Con Brio, Inc. (alternatively spelled Conbrio or ConBrio) was a short-lived but influential synthesizer manufacturing company which, from 1978 to 1982, produced its most famous (and only) product, the ADS (an acronym for Advanced Digital Synthesizer). Early history and the ADS 100 Con Brio was founded in Pasadena, California, around 1979 by Tim Ryan, Alan Danziger, and Don Lieberman, three California Institute of Technology students who originally studied audio synthesis equipment designed to map the cerebral cortex of cats. Their first prototype was a modular production station dubbed the ADS 100. Originally designed as a tone generator to test hearing, the ADS was innovative in its approach to synthesis, and was, in fact, one of the earliest digital synthesizers. It was capable of several types of synthesis, including additive synthesis, phase modulation synthesis, and frequency modulation synthesis (commonly abbreviated to FM). It used three 6502 processors (the same processor used in the Apple II computer and Commodore 64) and included a video monitor which displayed sequences and envelope parameters. It could also be upgraded with commonly available computer peripherals, including an 8-inch floppy disk drive. All of this was controlled via a brightly colored control panel and two 61-note keyboards. The ADS 100 was later famously used to generate sound effects for Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). Although Con Brio used this aggressively to market their product, no price for the ADS was given at the time, and the ADS 100 was largely assumed to be commercially unavailable. ADS 200 The ADS 100 was later modified and rebuilt to produce the ADS 200. This incarnation of the ADS series was an all-in-one machine, similar to the PPG Realizer, and weighed approximately 175 pounds. All components were built into a large wooden box, and several features were added, including the ability to display musical notation and splittable keyboards. The sequencer also could sync and play up to four tracks at a time, and five 6502 processors were used, as opposed to only three on the 100. The ADS 200 also implemented CV/Gate, an interfacing system that was standard before the invention of MIDI. The ADS 200 was completely hand-wired and reportedly took over seven months to build. Of the two units built, only one was reportedly sold for approximately $30,000 (about £17,000), making the ADS 200 a relative success. The buyer