On June 25, 1984 I was perhaps the youngest in attendance at The 3rd Annual Synclavier II Summertime Seminar. My unsolicited to calls to New England Digital must have garnered in Brad Naples, the Executive VP and Chief Operating Officer, a curiousity about who this eighteen/nineteen year-old kid was who kept calling about their products. Eventually I would own a Stealth black Synclav but to stop my incessant calling they loaned me a Synclavier II –Serial # 003140-K, outfitted with an incredible memory capacity of 64K! (<-----sarcasm alert="" br="">Moreover, they invited me up to Dartmouth where the weeklong seminar was taking place.
Lecturers included:
Sydney Alonso: President of New England Digital and Chief of Hardware Design
Laurie Anderson: Renowned composer and performer ('Mister Heartbreak' had just been released)
Jon Appleton: The Dartmouth College Music Professor who had first conceived of such a machine/instrument
Denny Jaeger: Movie and television soundtrack synthesist and composer. Original consultant on Synclavier II development
Pat Metheny: Renowned guitarist and composer
Oscar Peterson: Renowned Jazz pianist and composer
Martin Rushent: Producer for the Human League, Go Go's, and more
Seminar attendees included both early adopters of the instrument, and potential customers:
Andrew Batchelor, Anthony Aliprantis, Barb Scott, Craig Harris, Dave Edgar, Dave Whittaker, Ed Morgan, Eric Morgeson, F. Navarette, G. Suarez, Gorden Kent, Jay McDonald, Jim Harris, John Slowiczek, Jon Kwasie, Laura Christman, Lee Blaske, Lee Kopp, Louis Resto, Mark Birmingham, Mastes, Mike Hoenig, Mike Thorne, Moreno & Gil, N. Schwartzman, Naut Humon, Neil Davis, Paul Burlingame, Raven Kane, Reed Hawthorne, Robin Halpin, Ron Friedman, Sherman Foote, Steve Short, Ted Amheiter, Tom Law, Tom Silverman, Torben Holme-Pedersen, Wil Roper, William Burnette, William Elliot, Michael Banks and Anthony Marinelli, and myself.
What did I learn? I wasn't the only audio geek on the planet! Hooray!
Synclavier, Synthesizer
