Mr. Zinovieff oversaw the design of the first commercially produced British synthesizers. In 1969, his company, EMS (Electronic Music Studios), introduced the VCS3 (for “voltage controlled studio”), one of the earliest and most affordable portable synthesizers. Instruments from EMS soon became a staple of
1970s progressive-
rock, particularly from Britain and Germany. The company’s slogan was “Think of a sound — now make it.”
[. . .]
The VCS3, priced at 330 pounds (about $7,700 now), was smaller and cheaper than other early synthesizers. (The Minimoog wouldn’t arrive until 1970 and would be more expensive.) The original VCS3 had no keyboard — though a touch-sensitive keyboard module was soon made available — and was best suited to generating abstract sounds.
Musicians embraced
the VCS3 along with other EMS instruments.
EMS synthesizers are prominent in songs like
Pink Floyd’s “On the Run,” Roxy Music’s “Virginia Plain” and
Kraftwerk’s “Autobahn,” and the Who used a VCS3 to process the sound of an electric organ on “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” King Crimson,
Todd Rundgren,
Led Zeppelin, Tangerine Dream, Aphex Twin and others also used EMS synthesizers.
