Contextual Associations
The Aries series 300 synthesizer is a modular analogue synthesizer electrophone designed and manufactured in the United States in the 1970s. Aries was a small firm based in Salem, Massachusetts, which designed and built analogue modules for synthesizers and sold their products both as kits and as fully-assembled synthesizers (in the 1977 Aries catalog, the synthesizer pictured and described here was called their “System II” [Aries, p. 10]). Its primary audience consisted of musicians/composers with prior audio synthesis experience. The makers also proposed that it could be used in the classroom for teaching composition and as a performance instrument (Aries, p. 0). It was in competition with other synthesizers of the day such as those designed and built by Robert Moog, which probably held a much greater share of the rather small market for these fast-changing, expensive, and complicated instruments.
Description
In order to be used, the synthesizer must be plugged into a standard AC electrical socket. The heart of this synthesizer is an ensemble of eleven modules housed in a plywood case. The eleven modules in this synthesizer are: [in detail #2:] two voltage controller oscillators [VCOs] (AR-317), one balanced modulator (AR-315), one sample & hold [S&H]/clock noise generator (AR-318); [in detail #3:] one dual low-frequency oscillator [LFO], lag, and inverter (AR-324), two envelope generators (AR-312), one dual mixer (AR-323); [in detail #4:] one voltage controlled filter [VCF] (AR-314), one voltage controlled amplifier [VCA] (AR-316), and one output and power module (AR-326). These modules, each serving one or a few specific sound synthesis functions, are connected to one another by means of patch cords with NTT 311 miniature phone jacks at each end (some of these can be seen in gallery #1). The primary controller for this synthesizer is a five-octave keyboard. A keyboard interface module (AR-313) is mounted on the plywood keyboard case. The keyboard/controller is connected to the bank of modules by a cable with an 8-pin plug (visible in detail #1) that is plugged into the back of the module case. The electronic signals created on the synthesizer can only be heard though headphones or a speaker (the speaker seen in gallery #1 is not part of the synthesizer itself but is included to remind us that, like all electrophones, a speaker or headphones is needed for the instrument to be heard).
Player - Instrument Interface and Sound Production
The operator of this synthesizer sits or stands in front of the instrument’s keyboard facing the bank of modules mounted in their case. The operator chooses which modules a given signal will pass through (accomplished with the patch cords) and what modifications to the signal will take place (with the nobs and switches on a given module) in order to sculpt an audio product that either imitates the sound of an acoustical instrument or produces a totally new sound. With the keyboard controller, the synthesized sounds can be reproduced at different pitch levels and strung together to play melodies. It is unclear whether or not this is a monophonic instrument; the synthesizer’s Output and Power module has two outputs, but the catalog that came along with the instrument (Aries 1977) makes no mention of this being either a one-voice or a two-voice instrument (many synthesizers from this era were monophonic instruments that could produce polyphonic textures only by recording one line at a time, realized on the synthesizer, onto a multi-track tape).
Origins/History/Evolution
The history of modular analogue synthesizers goes back to the 1950s but production of such instruments for the commercial market really only got underway in the mid-1960s (Roberts, et al, pp. 670-671). Robert Moog and his early synthesizers led the way in this niche market, and Aries and their 300-Series synthesizers, produced mainly in the 1970s, was one of a few competitors (and never a major one) at the time. Digital synthesizers were, in the 1970s, in their infancy and would eventually eclipse modular analogue synthesizers in the 1980s as the preferred keyboard-controlled instrument for performers and composers.
Bibliographic Resources
Aries Music 77 [the 1977 catalog for the Aries Music company]. Salem, Massachusetts: Aries Music, Inc.
Campbell, Murray, Clive Greated, and Arnold Meyers. 2004. “13.3 Electronic Sound Generation.” In Musical Instruments: History, Technology, and Performance of Instruments of Western Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 445-450.
Roberts, David, Hugh Davies, Kyle Devine, and Ann Beetem Acker. 2014. “Synthesizer.” GDMI v.4: 670-673.
