Two notable and distinct attempts at creating instruments that synthesized sound are the Hammond organ and the Moog synthesizer.   The idea of the Hammond organ was to imitate the sounds (more specifically, the combining of pipes, or ranks) of a pipe organ in a more portable and cost effective music keyboard instrument, using mechanical tone wheels to produce sound.  The Moog synthesizer was created to produce new and distinctive sounds that could be modulated in pitch electronically, and is essentially the progenitor of the modern synthesizer.

The Hammond organ produces sound mechanically and has been used in rock music, particularly during the 1970s.  Todays synthesizers are able to imitate its sound.  The synthesizer, on the other hand, started out as an analog device but, with the help of the transistor, has evolved into a portable, electronic one.

The synthesizer was first used in popular recorded music in the 1960s, and bands such as Pink Floyd used synthesizers quite a bit in th 1970s.  It was in the early 1980s that synthesizers saw their greatest use and popularity in mainstream music, particularly pop rock.  Synths, as they are also known, were used extensively in recordings and concerts by bands such as New Order, Pet Shot Boys, A-Ha, Erasure, and Depeche Mode, all of which are also considered some of the most important exponents of synth-pop.

Synth pop saw a decline in popularity by the late 80s but its influence and the importance of the synthesizer continue to play a major role in music.  The synthesizer itself became portable and accessible – able to be used in concert – in the early 1980s (which allowed it’s popularity to increase), and has advanced technologically quite a bit since then.  The effect is still the same:  unique sounds that expand the creative and aural possibilities of music.