Synthesizers and Samplers

Synthesizers and samplers are pivotal instruments in electronic music. Synthesizers, which had their breakthrough in the 70ies, are used to create sounds electronically and offer numerous possibilities to modulate these. They are available as keyboard instruments featuring keyboards of different sizes or as pure sound modules that have to be operated with external input devices, such as MIDI keyboards or controllers. The first song that was solely created with synthesizers was “Popcorn” in the year 1969.

Samplers are used to play back prerecorded or emulated sounds, which can be modulated depending on the features of a given device. They are controlled with buttons, built in or external trigger pads, or master keyboards. Musicians and producers in all kinds of music styles use samplers in order to create an electronic “feeling” or to add supplementary instruments.