I've long been fascinated by the seminal work done in digital music
synthesis at Bell Labs by Hal Alles and others. Like many Bell Labs
innovations, it stretches back further than one might think
and--similar to how most of the devices we have today run some
descendent of Unix--the impact of that work is still being felt. Have
your debate about spending private money on pure research. I, for one,
am grateful that Mervin Kelly convinced his employer to do so.

Bell had, of course, invested heavily in the problem of
signal-to-noise enhancement and all of its nooks and crannies. This
led them to early work in digital filters (as well any other form of
signal processing). The first assembly of components into musical
instrument configurations was more like an all-in-one "signal
processing lab", and the application of music might have been in part
to spice up presentations and sustain further funding. Alles and
Douglas Bayer had the insight of building a unique oscillator bank
that essentially allowed a relatively "slow" microprocessor to direct
the configuration of 32 PLL oscillators that had discrete logic for
summing and mixing their output directly to a DAC, which allowed for a
level of fidelity and control that would not be possible to do
directly in a CPU or DSP until decades later.

Like other Bell Labs innovations, there were no direct plans to
commercialize, but a deal with struck with Italian company Crumar to
first produce a commercial version (the Crumar General Development
System aka GDS), which was still expensive enough to not hope to sell
more than a handful of units in 1980 (by some reports only 3-5 were
sold, most to recognizable names as pioneer electronic music artists).
Most notably, Wendy Carlos embraced the system as a viable way to
complement her Moog analog arsenal. Her sound design genius
contributed some amazing programming to the instrument, and it
features prominently in Tron, A Clockwork Orange, and her other work
of the time. Finally, a "little brother" of the GDS was developed and
marketed under the name Digital Keyboards Inc (DKI). The Synergy took
the GDS sound engine and wrapped it in a more affordable and
performance-oriented package. The micro/mini (originally a DEC LSI-11)
was replace with a dedicated cartridge-based preset loading system.
The original Synergy, release in 1982, could only play presets,
although its performance features provided a lot of flexibility with
those presets.

Fortunately, the Synergy was later enhanced to include programming
features that could almost make it a GDS. The original system relied
on a CP/M machine (it was typically sold with a Kaypro), which ran the
software that communicated with the synth. A good number of these were
made, and the community that plays and maintains these is resourceful
and fiercely dedicated (https://groups.io/g/synergy-synth).

Recently, I've been surveying this scene again and, thankfully, have
given up the foolishness of adding yet another cantankerous restoration
project to my list ;-) This is in large part thanks to the amazing
work the community (which included some of the original engineers) to
produce a faithful emulator, the Synergia
(https://jariseon.github.io/synergia/). The Synergia includes a Z-80
emulator that runs the actual original software, married to a modern
DSP emulation of the voice board. Some harmonic plots boast the
faithfulness of the emulator's output to the original hardware.

The Synergia is accurate to the extent that you can actually hook up
a programmer as well--either a modern tool in common use (Synergize),
or you can even emulate a Kaypro and run the original software. In
fact, you could run the original software on a REAL Kaypro, and connect it
via virtual serial port!

I encourage anyone who is remotely interested to play around with
Synergia. You can spend a couple of hours going through as much of the
entire preserved library (including all the Wendy Carlos cartridges)
as you like.

And here's where the real meaning of this work hits home. This was
1982, realizing a design made in 1977 (which leverages work going back
to the 1940s). LISTEN. What was possible on this device at the time
is simply jaw-dropping in context. I have a little experience with
additive synthesis (first a K-5, then a Capybara-320), and the Synergy
is still capable of things that rival instruments that came one or two
decades later. It also has its own mix of FM and phase distortion
(yes--not to dis Chowning, but at least some of the Yamaha patent
claims are bit suspect). While not strong in every dimension, certain
sounds are magic. I continue to be in complete awe of what it can do
with percussion.

So, having passed on the GDS $30K price tag, you can pass on the $5K
to get a Synergy that needs work too. Get yourself the free Synergia,
and party like you were back at Murray Hill ;-)