Electronic Music Studios (London) Limited

Electronic Music Studios (London) Limited, which is more commonly referred to simply as EMS, was founded by Dr. Peter Zinovieff, a first-generation British citizen whose aristocrat parents – his mother, Sofka, a princess descended of Catherine the Great – had emigrated from Russia following the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. Zinovieff was born in London on 26 January 1933, and was raised in Guildford and Sussex, later graduating with a doctorate in geology from Oxford University. While briefly working for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in 1964, Zinovieff was taken to the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) Radiophonic Workshop, where he was introduced to composers Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson, who were responsible for the creation of music and sound effects for the BBC’s Doctor Who television series throughout the 1960s. The trio founded Unit Delta Plus in 1966, a collective whose aim was to create and promote original electronic music, operating out of a detached shed in Zinovieff’s home at 49 Deodar Road in the Putney neighbourhood of London. The group disbanded in 1967, and, in 1968 Zinovieff enlisted the help of engineer and hardware designer David Cockerell and software programmer Peter Grogono to further develop his studio. The studio was filled with basic voltage-controlled equipment such as oscillators, noise generators, and an Ampex 4-Track tape machine, however Zinovieff was keen to do away with the cumbersome practice of splicing tape, as was practiced in the earliest electronic music studios in France and Germany. As such, their first project involved creating an alternative system that could be used to control the sequential movement of the studio’s various voltage-controlled components; Cockerell believed that this would only be possible through the use of computers. To that end, he installed two DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) PDP8 minicomputers – one to compute and the other to execute – made accessible from a musical keyboard, which became known as MUSYS; these computers were named Sofka and Leo, after Zinovieff’s first two children and parents. MUSYS was highly flexible for the time, allowing for digital control of numerous parameters within an array of analog units, including 64 oscillators, six amplifiers, three digital-to-analog converters, twelve audio switches, and the Ampex tape machine. MUSYS was remarkable for a number of reasons: first, and perhaps most importantly, it represented what was essentially the first home computer, with the prevailing digital technologies of the day owned rather exclusively by academic and government institutions for, as one would expect, non-musical purposes; second, it was programmed via a video monitor and not the conventional punch cards, which was simply astonishing for the time. The venture proved too expensive for Zinovieff to handle independently, and, so, in 1969 he placed an advertisement in The Times, offering the studio for public artistic use. He received only a single offer from one Don Banks for £50, reportedly on the misunderstanding that a synthesizer was in fact being sold. Zinovieff and Cockerell agreed to follow this through, deciding to finance the studio moving forward by manufacturing and selling synthesizers. To this end, ZInovieff, Cockerell, and Grogono joined forces with English-Australian composer Tristram Cary (1925 – 2008), who had also previously worked with the BBC on the Doctor Who series and founded the electronic music studio at London’s Royal College of Music, and formally established Electronic Music Studios (London) Limited with the MUSYS studio remaining at Zinovieff’s Putney home and an associated sales and manufacturing office located on the next block, at 277 Putney Bridge Road. Their first instrument used an existing design of Cockerell’s, which he referred to as the Voltage Controlled Studio No. 1, or VCS1.

The VCS1 was a primitive rackmount device, containing just two oscillators, one filter, and one envelope generator. By 1969, following the release of Wendy Carlos’ Switched-On Bach in 1968, Robert Moog was relatively dominating the burgeoning synthesizer market with his towering modular systems. As such, the partners at EMS felt a substantial expansion would be required on Cockerell’s product. In an effort to retain portability but also incorporate sophistication and flexibility, the Voltage Controlled Studio No. 3, or VCS3, emerged. It featured a semi-modular design with fixed front panel and a highly unique patching scheme to allow the user to fully customize the instrument’s function. Although the first fully integrated synthesizer – the Minimoog – would not appear until 1970, the VCS3 reflected a similar compact aesthetic while still borrowing elements from its wholly modular contemporaries. The instrument contained two primary oscillators in the normal audio range, a third low frequency oscillator, a noise generator, a ring modulator, a combined low-pass and band-pass filter, a trapezoidal envelope generator, built-in spring reverb, a unique joystick controller, two internal speakers, and a revolutionary 16 x 16 circular patching matrix. In recognition of the studio’s geographic location, the VCS3 was dubbed the “Putney”. The VCS3 was also accompanied by an independent, monophonic, mechanical keyboard unit, the DK1, which was nicknamed the “Cricklewood” in reference to the London neighbourhood in which David Cockerell lived. Upon release, the Putney sold for £330, with an additional £150 required for the Cricklewood, which, in 1969, was no small sum. Regardless, with the release of the Minimoog yet to come, the VCS3 was instrumental in being the first integrated device to offer the non-professional commercial market access to the sophisticated equipment housed in the ivory towers, as it were, of high-profile studios such as the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. As a result of the success of the VCS3, EMS expanded in 1970 to include more engineers and sales staff, including product demonstrator Robin Wood, the current proprietor of the company. Several new product ideas designed by Cockerell began to percolate, including a prototype of a VCS4 live performance module, which consisted in a pair of VCS3s combined with a five-octave keyboard and signal-processing unit, and a Synthi KB1, which consisted in a miniaturized keyboard and VCS3 built within a single enclosure. It is reported that only a single prototype unit of the Synthi KB1 was ever produced and sold to the progressive rock band, Yes, in 1970.

EMS’s next product firmly set the company on both ends of the spectrum: in addition to having produced what was essentially the first compact and integrated voltage-controlled synthesizer in the VCS3, the Synthi 100 of 1971 remains among the largest and most unwieldy of synthesizers ever produced. Effectively, the Synthi 100 was constructed as three incorporated VCS3s, with some expanded specifications in the number of oscillators, filters, patching matrices, accompanying keyboards, and signal-processing effects. Perhaps the most unique aspects of the Synthi 100 were its inclusion of an oscilloscope and a massive six-track, 256-step sequencer. Upon release, this instrument sold for an astounding £6 500; as such, approximately only 40 units were ever produced and sold to educational institutions and recording studios. Most famously, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop acquired a unit; in keeping with previous EMS naming schemes and in recognition of the Workshop’s location on Delaware Road in Maida Vale, the Synthi 100 was colloquially dubbed the “Delaware” after a brief stint as the “Digitana”. The built-in 256-step sequencer was also developed by Cockerell as a stand-alone unit in 1971, following the prototyping of 32-, 64-, and 128-step sequencers, featuring its own keyboard and 42-bit memory storage. The company’s most successful products, the Synthi A and Synthi AKS, both designed by Cockerell, followed soon after in late 1971 and 1972, respectively. The Synthi A, which was dubbed the “Portabella” after London’s up-scale Portobello Road, was electronically identical to the VCS3, featuring a portable Spartanite attaché case as the exterior instead of a wooden enclosure. It was also significantly less expensive than the VCS3, offered for just under £200. The AKS improved upon the A’s design by incorporating a small, capacitance-sensitive membrane keyboard and sequencer (KS) built within the underside of the case lid. Despite selling at £420, more than twice the cost of the Synthi A, the AKS proved to be EMS’s most desired product by professional musicians, with notable users such as Roxy Music’s Brian Eno, Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream, David Bowie, King Crimson, and The Moody Blues, as well as several educational institutions, upgrading from the VCS3 systems they had acquired in the years prior. The DK2 duophonic keyboard and expanded, stand-alone KS keyboard sequencer were also released in 1972.

From 1973 onward, EMS developed and released a series of innovative products, though none as successful as the Synthi AKS. The Sound Freak guitar synthesizer and effects unit, which was later named the Synthi Hi-Fli, emerged in 1973 featuring effects such as distortion, octave shift, modulation, filtering, and ring modulation, as well as two pedals. Despite enjoying usage by high-profile guitarists such as Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour, Cockerell’s Hi-Fli was a commercial failure. What’s more is that the company had prepared production in anticipation of high demand for the instrument, and, as a result, incurred enormous debt. The semi-programmable VCS3 MkII was also released in 1973, with improvements in the stabilization of the instrument’s oscillators and the unique “Prestopatch” feature. Zinovieff – who reportedly never seriously used any of EMS’s instruments himself – had lost interest in the business venture by 1974, desiring to focus more attention on his MUSYS studio and the development of computer-based technologies in speech-related applications. That year, EMS engineers began conducting research and development into what was to become the company’s first digital synthesizer units, the Digital Oscillator Bank, which was to feature impeccable precision in its 64 oscillators, and the Analytical Engine, which was developed by Peter Eastty and employed 128 digital filters that could be used in conjunction with the Digital Oscillator Bank; these two units were never commercially produced. Following the release of the Synthi AKS in 1972, Cockerell continued developments on the VCS3 design, resulting in the Synthi P (Professional). Based on the Synthi A, the Synthi P implemented several improvements and expansions, including oscillator stability and the inclusion of portamento, pulse width modulation, and oscillator sync–features that were already considered standard on most synthesizers of the time. Only three prototypes of this instrument were produced: one, which was occasionally referred to as the Synthi MkIII, was rendered in the same case and styling of the Synthi A, while the other two were built into flight cases. In 1972, Cockerell left EMS to join Electro-Harmonix, with Peter Grogono and Tristram Cary following suit in 1973.

EMS’s next commercial product, and the first not to have been designed by Cockerell, emerged at the end of 1974. This was the massively ambitious Spectre (later referred to as the ‘Spectron’) digital-analog video synthesizer, designed by Richard Monkhouse. Also incorporating the trademark EMS patching matrices, the Spectre was a highly innovative unit, allowing for sophisticated voltage-control modification and production of both pre-existing and abstracted visual imagery, and even capable of modification via incoming audio signals. The prototype of this device was used to produce a lightshow for an early performance by Tangerine Dream at the London Rainbow. As a result of being too complex for its time, however, only 15 units were ever produced. Monkhouse also designed two other products for EMS: the ‘Squeeze-Me’ pressure-sensitive keyboard, and the ‘Touch-Me’ interactive video terminal with optical pen. The introduction of a young designer named Tim Orr helped temporarily reawaken EMS’s commercial viability throughout the mid 1970s. Orr’s first and most significant contribution was the Synthi E (Educational), once again based on the design of the VCS3, but simplified for educational use with a mechanical keyboard based on the design of the DK1, called the DKE. Despite Orr’s best efforts, the remainder of EMS’s products continued to develop beyond the constraints of the commercial market, reflected in units such as Peter Easttey’s Computer Synthi, a massively expensive digital controller intended as an add-on for the already untenable Synthi 100. Following Zinovieff’s unsuccessful attempt to launch a satellite telecommunications company (International Voice Movement), EMS relocated both its studio and development facility in 1976 to The Priory in Great Milton in Oxford, England. Unable to compete with the rising polyphonic market, however, with instruments such as the Yamaha CS80, Oberheim Four Voice, and Polymoog already made available and instruments such as the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 and Oberheim OBX on the horizon, EMS’s once-successful VCS3 and descendant products such as the Synthi AKS fell into relative obscurity. Nevertheless, EMS continued to pioneer its groundbreaking technologies and, in 1976, Tim Orr’s impressive Vocoder 5000, also known as the Studio Vocoder, was released to critical acclaim. This instrument featured a whopping twenty-two band-pass filters, as well as an on board frequency shifter and spectral analyzer. The Vocoder 2000 was also released as a cheaper, simplified alternative in 1977. With the stage set for the release of EMS’s first polyphonic synthesizer, the disastrous PolySynthi emerged in 1978, the same year that the hugely successful Prophet 5 entered the market. Designed by engineer Graham Hinton, the PolySynthi implemented what was by then a rather outdated divide-down polyphonic technology, consisting in a single set of twelve “top octave” oscillators and a series of corresponding octave dividers to halve the frequencies for each subsequent descending octave. Moreover, this mechanism was coupled with a paraphonic relationship between the instrument’s filter and envelope, meaning that only a single filter and envelope were used for every key; as such, notes that were selected after an initial key had triggered the filter and envelope were subsumed under the same cycle and were thus not capable of being properly articulated. Subsequent products such as the VCS3 upgrade cards and the polyphonic sequencer, co-designed by Zinovieff and Hinton, were equally unfruitful, never moving past the prototyping phase.

EMS collapsed in 1979 following excessive financial difficulties. Zinovieff departed after having served as chairman since 1969. The Great Milton studio was liquidated, and the company was sold to Datanomics, based in Wareham, Dorset in the south of England, where manufacture of EMS products had occurred since the early 1970s. The company retained the EMS moniker until 1984, manufacturing one-off units of some of the more successful products such as the VCS3, Synthi AKS, and Vocoder. While under Datanomics, EMS also prototyped another variation on the VCS3 design, the DataSynth, incorporating the Zilog Z80 microprocessor that had become a staple in digital technologies since its release in 1976, as well as CEM (Curtis Electromusic) integrated circuits. The company also designed a new version of the Synthi 100, though neither this nor the DataSynth went into full production. In 1984, the EMS’s assets were sold once again to Edward Williams, a television composer and frequent EMS user, who owned a studio in Bristol, England. Robin Wood, who had remained with the company since 1970, as well as Richard Monkhouse followed, collaborating with Williams on EMS’s next product, the Soundbeam. Released in 1988, the Soundbeam was a MIDI-capable synthesizer controller that was meant to accompany performance artists. Its unique ultrasonic range-finding technology allowed physical distances to be converted into voltages and then to MIDI data; capable of dealing both with long range distances as well as shorter distances corresponding to finger and even eyelid movements, the Soundbeam garnered unexpected popularity among physical and occupational therapists in that it offered those who were severely disabled the ability to control aspects of their environments through limited micro-movements. In 1995, Robin Wood, EMS’s longest-standing employee, purchased the complete rights to EMS, merging the company’s recent success with its original glory of the early 1970s in the dissemination of the Soundbeam as well as various VCS3, Synthi, and Vocoder parts and manuals. In addition to servicing these instruments, Wood also began rebuilding Synthi A and VCS3 units by hand according to original specifications, with the additional option to incorporate the original modifications; he currently sells these units for just under £2000. EMS currently operates out of Truro in Cornwall, England. The Soundbeam, as well as several variations, exists under the direction of an independent company called The Soundbeam Project, still based in Bristol. Upon leaving EMS in 1972, David Cockerell worked for the US-based Electro-Harmonix manufacturer of guitar pedals, designing the company’s famed Electric Mistress chorus and flanger pedal. In 1976, he briefly worked at the renowned IRCAM studios in Paris; more recently, he helped design Akai’s S series of samplers. A German company called EMS-Rehberg also continues to distribute EMS and Soundbeam products in addition to manufacturing similar units under the EMS-Rehberg moniker.