Software synthesizer
generates digital audio, usually for music
A software synthesizer or virtual instrument is a software app or plug-in that generates digital audio, usually for music. Virtual instruments can be played in real time via a MIDI controller, or may be readily interfaced with other music software such as music sequencers typically in the context of digital audio workstation (DAW) software. Virtual instruments exist for essentially every musical instrument type, emulating various types of synthesis, orchestral instruments, drums, guitars, pianos, and even recreations of specific models of hardware synthesizers and classic keyboards.
Mainstream virtual instruments were first introduced in the late 1990s, and popularized by Steinberg's introduction of VST instruments in 1999. As computer processing power increased into the early 2000s, virtual instruments could produce what previously required the dedicated hardware of a conventional synthesizer or sampler. By 2014, virtual instruments had become the second-largest music software product category in terms of revenue, with the first being DAW software.
Background
In 1957, while working at Bell Labs, Max Mathews wrote MUSIC, the first widely accepted program for making music (in actuality, sound) on a digital computer. Barry Vercoe followed Mathews' work with Music 11, and went on to develop the audio programming language Csound at the MIT Media Lab in 1985.
In 1986, Aegis released Sonix for the Amiga. Alongside a graphical score editor, Sonix leveraged the Amiga's Paula sound chip for a 4-voice software synthesizer.
“Software synthesizer” enters the record as generates digital audio, usually for music. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Software, synthesizer and generates can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1897589. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1999, 2014, 1957 and 1985.
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This entry incorporates text from “Software synthesizer” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.