Museum of Soviet synthesizers. Can you play?

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:53

Do you love and are interested in music? At the same time, you not only like to enjoy the beautiful sounds of the melody, you also understand musical instruments. Or maybe you yourself are not averse to sitting down at the keys. Even if all of the above is not about you and you just like to learn something new, if you are inquisitive and strive to expand your horizons, then you should visit one of the most non-standard museums in the world - the Museum of Soviet Synthesizers. What’s more, you don’t even need to leave your home to do it. Surprised? Intrigued? Then read the article to the end.

Synthesizer - what is it?

Surely many of you are familiar with this tool. The synthesizer is an electronic analogue of the piano. It is more compact than the classical instrument. Thanks to the ability to change the sound, modern synthesizers can play not only the piano part, but also any other instrument.

A bit of history

True, it wasn't always like this. The first synthesizer was created back in 1897 by the American experimenter Tadeusz Cahill. His device did not imitate the sounds of a piano at all, as we are used to, but of a church organ. In addition, unlike modern minimalist synthesizers, Cahill's invention weighed more than two hundred tons. Everything changed at the beginning of the 20th century. It was then, in 1920, that Russian-born scientist Lev Theremin invented the first compact and mobile synthesizer, which was put into practice in the music industry.

Synthesizer in the USSR

Synthesizers were especially popular in the USSR. Among the first Soviet synthesizers such brands as "Aelita", "Alisa", "Youth", "Polivoks" and others were especially popular. Starting from the 50s of the last century, in the Soviet Union they began not only to play instruments, domestic composers even wrote music specifically for them.

In today's world

The popularity of the synthesizer does not fall to this day. Many musicians prefer this instrument to the classical piano due to its ease of use, its portability as well as its sonic capabilities. But the old models are no longer interesting to musicians, but to collectors. However, many of them are not easy to find. Sometimes even the characteristics of retro synthesizers are lost in the archives of the design shops. And interest in such tools is growing over time.

How was the idea born?

That is why in 2001 a portal was created on the Internet, where anyone can get detailed information about a particular Soviet-made synthesizer. One of the founders of the virtual museum, who introduces himself as John Racint, says that the idea of creating the site was born out of his own need to learn something about vintage, no longer produced models.

However, John stumbled either on commercial sites where collectors sought to sell this or that model, or on resources with insufficient information. Now, thanks to the efforts of the developers of the museum of Soviet synthesizers, anyone interested in this topic can learn everything about the rare models of the instrument. To do this, just click a couple of times with the mouse.

Museum of Soviet synthesizers: where to find it?

As you already understood, this special museum cannot be visited in the truest sense of the word - it has no building, no address. More precisely, there is only an email address - ruskeys.ru. The developers of the site initially did not have the idea of creating a museum in its usual sense, since the value of their offspring is not that visitors can see the exhibits, touch them with their hands, listen to the sound, but get exhaustive information about them.

However, due to the fact that the owners of the site often had to buy models that they write about on their resource, their personal collection has grown quite a lot. Therefore, they are already thinking about opening a traveling museum in which ancientsynthesizers will be presented in all their glory.

Why is it needed?

In addition to the fact that the site gives a wide and detailed review of synthesizers with their photos from different angles, with technical characteristics, with a description of the capabilities and features of the model, there is also a forum here. On it you can share your opinion about a particular tool, tell about your favorite, ask other users a question of interest. Thus, the museum of Soviet synthesizers is also becoming a platform for communication between people who share common interests.