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Twenty Thousand Hertz

Synth Showdown: Moog vs. Buchla

Twenty Thousand Hertz

Dallas Taylor

Music, Design, Arts, Music Commentary

4.8 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 2 November 2022

⏱️ 26 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the United States, the East Coast and West Coast have rivalries across food, sports, music and more. But there’s another rivalry that’s less well known, but just as important. This standoff created sounds that were unlike anything that had been heard before. It redefined what a musical instrument could be. And it changed the sound of pop music forever. Featuring journalist Ryan Gaston and composer David Rosenboom. Watch Welcome to Synth, our first original Youtube video. Follow Dallas on Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn. Watch our video shorts on YouTube, and join the discussion on Reddit and Facebook. Sign up for Twenty Thousand Hertz+ to support the show & get our entire catalog ad-free. If you know what this week's mystery sound is, tell us at mystery.20k.org. Read Ryan Gaston’s tech & music articles on Perfect Circuit’s SIGNAL blog. Listen to David’s Rosenboom’s Buchla music via Black Truffle Records. Twenty Thousand Hertz is sponsored by Better Help. Try online therapy at betterhelp.com/20k and get on your way to being your best self. Use promo code 20k to get $20 off your next purchase over $100 at American Musical Supply. Subscribe to Björk's Sonic Symbolism show wherever you get your podcasts. Episode transcript, music, and credits can be found here: https://www.20k.org/episodes/synthwar Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

You're listening to 20,000 Hertz.

0:07.2

Here in the United States, there's always been rivalries between the East Coast and the West

0:12.5

Coast. You have the Celtics versus the Lakers, Broadway versus Hollywood, bagels and

0:18.2

locks versus avocado toast. And of course we have the big one, Disney World

0:24.0

versus Disneyland. But the most famous rivalry has to be the hip-hop battle of the 90s. On the West

0:31.2

Coast, you had artists like Snoop Dog, Dr. Dre, and Tupac. Over on the East Coast, you had Biggie

0:37.3

Smalls and Puff Daddy.

0:39.3

But there's one rivalry that started a long time before that.

0:44.6

Only this time, it was a rivalry not between artists, but between instrument makers.

0:49.9

That's 20,000 Hertz producer Andrew Anderson.

0:52.8

And this one created new sounds that were beyond the wildest dreams of musicians that came before.

0:58.5

It led to whole new genres like disco, post-punk, and electronic dance music.

1:04.2

It represented two different philosophies about the relationship between a musician and their instrument.

1:09.6

It's one of the biggest stories in music history that you've probably never heard.

1:13.8

And it starts all the way back in a New York hospital in 1933.

1:23.6

On May 23, 1933, a baby is born in Queens, New York City.

1:28.9

His parents call him Robert, but he'll be known to everyone as Bob.

1:33.0

Four years later, and almost 2,500 miles away in Los Angeles, another baby is born.

1:38.8

His parents name him Donald, but that quickly gets shortened to Don.

1:45.0

Both boys show an early interest in engineering.

1:48.0

While still at school, Bob builds his own musical instruments, like simple electronic organs from plans he finds in magazines.

1:56.0

Meanwhile, Don makes his own radios.

...

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