Highly influential composer and synthesizer creator Peter Zinovieff has passed away at the age of 88 after suffering a fall at his home.
Zinovieff created the company Electronic Music Studios (EMS), one of the first outfits to bring synthesizers to the public. The marketing slogan “think of a sound—now make it” was the idea behind the synths produced by EMS, who crafted products such as the portable VCS3 and Synthi A. Both instruments were used by iconic musicians such as Pink Floyd, David Bowie, The Beatles, Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Jean-Michel Jarre, and many more.
Jarre—among many others—took to Twitter to pay tribute to the late synth pioneer. “Thank you Peter, the father of the VCS3 and the AKS, I owe you so much,” he wrote.
The London native not only revolutionized electronic music through his groundbreaking work on synthesizers, but also as a virtuosic composer and vanguard of AI composition and the technique of sampling, which he claims to have invented.
Zinovieff also worked on an electronic music collective known as Unit Delta Plus with Delia Derbyshire and Brian Hodgson of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, who created the Doctor Who theme music through synthesizers from EMS.
