Electronic Music Studios (EMS)

Electronic Music Studios (EMS) was founded in 1969 in Putney, London, by composer and technologist Peter Zinovieff, along with Tristram Cary and engineer David Cockerell, to commercialize innovations from Zinovieff's private electronic music studio that incorporated early computer applications in music. The company pioneered portable synthesizers like the VCS3 and produced seminal instruments including the Synthi A and Synthi 100 over the next decade, influencing electronic music through their adoption in studios, education, and broadcasting. Financial challenges led to its collapse in 1979, after which assets changed hands and a successor effort revived production of classic models.