Ray Wilson authored this content while he was actively running MFOS as the founder and resident genius. We retain the content because it reflects a valuable point of view representing that time and place.

The circuits that you find on my pages are the result of combining information and inspiration from several sources. I am an avid electronics experimenter but I would never have figured out how to build many of the things you find in these Analog Synth Pages without some help. So I would like to site some of the sources that have either provided inspiration or published information that helped me produce these circuit designs:

Robert Moog has been an inspiration to all synthesists as the Grand Master of electronic music synthesis, circuit design, and innovation. If this link is still active here is a little history: Robert Moog. Sadly in August of 2005 we lost this electronic music genius, and man greatly admired in many spheres, far too soon. Robert Moog's spirit will live on and his amazing creativity will never be forgotten.

John Simonton owned and operated PAIA from 1968 to 2005. The synth-diy community will truly miss John who was taken from us at the age of 62 by esophageal cancer. For many of us John was the inspiration to aspire to build our own synthesizer at a time when they were out of economic reach for most people. John freely shared so much with the synth-diy community. I was very glad to hear that PAIA (Founded by John Simonton) will continue to operate and offer John's great products. PAIA continues to be a great source for electronic music kits and accessories. I used to drool over my PAIA catalog featuring John's cool kits. The Gnome was one of the first kits I ever bought and I loved it. To this day seeing a PAIA catalog brings me back to when I was 16 or so and makes me a little misty. It will continue to. Goodbye John. May your travels and creativity continue on in a better place. More information about John's life and times.

Philip Dodds. I used to spend afternoons at Hollowood Music in McKees Rocks, PA playing every ARP in the place (and wishing I could afford one). At the time I had no idea that a man named Philip Dodds was helping to design these totally cool synths. Sadly, Philip passed away on October 6, 2007 in Maryland. He was formerly an ARP Synth engineer and Kurzweil R&D head. He was picked by Steven Spielberg to portray the synthesizer expert who played the unforgettable five-notes to the alien mother ship in the 1977 movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" on a massive ARP 2500. May Philip's love of electronic music and pioneering spirit live on. More information about Philip Dodds' life and times.

Hal Chamberlin: Many ideas for the VCO, VCF, and Analog Keyboard Controller circuits came from Hal Chamberlin's seminal work (affectionately acronymed MAM): Chamberlin, Hal. Musical Applications of Microprocessors, 2nd ed. Rochelle Park NJ: Hayden Book Co., 1985. which is unfortunately out of print but I understand that copies can be obtained here:
Musical Applications of Microprocessors

Bill Gross and Don Sauer are the co-inventors of the LM13600 and LM13700 chips for which I owe them a debt of gratitude. The LM13600/LM13700 chips are the mainstays of many of the voltage controlled circuits found on MFOS. You can learn more about the origins of the LM13700/LM13600 here: THE LM13600/LM13700 STORY

Bernie Hutchins has been publishing Electronotes (a great resource for analog synthesists) since 1972. His engineering work is often contained and referenced in other books (including MAM). You can visit the ELECTRONOTES web-site at: Electronotes and subscribe to Bernie's newsletters or obtain back issues of Electronotes.

Thomas Henry has been publishing articles in Electronotes, Polyphony, Electronic Musician, Nuts & Volts, etc. for over twenty years. Anyone building synths has been positively influenced at one time or another by Thomas Henry.

Don Lancaster Author of the famed and much revered TTL Cookbook, CMOS Cookbook, Active Filter Cookbook and many many others. Don got everyone going on CMOS, TTL, and Active Filters. Don Lancaster is still cooking up tons of great information at The Guru's Lair.

Barry Klein In 1982 Barry wrote a book entitled Electronic Music Circuits (EMC) that presents schematics and techniques to build your own modular analog music synthesizer. Out of print since the mid-80's copies can be obtained here:
Get Barry's "Electronic Music Circuits" you will love it!!!

Wendy Carlos' incredible musicianship and ability to apply synthesis techniquies to Bach's music was a clarion call to all musicians that the electronic music synthesizer had arrived. "Switched On Bach" was a trip into the composer's mind and remains a classic among performances realized on electronic music synthesizers.

Craig Anderton is an authority on musical electronics and audio recording. Craig gives musicians the knowledge and confidence to open the case of a piece of equipment and modify or repair it.

Forrest Mims the Radio Shack guy. Forrest Mim's Engineer's Notebook series (available at Radio Shack) are very good sources of basic info and some very cool tricks and tips. They range in audience from people who don't know which end of a soldering iron to hold to seasoned electronics enthusiasts. Run Forrest!, Run!!

Texas Instruments has published reams of information in their line of databooks. I encourage everyone to visit their site at: Texas Instruments. They have every data sheet in the world and they are all downloadable.

National Semiconductor has published reams of information in their line of databooks. National has been absorbed into the now titanic Texas Instruments. The link to their site is above.