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Halifax-based Rich Aucoin used 162 synthesizers across four albums of instrumental music over five years.<\/span>Allison Seto\/National Music Centre<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n For his four-album, multiyear project Synthetic<\/i>, pop-electronica party starter Rich Aucoin used vintage synthesizers housed at Calgary\u2019s National Music Centre. Some of the instruments were set up in proper recording studios, while others were relegated to basement workshops at the music museum. <\/p>\n More still were part of active exhibits: walls of knobs behind velvet ropes. Aucoin and engineer Jason Tawkin, the NMC\u2019s manager of collections access, wore headphones and recorded in plain sight of visitors. Imagine tech-savvy kids walking into a gaming museum and encountering two grown men earnestly playing Pong. <\/p>\n In addition to using NMC instruments, Aucoin travelled to the Vintage Synthesizer Museum in Los Angeles for the project. Using the famous 1970s synth TONTO \u2013 an acronym for The Original New Timbral Orchestra \u2013 or a Roland Chroma Polaris from the 1980s in L.A. was both a step back into time and into a futuristic experience.<\/p>\n \u201cJust being in the presence of them feels like so much history, and it was so interesting to see the complexity and the size of these instruments,\u201d Aucoin said from his Halifax studio on a video call. \u201cThe sounds felt fresh, though.\u201d <\/p>\n Synth-driven music first gained widespread notice with the release of Wendy Carlos\u2019s debut 1968 album Switched-On Bach, <\/i>which was a collection of the Baroque composer\u2019s pieces performed on a Moog synthesizer (invented by synth icon Robert Moog). In 1977, producer Giorgio Moroder brought the Moog to disco with Donna Summer\u2019s top 10 hit I Feel Love.<\/i> <\/p>\n 101 Canadian albums you should listen to now<\/a><\/p>\n Today, in the age of computers and now artificial intelligence, classic synthesizers seem quaint and artisanal in comparison. A resurgence in old-school technology has resulted in popular events such as Machina Bristronica, an annual festival of \u201cknobs, buttons and discussions\u201d in Bristol, England. Yet the British Musicians\u2019 Union voted to ban synths in 1982, fearing the machines would replace live performers.<\/p>\n Aucoin, 42, used 162 synthesizers on four albums of all-instrumental music that took five years to make. Recording started in 2020 during an NMC artist residency. The first two \u201cseasons,\u201d or chapters, were nominated for electronic album of the year in the 2023 and 2024 Juno Awards. <\/p>\n The new Synthetic Season 4 <\/i>might be the most ambitious of the lot, with 103 unique synths employed. The initial idea was for the four albums to represent the energy levels of a party that ramps up on Season 1 <\/i>before winding down to an ambient conclusion. But that\u2019s not what happened.<\/p>\n \u201cI kept ramping up,\u201d Aucoin said. \u201cSeason 4 <\/i>really didn\u2019t calm down in the way I thought it would.\u201d<\/p>\n His enthusiasm can be excused. In the early 1970s, synthesizers were the cutting-edge new toys of popular music. Rick Wakeman, keyboardist for the rock band Yes, once told<\/a> MusicRadar magazine: \u201cI suddenly had an instrument that could give the guitar a run for its money.\u201d <\/p>\n In an interview with Melody Maker in 1971, the Who\u2019s Peter Townshend recalled using three makes of synthesizers to record the band\u2019s landmark Who\u2019s Next <\/i>album and the tracks Won\u2019t Get Fooled Again <\/i>and Baba O\u2019Reilly<\/i>. <\/p>\n \u201cThe sight of a Moog synthesizer smothered in patch cables brings me to a state approaching orgasm,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Aucoin understands the giddiness: \u201cThere was a newness and excitement with these synths fresh out of the box. I imagine it felt like the next evolution of the rock genre.\u201d<\/p>\n