Outsiders expected synthesizers to imitate acoustic instruments; insiders used them to make entirely new sounds

Modulations names a foundational aesthetic split in how the synthesizer was understood. People outside the electronic-music field assumed a synthesizer’s job was to imitate traditional instruments, while those inside it wanted to use synthesizers to make completely new sounds that no acoustic instrument could produce. Giorgio Moroder describes even early electronic disco leaning too hard on mimicry (‘whack, whack’) before the synth ‘became more like an instrument than a sound-effect machine.’ The teachable point is that a synthesizer’s real value is timbral invention, not emulation — treating it as a fake orchestra squanders what makes it distinct.

Examples

Early sequenced disco imitating brass stabs versus Moroder’s ‘I Feel Love’ using the Moog to build a sound with no acoustic model; acid house’s 303 squelch is pure invented timbre.

Assessment

State the two opposed views of what a synthesizer is for that the film contrasts. Why does the ‘imitate acoustic instruments’ view undersell the instrument?