (called 'Manual') to play the VCS3 conventionally, things can get very confusing. Indeed, the envelope will auto-repeat at frequencies of up to 60Hz, which is well inside the audio range, so the 'Shaper' can also act as an LFO or even as a deep bass oscillator.

The envelope has two outputs with independent level controls. The first (and the fifrth in the 'shaper' section) is the one that confuses most people: it's the "Trapezoid" level. To understand this, just picture an envelope produced by an AHD (attack/hold/decay) contour generator. This is a shape called a trapezoid. So the Trapezoid Level simply determine the level of the envelope CV. The second level control (the sixth shaper control) is the signal level, and this controls the loudness of any signal passing through the Shaper. There is a lso a large, red ATTACK button, which we would nowadays describe as a manual Gate.

The VCS3 also provides a spring reverb with Mix and Level controls. This is a simple dual-spring device, with a maximum reverberation time of approx. 2 seconds. Unfortunately, when using the VCS3's internal speakers, the reverb howls uncontrollably before the mix gets very dense, and you can only use it to its full potential with external amplification and speakers.

It may not be obvious at first sight, but the VCS3 is a stereo synthesizer with independent output channels A and B that drive the left and right speakers respectively. These have independent level controls, panning controls, and output filter that, depending upon position, attenuate the bass or trable, or porivde a flat response.

Performance controls are limited to the enormous X/Y joystick. This has two controls that govern the X and Y ranges but, unfortunately, its maximum range is about +/-2V, so it's not often that you can plumb the extremes of any parameters it controls. There is also a
voltmeter that allows you to measure any control voltages (which are close to DC) or signal levels (which are AC) within your patches. You can even connect an oscilloscope to a dedicated 1/4" output on the rear.

THE DK1 KEYBOARD
---------------------
The separate DK1 keyboard - known as "The Cricklewood", because that was where Cockerell worked - was as radical as the VCS3 it controlled. Of course, it was monophonic (there were no poly synths in 1969) but it was velocity sensitive, allowing players to add expression in a
way that had hitherto been impossible.

You connect the DK1 to the VCS3 using a dedicated 8-way cable that provides two power rails, two CVs and a Gate pulse for the envelope shaper. To the left of the keyboard itself, two switches control the two output CVs (called 'Channels') produced by the DK1. The first of these has 'Signal' and 'CV1' positions. We'll come to signal in a moment...for now, simply understand that CV1 was what we would now call pitch CV. Hang on... doesn't CV1, and therefore channel 1, produce the same thing? Yes it does, so there's no point in having both switches set to 'CV'.

Now, let's return to that 'Signal' position. The DK1 has a built-in sawtooth oscillator and an associated VCA with frequency, 'spread, level and dynamic range controls. This is a godsend because, with the spread set to '10' the oscillator tracks the keyboard in a conventional 1:1 relationship. In other words, you can play the keyboard and, with everything else set up appropriately, you'll hear the notes that you would expect. This is not necessarily the case when you use the keyboard CV channels. This is because the keyboard CV channels enter the VCS3 through two input level controls marked, sensibly enough, Channel 1 and Channel 2. The problem arises because the 1:1 keytracking occurs somewhere between '6' and '7' on the knobs, and the exact position can fluctuate wildly with the oscillators' temperature, the time of day, and the FTSE100 index. This makes it very tricky to use the VCS3's internal oscillators for correctly pitched melodies. Every time you play the thing, and even after an hour of 'warming up'm you are constantly trimming the tuning and scaling the Channels.

Furthermore, the VCS3 doesn't confirm to either 1V/octave or Hz/V standards used by every other manufacturer, before and after. It uses internal voltages of 0.32V/octave for oscillators 1 and 2, 0.26V/octave for oscillator 3, and 0.20V/octave for the self-oscillating filter. However, because there are CV amplifiers on the internal module inputs, you need to double these figures to 0.64V/octave, 0.52V/octave and 0.40V/octave respectively for external CV sources. Argghhh!!!!

Likewise, the usual 10V peak-to-peak signal levels are eschewed in favour of 3V, 4V and 6V for the oscillators (depending on waveform), 5V for the filter, 3V for the noise generator... and so on. There was nothing about the VCS3 that we would now regard as conventional.

You might think that this is enough of the VCS3's and DK1's oddities, but you would be mistaken. This is because yet discussed its most notable characteristic: the patch matrix.

ENTER THE MATRIX
-----------------
The most important thing to note here is that the VCS3 will remain forever silent unless you stick some pins into the matrix. This is because none of the devices described are connected to eachother unless you use the matrix to determine which signal goes where. Fortunately, the 16x16 matrix allows you to connect any of the VCS3's modules to eachother. For example, let's say that you want to direct the output of oscillator 1 to output channel 1. Since the signal generated by oscillator 1 emerges from the list of sources in row 3, and the input to channel 1 is column A, you simple stick a patch pin in position A3, and the connection is made. Of course, this doesnæt preclude you from sticking more pins in row 3, and yet more in column A, so patches can become very complex, very quickly. Indeed, you can stick 256 pins into all 256 available sockets, but i doubt that it would create a sound. Also, you must remember that, at this point, you have only made a set of connections between modules. Whether you hear a sound, or whether it's a useable one, still depends on the positions on the front panel controls.

Unfortunately, there are three problems with the matrix. The first two are simple to avoid: if mistreated it can become unreliable; and it's very expensive to replace. The third is more fundamental...

The matrix is not "buffered", and this means that, every time you insert a pin into an existing patch, the actions of other patch connections will change to some degree. Let's suppose that you've spent an hour creating a complex patch and getting every knob exactly as you want it. You the decide that you want to add, say, oscillator 2 to the filter input. You insert the appropriate pin - and everything else changes. As you can imagine, this is infuriating.

Now let's turn to the patch pins themselves. These are not simple metal connectors that short between the row and column rails. They are resistors, and there are three types of these in common use. White ones (with a resistance of 2.7kOhm) are the most common, and you can use them for almost anything. However, because the resistors in the pins have a wide (5%) tolerance, they are not suitable for some jobs. In particular, two white pins inserted into I8 and J8 (CV Channel A connected to the pitch CV inputs of VCO1 and 2) will often be sufficiently different to make the oscillators track differently. To overcome this, EMS supplied red pins, also 2.7KOhm, but with 2% tolerance. The third of the common pin colours is green. These pins have a higher resistance than the others, thus reducing the amplitude of a signal considerably. Most often, you use these when you want to attenuate a control signal, such as applying a delicate amount of modulation to a pitch CV input.

If you read some of the conversations flying around the Internet, you might be forgiven for thinking that the VCS3 is no more than a glorified effects unit. In part, this is because few casual users have the patience or knowledge to squeeze conventional musical signals from the instrument. But perhaps more significantly, it's because the VCS3 has four 1/4" inputs on the rear panel - two for microphones, two for line level signals - routed to the Channel 1 and Channel 2 rows on the patch matrix. Because the VCS3 is modular, this is a far more powerful arrangement than the signal inputs on pre-patched monosynths, allowing you to use an external signal as an extra module, maybe as an audio source, a CV source, or even a Gate.

There's another reason why the VCS3 is often regarded as a sound mangler. Because its internal oscillators are so unstable, using external signals (such as generated by the DK1) is often the only way that you can play conventional melodies. So, in many ways, the VCS3's status as an "effects generator extraordinaire" is a classic case of making a virtue out of a necessity."

Scroll through these posts for more history on EMS and of course check out the EMS label below for more.

COMPUTER ORCHESTRA - Peter Zinovieff of EMS Before EMS

COMPUTER ORCHESTRA

via BRITISH PATHE. via Brian Kehew. Click the image for the video.
"No title - Computer composes music. Putney, London.

M/S Peter Zinovieff walking to shed at bottom of garden and going inside. Interior shots showing shed filled with electronic equipment. C/U Zinovieff pressing keys, pan to instrument with keyboard for computing. C/U machine typing information. M/S Zinovieff pressing keys. C/U as he looks at printout. M/S of him in front of masses of equipment. C/U as he operates equipment which shows mass of switches and dials. C/U of waveform on screen. The strange electronic music created starts at this point. Camera zooms back to show the dials and flashing lights. C/U more dials and switches. M/S oscilloscope showing waveforms. C/U panel showing mass of plugs. C/U Zinovieff operating equipment. C/U the oscilloscope. C/U mass of switches. C/U a footage counter. C/U Zinovieff. C/U switches, pan to more. C/U recording tape. C/U lights. M/S Zinovieff operating the equipment."

EMS' Peter Zinovieff Computer Orchestra (1968)

Published on Apr 13, 2014 British Pathé

"No title - Computer composes music. Putney, London.

M/S Peter Zinovieff walking to shed at bottom of garden and going inside. Interior shots showing shed filled with electronic equipment. C/U Zinovieff pressing keys, pan to instrument with keyboard for computing. C/U machine typing information. M/S Zinovieff pressing keys. C/U as he looks at printout. M/S of him in front of masses of equipment. C/U as he operates equipment which shows mass of switches and dials. C/U of waveform on screen. The strange electronic music created starts at this point. Camera zooms back to show the dials and flashing lights. C/U more dials and switches. M/S oscilloscope showing waveforms. C/U panel showing mass of plugs. C/U Zinovieff operating equipment. C/U the oscilloscope. C/U mass of switches. C/U a footage counter. C/U Zinovieff. C/U switches, pan to more. C/U recording tape. C/U lights. M/S Zinovieff operating the equipment.

90,000 historic films, all SEARCHABLE on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/britishpathe Join us on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/britishpathe Tweet us @britishpathe FILM ID:2071.3"

Electronic Sound Issue 56 Magazine & CD Bundle Featuring EMS

via Electronic Sound

"We have a superb issue for you this month. And that’s not only because we have an exclusive interview with Kraftwerk main man Ralf Hütter, although since Hütter rarely talks to the press that is clearly something a bit special.

Our cover feature details the history of EMS, the legendary UK synthesiser company founded by Peter Zinovieff, Tristram Cary and David Cockerell in 1969. What started out as a vehicle to fund Zinovieff’s studio became a decade-long adventure in synthesis with a very British sense of innovation about it. EMS machines like the VCS 3 and the Synthi AKS were responsible for some of the best known electronic music of the 1970s – from the Radiophonic Workshop to Brian Eno to Pink Floyd.

We also have a weighty report on the recent Bluedot Festival, featuring Kraftwerk, New Order, Jon Hopkins, John Grant and more. Our interview with Ralf Hütter took place backstage after the Kraftwerk set, with Hütter radiating urbane charm and wry humour as he chatted about music and science and sampling and cycling. “We are not a museum, so let’s play what we do,” he declares. “My art is music.”

Other interviews this issue include Haiku Salut, Eric Random, Jah Wobble & Bill Laswell, Paranoid London, Rolo McGinty from The Woodentops. Plus, of course, we have our packed front section, our ace regular columnists, and our usual exotic feast of new album reviews. Hit the link to order your copy straight away!



Limited Edition CD Album: ‘The Sounds of EMS’

This month’s audio accompaniment is ‘The Sounds Of EMS’, a fascinating 45-minute CD of music made either by the people responsible for EMS, or by the machines they built. You can almost smell the dust burning as the old circuits start warming up! The CD has two pieces by Peter Zinovieff and another from Tristram Cary, the latter with a spoken explanation of what he wanted to achieve with the piece. There are also tracks by David Vorhaus (who founded the cult electronic group White Noise with Delia Derbyshire), Mike Hankinson (another early adopter of the VCS 3), Benge from Wrangler and Jack Dangers from Meat Beat Manifesto.


01. PETER ZINOVIEFF – ‘A LOLLIPOP FOR PAPA’
02. TRISTRAM CARY – ‘ 3, 4, 5 – A STUDY IN LIMITED RESOURCES’
03. BENGE – ‘1969 EMS VCS3’
04. DAVID VORHAUS – ‘THING FOR TWO VCS3S’
05. JACK DANGERS @ TAPE LAB – ‘SYNTHI 100-PIECE 1’
06. MIKE HANKINSON – ‘JS BACH’S FUGUE AND TOCCATA IN D MINOR’
07. PETER ZINOVIEFF – ‘JANUARY TENSIONS’ (EXCERPT)
08. TRISTRAM CARY – ‘3, 4 , 5 – A STUDY IN LIMITED RESOURCES’ (TALK)"

Talk by computer music pioneer Peter Zinovieff [London]

image via peterzinovieff on MySpace

This one in via fabio.

"Music and Geology or Geology, Electronic Music and Opera :: Wednesday February 4, 2009 :: 6:30 for 7:00pm :: London Knowledge Lab - Institute of Education :: 23 - 29 Emerald St, London WC1N 3QS, England :: Tube: Holborn, Russell Square or Chancery Lane :: Map:

The talk is about three enterprises of excellence that Zinovieff has been intimately involved in. He describes his making the first geological map of the Cuillins mountains in Skye (1958), the problems of his early computers (1960’s) in electronic music contrasted to some present day experiments (2008), and the preparation of his libretto for “The Mask of Orpheus” (1984) by Birtwistle.

He shows that these wildly different endeavours are not so dissimilar when it comes down to the nuts and bolts of their
actual creation.

The lecture of 40 minutes will be accompanied by archive videos, sounds and slides, as well as a display of rocks, pictures and electronic objects.

Peter Zinovieff is a pioneer of electronic and computer music. He is a British inventor of Russian ethnicity, most notable for his EMS company, which made the famous VCS3 synthesiser in the late ’60s. The synthesiser was used by many early progressive rock bands such as Pink Floyd and White Noise, Krautrock groups like Kraftwerk as well as more pop oriented artists, a good example being David Bowie.

Zinovieff also wrote the libretto for Harrison Birtwistle’s opera The Mask of Orpheus.

CAS 1968-2009 - has been supporting the Computer Arts for over 40 years

Future CAS meetings include:

Wed 4 Mar - Francesca Franco
Wed 1 Apr - Joel Parthemore
Wed 6 May - Jorn Ebner"

Dr Zinovieff's original Synthi A Up for Auction

via VEMIA

"A great chance to own a piece of history, and a wonderful example of a classic instrument. This is Dr Peter Zinovieff's own Synthi A, serial number 4016, which has been beautifully restored by Robin Wood at EMS in the last two months and is in perfect working order. Work done included replacing all three vernier knobs, servicing the joystick to make it a joy to use, and replacing eight pins with new ones - as well as getting it all up to Robin's exacting specs. Four badly-done mods were removed. The case was also provided by Robin. The earliest Synthis often didn't have cases, so Robin has spared one of his last few to make this instrument complete. It has a couple of repairs to the edge, visible if you look very closely at botom left and top right; and seems to have a small gap in the top left corner. But the metalwork and general condition is exceptional - see the photo. The main differences from the machine as designed are that the two main audio oscillators (VCO1 and VCO2) have had the stabilisation mod, and the input gain on channel one has been converted to a ten-turn pot - all very useful. Cosmetically it is very nice indeed, as evidenced by the photos. It will come with Dr. Zinovieff's full written provenance (he believes this is the actual Synthi used in the 'Every Picnic Needs a Synthi' advert), and his signature on the instrument wherever you choose. In the composite photo is a picture of Robin Wood and Dr Zinovieff after the servicing was completed in September."

Peter Zinovieff ‘Electronic Calendar: The EMS Tapes’ Double CD

via Electronic Sound:

"‘Electronic Calendar: The EMS Tapes’ is a lavish double CD set featuring more than 20 pieces by EMS founder Peter Zinovieff. The package includes a 64-page booklet containing extensive liner notes and exclusive photos, plus extracts from Zinovieff’s own diaries and writings.

The work was produced by Zinovieff at his studio in Putney in the 1960s and early 1970s and is an essential addition to every early electronic music fan’s archive. The first CD consists of collaborations with British composer Harrison Birtwistle and the German composer and Marxist Hans Werner Henze, while the second disc mainly features solo compositions.

As a record of the pioneering days of electronic music and computer control, ‘Electronic Calendar’ is captivating, strange and evocative of a period of intense experimentation and boundless possibilities.

The full track listing is:

Disc 1
01. ‘CHRONOMETER ’71’ (WITH HARRISON BIRTWISTLE)
02. ‘BIRTHDAY SONG’ (WITH HARRISON BIRTWISTLE)
03. ‘FOUR INTERLUDES FROM A TRAGEDY’ (WITH HARRISON BIRTWISTLE)
04. GLASS MUSIC (WITH HANS WERNER HENZE)
05. ‘TRISTAN (SHORT SECTION)’ (WITH HANS WERNER HENZE)
06. ‘CHINA MUSIC’ (WITH HANS WERNER HENZE)
07. ‘TRISTAN (LONG SECTION)’ (WITH HANS WERNER HENZE)

Disc 2
01. ‘AGNUS DEI’
02. ‘ZASP PARTS 1 TO 3’ (WITH ALAN SUTCLIFFE)
03. ‘UN KNOWN 1’
04. ‘TARANTELLA’
05. ‘UN NAMED 1’
06. ‘JANUARY TENSIONS’
07. ‘JUNE ROSE’
08. ‘UN NAMED 2’
09. ‘A LOLLIPOP FOR PAPA’
10. ‘M PIRIFORM’ (WITH JUSTIN CONNOLLY)
11. ‘MARCH PROBABALISTIC’
12. ‘UN NAMED 3’
13. ‘RAASAY DIGITISED’
14. ‘NOW’S THE TIME TO SAY GOODBYE’"

XILS-lab Updates XILS 4 Matrix Modular Soft Synth to v1.5

The press release:

XILS-lab updates ultimate matrix modular soft synth with welcomed fanciful features added to XILS 4 v1.5

“My favourite analogue synth is probably the VCS3, so when I heard that a company was releasing a software version I was quite cautious; today, XILS 4 is one of my favourite plug-ins! Working with it gives me the same excitement as the original hardware, plus there are lots of extra features, since it is basically two VCS3s with an interconnected sequencer. The sound is great, and it is one of the best soft synths on the market for experimenting with new ways of creating sounds!”

- Jean-Michel Jarre (award-winning composer, performer, and record producer), April 2015


GRENOBLE, FRANCE: audio software company XILS-lab is proud to announce availability of XILS 4 v1.5 — a major update to its self-styled ultimate matrix modular soft synth, effectively emulating a conceptual ‘blend’ of the legendary VCS4, a ‘dual VCS3’ analogue matrix modular synthesizer prototyped by British trailblazing entity EMS (Electronic Music Studios) back in 1969 but never commercially released, with pioneering British synthesist Tim Blake’s so-called ‘Crystal Machine’ (comprising two EMS Synthi AKS analogue matrix modular synthesizers with hard sync between their oscillators, one connected to the keyboard and the other connected to the sequencer) — with welcomed additional fanciful features including a powerful preset manager in a single window and new effects with semi-modular routing, as of November 30…

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Peter Zinovieff Electronic Music Dairy Summer 1976

This one in via First Last.

http://members.tripod.com/werdav/vocpzino.htm

Peter Zinovieff was the founder of EMS.

"Electronic Music Studios Ltd (EMS) London, England. Beginning in a backyard bomb shelter, Peter Zinovieff has created the EMS Company devoted solely to the production of electronic music instruments." Quote pulled from this page.

Some excerpts from the diary:

"Today is another grey day ... I wish I was in Raasay. There was a storm last night and the studio roof started to leak. It has leaked every year since it was built and every year it is repaired. Water is dripping onto the computer section. Part of the ceiling looks as if it is going to collapse."

"What an idiosyncratic place they must have found EMS. Chickens in the garden. Computers in the basement. Children rushing around the kitchen. I wisk Sofka to school on the Honda. I meet Robin half way down Putney Hill. 400 yards zoom. "

"We discuss, rather drunkenly, the future of synthesizers and how organs are becoming more like synthesizers and synthesizers more like organs I explain that I have decided that EMS should not try and compete in this market but that we should continue to stick to educational and sophisticated machines."

"I tell Ludwig about the terrible week that has just passed and the exciting constructive week that lies ahead. Ludwig tells me of the bad financial state we are in and how the studio is too expensive for EMS to support and how I'm too extravagant. I can tell he is tired. I suggest that we discuss it at the EMS meeting tomorrow. Already then the meeting is diluted from microprocessors and Bessel functions into one of financial fussing. Another decision.
Later Ludwig quietens down. Nothing better than tea and cake, wine and a peat fire. We really get on very well. It must be a nightmare running EMS' financial affairs. We get to bed at about 1. I am glad Ludwig is back."

"We discuss the Glasgow Hospital project. This is an application that has been submitted to the Wolfson Foundation for a large amount of money to be spent on the computer interrogation of patients and the computer diagnosis of their illnesses. Apparently the right 12 questions could diagnose any known disease. The idea is that the patients will be asked questions in regional accents by the computer. They would then respond by pressing a set of simple keys. Yes, no, sometimes etc. EMS will provide all the hardware and the hospital would provide the doctors. It would be very interesting if it works. Alan will be in charge of the project."

"I must stop the EMS people drinking too much at these lunches. Peter Eastty will be slurred and cantakerous this afternoon if he has any more.
All the EMS team are very high powered. Even though some - like David Cockerell, Richard Monkhouse and Alan Sutcliffe are friends and consultants, they still play an enormously important role in the company. We are extremely lucky. "

"Two pop stars arrive with a roadie at 7. They meet everyone going off from the meeting to play pool at the pub. David and Tim are experts at billiards. In Raasay we found an old bagatelle set. I hope it pulls them back there. David walked in snow for the first time in his life at the new year in Raasay.
It soon turns out that the roadie is the greatest pop-star. He's from Tangerine Dream. One of the others wears a long furry earring. Call me Indie Robin recognises him from Chicago. He says he's travelling incognito. It's a good earring he wears for that.
German pop-stars always seem more workmanlike than Americans. English ones fall into one or other camp but usually are dressed up. The Germans wear scruffy jeans and shave. They have come to look at the Vocoder. We also show them the latest modules that Tim is making.
Robin soon takes them off for who knows what with some friends. Rose, Leo and I go to a newly-opened Russian restaurant in Putney. I become maudlin for the gypsies and the islands of Petersboorg that I never knew."

"I had a terrible dream last night about my neck being cut away leaving my head stuck rigid on my body. I woke rather sick. It must have been too much wine at dinner. Suddenly I realise that it is pouring with rain and that I had removed the polythene sheeting from the roof for Hans' lunch the day before yesterday. That is why I had nightmares and why I feel sick.
My worst fears are justified. Water is once again pouring into the studio. Two panels have fallen off the ceiling Onto the computer racks."

"We open a bottle of Champagne. Ludwig thinks I am extravagant. After lunch Richard comes with the video camera interface. It works as soon as he plugs in the board. My programs have been adapted and we are able to test it straight away.
With this invention I am able to derive patterns from a video image. At the sirnplest these images might be a waveform drawn on a piece of graph paper but at a more complex level I think I will be able to derive very useful musical patterns from more random video images. For instance say I point the camera at a flower and say I apportion density of image to harmonic content and I scan from left to right across the stern of the flower. Then imagine that these sounds are pretty mediocre. Dull. Say then that I turn the camera slightly to the left or choose another flower. Will the sounds be more or less interesting? They certainly won't be the same. What images will give the best sounds. In a way it is getting a video picture to provide a pattern for improvisation.
We try it out. I point the camera into the garden. I run VOCAB and I assign the Video parameters to control DOB.
Suddenly the most marvellously rich, varied and amazing sounds come pouring out of the speakers. They ripple and change. They are the first alssolutely fantastic sounds that the oscillator bank has made. Everyone is moved. At first no-one believes that they are not pr~omposed but as I turn the camera the sounds change. They are convinced. In some ways we are frightened. It's like in the story of tuning in to the death cries of roses as they are cut.
We call over Ludwig. He rings up Germany. I ring David in Paris we hold the telephone to the loudspeakers but there is probably little chance that they can hear what is going on. The children come down. I dare not alter anything. Perhaps the program has got into a random loop. I save it and restart it. Wherever I point the camera there is another set of sounds. Each more rich and varied than the last.
I must keep this a secret. I shall give it to Harry for Orpheus. We must not allow these marvellous things to be heard for a year or two. Apollo's gift to Orpheus was music. I wonder where these sounds come from. Perhaps it's not fluke that we have been working on Orpheus for 3 years. This is our reward.
What a day ! Perhaps all days will now be magical again!
I shall use the last seven days of this journal for my Glasgow Musica Nova talk.
Peter Zinovieff
Summer 1976
source: Bulletin of the Computer Arts Society May 1977 "

EMS' Peter Zinovieff on New Midi Controller "Touché" by Expressive E Coming to NAMM

Peter Zinovieff talks about modern musical interfaces

Published on Jan 6, 2016 Expressive E

"The inventor of one of the most famous synthesisers of all the time, the VCS3, talks about Expressive E' s new musical interface..."

And some info directly in via a contact at Expressive E:

"I work for a young company named « Expressive E», located in Paris.

We are developing a new kind of musical controller named « Touché » which will be unveiled for the first time at the NAMM SHOW 2016.

Touché, is an innovative controller, a revolution in how you play with software and hardware synthesizers by offering extremely precise and sensitive gesture controls.

Its wood surface was designed to react to the smallest vibration, the slightest pressure of your hand, allowing synth players to shape sounds spontaneously as with an acoustic instrument.

A great number of artists (Adrian Utley (Portishead), John Baggott (Massive Attack, Robert Plant) , Rone, Matt Robertson (Björk), Peter Zinovieff, etc.) already agree on the fantastic potential of this product : Touché appears as a breath of fresh air in the world of MIDI controllers!"

Update: Expressive E will be at NAMM booth #4807 for those attending.

You'll find a PDF of the Media kit here, captured to the left as JPEGs starting with the second image down.

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Peter Zinovieff interview 2015

Published on Jun 30, 2015 ED電音頻道 E.D.Music Channel

"Copyright: E.D. Music Co.
Special thanks: Peter Zinovieff, Dave Skipper, Kenichi Hata
BGM: Timmy Lok (using iVCS3 app)"

Follow up to Peter Zinovieff electronic music lecture at TFoM Japan, 2015 (in English and Japanese)

Peter Zinovieff and Electronic Music Studios

YouTube via JeffreyPlaide

"Peter Zinovieff's pioneering work into the fields of electronic music production and research led to many innovative electronic music instrument developments that were outstanding for the time. Peter was fascinated by electronic music and used his financial resources to develop a huge voltage-controlled studio that occupied an entire room in his home premises. There was a time when EMS (Electronic Music Studios) stood as equal to Moog and Arp. In many ways, EMS was more advanced with several pioneering ideas being investigated. Peter used two PDP8 minicomputers in the late 1960s to control the voltage-controlled analogue modules for research into electronic music exploration. Twenty years before affordable computing and sequencing packages, Zinovieff's computers could store and replay compositions, complete with sound shaping parameters even inventing a form of spectral or additive synthesis. Excerpts are edited from the television documentaries "What the Future Sounded Like" and "The New Sound of Music" featuring the first public performance of music by a computer in the Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1967. The spirit of EMS continues, and Peter's synthesizer innovations like the VCS3 and Synthi 100 have become outstanding analogue classics."

EMS SYNTHI AKS

via this Vemia aution
You can find videos of this unit here.
"One of the most historically interesting synths we've ever had in the auction: a very very early AKS, one of the three owned and used by Zorch, who recorded at Peter Zinovieff's Putney studio. Like Dr Zinovieff's own Synthi, this has no Spartanite case. It was manufactured in December 1972 - and bought in early 1973; and bearing in mind the age and provenance, it's quite likely it never HAD a case. It is being sold on behalf of Avi Nisim, of the psychedelic-trance duo Astral Projection. It has some excellent original mods. It is sold as is, with any faults as described or un-noticed, and although it is great as it is, it could be even better serviced by one of the EMS tech experts like Lucidsound, or Robin Wood himself. You will need to change the mains plug to the correct one for your country, and if necessary switch the voltage. PLEASE BE AWARE THAT IT IS LIKELY TO ATTRACT TAX AND/OR EXCISE DUTY WHEN IMPORTED TO YOUR COUNTRY. Here are some extracts from the very thorough description from the seller - which you can see in full, with good resolution pictures and video, at http://noisedesign.blogspot.com/2010/03/ems-synthi-aks-for-sale-daylight_20.html This is an early model, white front panel 'EMS Synthi AKS' with a prestopatch bay, produced in december 1972 (acording to it's serial number 4658ks and confirmed by robin wood from EMS) . currently the synth belongs to avi nisim, a member of the psychedelic-trance duo 'astral projection' based in israel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astral_Projection_(group) astral projection works together since 1989 and considered to be one of the first psy-trance groups in the world. while checking the front pannel i found a little logo sticker ,which later was recognized with the group 'zorch' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/zorch who were pioneers in the british synth music, as britain first 'all synths' group. zorch were the only band ever recorded in peter zinovieff's EMS studio in putney. this synthi confirms as one of the 3 synthi's that were used by the group during the early 70's. this specific one was howard scarr's personal synthi . cosmetics: considering the synth almost 40 years, and it's history, this synthi looks quite good. some scruffs and marks on the sides and on the front panel, some marks on some knobs caps, some of the matrix pins needs a replacement (still available at EMS) . but the overall condition is good, i would say at least 8 out of 10. electronics: DC power rails were checked and they both at -9v and +12v exactly as they should. power lines are clean and steady. no humming through the synth's outputs. some scratchy knobs ,and one broken (output off) switch lever. all the 3 circuits boards and connections looks clean and the parts looks original. the 3 circuit boards havn't been removed during the check. however, i would guess that it's time to service the synthi, replace/clean some of the knobs, replace some capacitors, fine tuning etc. quite a normal procedure for this equipment at this point. the synthi has some mod's which includes: center zero trapezoid, wave shapers, filter hi/ low, osc 3 frequency switch, and more. the synth functions has been tested (although it's quite impossible to test the endless possibilities and each of every matrix pin hole of that beast...) but i can say that all oscillators, noise source, VCA, filter, ring modulator, reverb, mic input's , outputs, envelope shaper, trapezoid, the meter, the internal speakers and the joystick are all working fine, and everything sounds great and beefy. the keyboard sequencer is faulty and partially works, it has some cracks and missing some parts on the upper case (see detailed pictures). with the right patch on the matrix, keyboard touch pads are responsive to touch and triggers sounds. the random pad is responsive as well and it triggers some random notes whan touched. but the sequencer doesn't work. all the mod's that i mentioned above are working and has effect on the sound. the keyboard control and keyboard inverter mod's needs a certain matrix patches (as seen on the stickers on the matrix) which i'm not familiar with, so i'm not quite sure how these mod's supposed to work. it is also impossible to test these mod's without a fully functional keyboard. during the last 20 years , this synthi was installed in a custom wooden rack ,in astral projection's studio, and it does'nt have the spartanite briefcase. update: the 'inverter pin' mod was tested as well, with the kind directions from Mr. Howard Scarr himself. this mod is fully functional and quite amazing. the pin acts like a normal pin , but it actually inverts the signal of where it's positioned (the frequency is controlled by the inverter blue knob), so for example you can output the normal output of osc.3 and at the same time output the filtered- inverted signal of the same osc.3. this opens a whole new world of sounds and possibilities... pure fun! please note: the synthi was throughly tested for more then 10 hours, and as far as i know (i own one Synthi Aks myself) it's in a good working order, and physical shape, however, this is quite an old piece of gear and it will be sold as is, no returns and no refunds. a great care will be taken when packing and handling/shipping the synthi, and it will be fully insured. i did my best to describe the synthi as accurate as possible, for more info, please contact: ofiroman@gmail.com some videos http://noisedesign.blogspot.com/2010/03/ems-synthi-aks-for-sale-some-videos.html"

These Hopeful Machines - Documentary on Early Days of Electronic Music

On Radio New Zealand here.

"A six-part series in which James Gardner traces a personal path through the evolving world of electronic music – and meets some of the people who made it happen."

Interesting bits:

Part 4: "20:00 "I was Born to Synthesize" - 1967: It's 'Sex, Drugs and Moogs' as rock adopts electronics, while synths sell soda on Madison Ave. Including exclusive interviews with Suzanne Ciani, David Cockerell, Bernie Krause, Morton Subotnick and Peter Zinovieff."

Part 5: "19:00 "Load Your Program. I am Yourself" - Born of war and raised on mainframes, computer music comes of age in the 70s and hits the charts thanks to the sampler. Stanford University hooks up with Yamaha to the sound of FM. Including exclusive interviews with John Chowning, Suzanne Ciani, David Cockerell, Barry Vercoe, Peter Vogel and Peter Zinovieff."

Part 6: "19:01 "A Dance To The Music of Time" - For many in the 90s, electronic music was synonymous with Techno and Intelligent Dance Music. Was this Dancing about Art? And has the laptop really brought about the democratization of music? Including exclusive interviews with Mark Ayres, John Chowning, Suzanne Ciani, David Cockerell, Phill MacDonald, Irmin Schmidt, Morton Subotnick, Barry Vercoe, Peter Vogel and Peter Zinovieff."

via Pierre Serné on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge via PatchPierre.Net

$199.99 EMS "Synthi and the Composer" Album

This one is not an April Fools joke. You can actually find this album for sale behind the counter at Silver Platters Seattle. Call them if interested.

From the back cover
(note Peter Zinovieff is the man behind EMS):

"Synth and the Composer

Extracts of music realized with EMS Synths equipment.

SIDE A

Concert Music by:

Harrison Birtwistle
Peter Zinovieff
Tristram Cary
Delia Derbyshire
George Whitman

SIDE B

Television, Radio and Computer Music by:

Dudley Simpson
Delia Derbyshire
Malcom Clarke
David Vorhaus
Peter Zinovieff
Brian Hodgson

Demonstration record - Not to be sold or performed in public.

Stereo 33 1/3 rpm"

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Peter Zinovieff: A Tribute by CatSynth TV

video upload by CatSynth TV

"We look back at the life and work of Peter Zinovieff, who passed away last week at the age of 88. His work at Electronic Music Studios (EMS) was a major influence on musicians of the 1970s and beyond. At EMS, he co-created the well-known and coveted VCS3 and Synthi series. But he was also a composer in his own right, working on pioneering electronic music in the 1960s and returning to active composition in the 2010s with several collaborations with artists in other media and exploring massive sound spatialization.

Additional background music provided via the Arturia Synthi V as a tribute."

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Also see EMS Founder Peter Zinovieff Has Passed Away

Peter Zinovieff of EMS 80th Birthday Concert at EMSAR 2013

"Peter Zinovieff 80th Birthday Concert & Symposium on Electronic and Computer Music 11 May 2013, Cambridge UK

Full list of speakers is available, all abstracts online, and registration
is open

Symposium registration includes a ticket to the Peter Zinovieff 80th
Birthday Concert. Tickets for the concert are also available separately
for those not attending the symposium.

Concert and symposium website: www.anglia.ac.uk/emsar

Please note that in order to qualify for the symposium lunch buffet, registration must be completed at the latest by close of Tuesday 7 May, 2013."

Additional details here.  Hopefully video of the event will be released.  If you are lucky enough to make the event and capture video or pics, let us know!

Sun - Featuring Peter Zinovieff of EMS

Published on Jul 19, 2017 NUSTEM

This performance was during the Rainwire [Processed] installation at University of Hull by Noyzelab.

"Poet Katrina Porteous and composer Peter Zinovieff collaborated to produce a planetarium experience of live poetry, wrap-around visuals, and surround-sound music. The piece is an artistic response to the work of Northumbria University's Solar Physics Research Group.

Sun premiered at Newcastle's Life Science Centre planetarium on November 18th 2016.

This version was produced for follow-on performances, and for YouTube. For more background about the piece, and the wider context of the Imagining the Sun project of which this was part, see: https://nustem.uk/imagining-the-sun/"

"Imagining the Sun is a collaboration of a poet, a sound artist and a visual artist with Northumbria University’s solar physics research group, supported by the outreach specialists at NUSTEM. The project challenges public and schools audiences to explore how approaches from art and science can complement and inform each other. Alongside the schools programme sit a series of public performances and exhibitions."

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Peter Zinovieff, of course, was the founder of EMS.

"A scientist, composer, librettist and pioneer of electronic music, in the 1960s Peter was one of the first people in the world to use a computer to create music.

With David Cockerell and Tristram Cary he formed Electronic Music Studios, which created some of the earliest electronic instruments, including the seminal VCS3.

Peter’s instruments – and particularly the techniques he pioneered, like sampling – continue in widespread use."

Peter Zinovieff's birthday and the EMEAPP EMS collection

video upload by EMEAPP

"Happy birthday to synthesizer pioneer PETER ZINOVIEFF. Here's a quick look at some of his innovations within our EMS here at the Electronic Music Education and Preservation Project (EMEAPP). This includes the VCS3 (The Putney), the Synthi AKS, the Synthetical Engine, and our Synthi 100 system, including the Compu-Synthi and the Vocoder 5000. Please follow us, there's lots of good stuff on the way!"

Update: from 1:42 in the video:

A Lollipop For Papa
video upload by Peter Zinovieff - Topic