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RIP: Peter Zinovieff, British composer and synth pioneer

This section remembers all those musicians we have lost to that great studio in the sky. Long may they make music, wherever they are.

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RIP: Peter Zinovieff, British composer and synth pioneer

Unread post by Derek »

Not sure how well known Peter was, but he was a seminal influence on synthesiser design, and yet did not have the profile or fame of Moog, ARP, Dave Smith or Tom Oberheim.

However, if you have listened to Pink Floyd, Jean Michelle Jarre, Tangerine Dream, Hawkwind, Gong or the like, then you will have heard the sounds that his synths made. Better suited to being an abstract effects machine than anything thing else (as they were pretty unstable to get anything tuneful out them for long!), Floyd's "On The Run" is a classic example of an EMS synth (several), as was "Welcome to the Machine" from "Wish You Were Here", as are all of the "music concrete" abstract sounds plastered all over Jarre's seminal Oxygene album.

He beat Moog to creating the first portable synth by a year, and developed the first ever velocity sensitive keyboard. That’s before even thinking about his forays into computer based music at a time when computers were a rarity.

https://www.soundonsound.com/news/peter ... -1933-2021

https://www.musicradar.com/news/peter-zinovieff-dies

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/ ... es-aged-88

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Re: RIP: Peter Zinovieff, British composer and synth pioneer

Unread post by Saul »

I must admit that I was not aware of Peter Zinovieff until now. But of course, having read the obituary I now know I have heard the results of his efforts on quite a few recordings over the years. What an incredibly interesting chap!

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Re: RIP: Peter Zinovieff, British composer and synth pioneer

Unread post by Derek »

Saul wrote: Mon Jun 28, 2021 9:52 am I must admit that I was not aware of Peter Zinovieff until now. But of course, having read the obituary I now know I have heard the results of his efforts on quite a few recordings over the years. What an incredibly interesting chap!

Arturia has a Synthi virtual instrument in its collection. It is available standalone or as part of the V Collection 8.
The UK have had two very influential synth designers, who are barely known compared to the luminaries across the pond.

Peter Zinovieff was the first, Chris Huggett is the other (also now deceased), who co-founded Electronic Dream Plant (EDP Wasp, Gnat, Etc.), the Oxford Synthesizer Company and the OSCAR, and latterly Novation (with a stint of design work for Akai and their samplers somewhere in the middle).

I have the final incarnation of Chris's work in my Novation Summit, which never fails to surprise me, despite not having much time with it, and for Peter Zinovieff I have the following in virtual form:
  • Arturia Synthi (as you have mentioned)
  • XILS-LAB XILS-4 - a partial recreation of the dual VCS3 setup that Tim Blake (Gong, Steve Hillage, Hawkwind) had, which he called his "Crystal Machine" which had some special modifications and the two were linked together
  • iVCS3 which is the closest of all three to my ears, such a shame that they do not do it in VST format
And I must confess, I am toying with the idea of the Behinger VCS3 clone when it is available

Here is an interesting Spotify play list, featuring a selection of tracks that featured the VCS3



Some interesting historic articles
https://musicaficionado.blog/2020/09/02 ... 0s-part-1/
https://musicaficionado.blog/2020/10/14 ... 0s-part-2/

An interesting page featuring all the variants

http://emssynthesisers.co.uk/emsprods.html

Articles from Sound on Sound (including recently posted obituary)

https://www.soundonsound.com/news/peter ... -1933-2021

https://www.soundonsound.com/music-busi ... ems-part-1
https://www.soundonsound.com/music-busi ... ems-part-2


And who can forget the seminal advert ....

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Re: RIP: Peter Zinovieff, British composer and synth pioneer

Unread post by Derek »

And of couse, if you ever watched Doctor Who in the 70s or similar programs that the BBC Radiophonic workshop scored for, you will have heard the massive EMS Synth 100.

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PS: posting all of this as it stuns me that British synth history is so overlooked. It would be like Aussies knowing nothing about the Fairlight! :)
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Re: RIP: Peter Zinovieff, British composer and synth pioneer

Unread post by parametric »

Interestingly enough we had a Fairlight and a Synthi EMS at the Uni - not that I got the time or opportunity to play with either :roll:

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Re: RIP: Peter Zinovieff, British composer and synth pioneer

Unread post by Rara »

This is sad news :-(

I have heard of Peter, because of Jean-Michel Jarre and his VCS3 and Tangerine Dream :)
A lot of their LP's in my collection (one pink floyd to)
I have never heard any Peter's music though.
I had no idea Behringer was doing a VCS3 8O

Rara 0-)
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Re: RIP: Peter Zinovieff, British composer and synth pioneer

Unread post by Derek »

Yes, Behringer have it in at least prototype form….

And the VCS3 originals are still in use in places. When I saw Steve Hillage and Gong, the last gig I went to in 2019 before lockdown 8O 8O : 8O 8O then Hillage’s “life partner”, Miquette Giraudy was still using one. It was hard to spot as her keyboard rig was not on full view, but I saw this box laid horizontally and she was spinning upper dials in a way that they could only be vernier dials.

I had the time to re-read the sound on sound articles last night. Well worth a read for this little piece of British Synth History. I also reconfirmed my memory that if you loved the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy then you would have been listening to an EMS Synth 100.

Peter was truly a pioneer who was very much unsung but he shaped the synth landscape for many musicians and even more listeners
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Re: RIP: Peter Zinovieff, British composer and synth pioneer

Unread post by SysExJohn »

The original Doctor Who theme was, of course, created by Delia Derbyshire, a real pioneer of Musique Concrete, back in '63.
Way before any synths appeared on the scene.
All done with tape loops and old Ferrograph tape machines and lots of splicing tape.



There have been a couple of programmes about Delia following the discovery of an attic full of tapes at her home in Northamptonshire.

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Re: RIP: Peter Zinovieff, British composer and synth pioneer

Unread post by Derek »

You are indeed correct about the original being done by Delia D the old fashioned way, but the incidental music in the 70s episodes featured the synthi
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Re: RIP: Peter Zinovieff, British composer and synth pioneer

Unread post by Derek »

Peter’s Obituary was in the Telegtaph today

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/ ... irst-mass/

Here is the initial text (copyright DT of course)
Peter Zinovieff, who has died aged 88, was born into a family of exiled Russian aristocrats, but made his name as a maverick pioneer and composer of electronic music, and co-inventor of the VCS-3, one of the first commercial portable synthesisers; it achieved cult status and, with its siblings, shaped the course of electronic music in the 1970s.

Developed by Electronic Music Studios (EMS), the company Zinovieff co-founded in 1969 in the basement of his house in Putney with David Cockerell and Tristram Cary, the VCS-3 (voltage-controlled studio, attempt No 3) was not an easy instrument to use.

Unlike nearly all the synthesisers that followed, it did not dictate a particular path for the signal and, to begin with, had no keyboard. Zinovieff (whose early compositions included such works as Partita for Unattended Computer, which was the first unaccompanied performance of live computer music when it was premiered at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1968), tended to regard traditional notated scores and chromatic music as passé. A keyboard therefore seemed to be of secondary importance.

Though one was subsequently added, it was almost impossible to keep in tune. “If you wanted to use one with a keyboard in performance, you had to let it settle down for about half an hour before you could set the tuning,” Robin Wood, who joined EMS in 1970, recalled. “Even then, if someone were to open the door and let in cool air just before your lead solo, you could easily be in trouble.”
Which is why it as best regarded more as a music concrete synth, albeit you could do mods to improve the tuning stability..

So it is good to see his genius being recognised.

Perhaps its me, but I think the DT do the best obituaries and there are things here about Peter’s life I had never heard of.

I do hope that people here on Yamaha Musicians have been interested in finding more out about this fascinating character and what he contributed to the world of synths, I do not think he has the recognition he deserves. In my book, Peter is up there with Bob Moog, Dave Smith and other better known luminaries of our world.
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