The first thing that comes to mind when I think of Soviet Russia has very little to do with music. In fact, the country that the United States remained in a cold war with for several decades tends to generate images of newscasts from my childhood in my head. With a country that large, however, it seems foolish to assume that there would be no need for an industry devoted to creating synthesizers. After all, it takes a lot for a country to keep up the space race, but far less effort to keep up with Rick Wakeman.

I had heard about the Soviet Synthesizer industry recently in an article I found when a box of old Keyboard magazines fell on my head. So, while buying a bottle of Baltika 9 and 6 at my local grocer, I was inspired to hop on Google and find out what was out there.

The first instance of a Soviet synth I came across was a Polivoks, which was being sold online for 8,000 dollars. It was one of the most "industrial" synthesizers I had ever seen. This legendary 2 Osc analog synthesizer was one of the first produced in the USSR. Originally produced in 1982, the Polivoks was created at the Formanta Electronic Factory in Kachkanar City and sold exclusively in the USSR. The synthesizer has two voice polyphony, a step up from monophonic synths of the time.

The casing for the Polivoks is extremely interesting, because it is easily folded into a sturdy, mugger-proof metal case. The fat analog sound from the synth and filters has been considered in many cases to outperform the MiniMoog.

Another Formanta creation is the EMS-01. The unit is a combo organ/strings/piano with a 2 osc mono synthesizer. Two keyboards make up the unit with Modulator, Freq Modulator, Width Pulse Mod, Filter, Amplitude Modulator, Noise Generator, and Ring Modulator among others. This synth also evidently comes with a foot pedal.

While Formanta may have created the bulk of the original soviet synthesizers, it is interesting to note that many other synths were one-off creations made in military equipment plants. Of course, the radio equipment industry had to get it's hands in it too, so they released the Aelita 3 Oscillator Monophonic Synth (apparently named after Aelita: Queen of Mars).

This 44 key synthesizer features a wide variety of control from Tuning, Osciallators, Mixer controls, Filters, and Amplitude Control. The tuning controls allow each of the 3 oscillators to be tuned over an entire octave for chord programming. The real gem of this piece, however, is the Unison mode. This mode sets off all of the oscillators at one time, in every octave, producing an intensely heavy sound. The uniqueness of this synthesizer could be attributed to a variety of things. The filters are harsh, the oscillators' tun-ability can lead to interesting results, and the Unison mode borders on the edge of sonic obscenity.

So, if you suddenly find yourself in a St. Petersburg pawn shop, it would be a good idea to see if they have any of these lying around. As for the internet, finding a seller of Soviet synths within a reasonable price range seems to be fairly difficult. They are, however, often cheaper than their Moog counterparts from the same era, and in many ways more unique. Regardless, if you are looking to make some Moskow Disko, I would definitely recommend buying a Soviet synthesizer.