Join me on an audible journey through the history of electronic audio synthesizers. You'll learn how a few popular analog synths from the 1970s operate, how to change the sounds they make, as well as how the accidental discovery of FM synthesis in 1967 changed the sound of the 1980s. We'll cover oscillators, filters, resonance, effects like chorus, and how recent chip decapping and reverse engineering efforts revealed the long-hidden tricks of clever Japanese engineers. Everything will be explained from (more or less) first principles, with live audio demos throughout to help illustrate concepts: no electronics, DSP, or music background required.