From obsolete technology to performance instrument: new live presentations of the EMS Synthi 100

Morgan, Frances

From obsolete technology to performance instrument: new live presentations of the EMS Synthi 100

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Journal article

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Morgan, Frances

Date published

June 7, 2023

Abstract

The presentation of electronic musical instruments in museum and other institutional contexts prompts a number of questions about the restoration of sound technologies, the reconstruction of musical practices and techniques, and past and present cultures of electronic music, among other topics. Drawing from research into the electronic musical instrument company and sound studio EMS London Ltd, which produced synthesizers and other devices during the 1970s, this paper outlines some examples of how an EMS synthesizer, the Synthi 100, has been restored and re-presented by academic, broadcasting and arts institutions in the last decade. Devised for compositional use in electronic music studios, in recent years the Synthi 100 has been used in concerts and broadcast media as an instrument for live performance. Focusing on some of these events, I ask how live performance is used to draw connections between electronic music’s past and present, as well as to attract new participants and audiences to concerts, exhibitions and broadcasts of electronic music.