Library Music Instrument

Synclavier II

New England Digital's digital synthesis and sampling system, first shipped 1978.

Synclavier II, front panel
Synclavier II, front panel.Photograph by John R. SouthernSource
Collections
Music
Type
Instrument
Creators
Cameron Jones, Sydney Alonso, Jon Appleton, New England Digital
Subjects
Computation Instruments
website

First shipped in 1978, the Synclavier was the first commercially available real-time digital synthesis instrument, evolving through the Synclavier II into a full “tapeless studio” combining FM synthesis, sampling, and hard-disk recording well ahead of its contemporaries.