History
Before digital recording became practical, instruments such as the phonogene (1950s) and the Mellotron (1960s) used analog tape decks to play back sampled sounds.
When sample-based synthesis was first developed, most affordable consumer synthesizers could not record arbitrary samples, but instead formed timbres by combining pre-recorded samples from ROM before routing the result through analog or digital filters. These synthesizers and their more complex descendants are often referred to as ROMplers.
Sample-based instruments have been used since the Computer Music Melodian, the CMI Fairlight and the NED Synclavier. These instruments were way ahead of their time and were correspondingly expensive. The first recording using a sampling synthesizer was Stevie Wonder's "Secret Life of Plants" (1976) which used the Melodian to create complex melodies and rhythms from sampled sounds from nature. The first tune Wonder recorded was "The First Garden" where he used a sampled bird chirp as the lead sound in the song. More affordable sample-based synthesizers available for the masses with the introduction of the Roland D-50 and the Korg M1, which surfaced in the late eighties. The M1 also introduced the "workstation" concept.
The concept has made it into hi-end sound cards for the Multimedia PC, under the (incorrect) name of 'wavetable synthesis'.
Read more about this topic: Sample-based Synthesis
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