Resynator

Summary

Resynator is a heartfelt music documentary about Alison Tavel’s effort to recover the work and legacy of her late father, Don Tavel, an inventive electronic musician and engineer who created an unusual synthesizer in the 1970s. Known as the Resynator, the instrument was designed to expand the expressive possibilities of electronic sound, but its creator never had the opportunity to share it widely or see how it might influence the future of music. When Alison uncovers the long-forgotten synthesizer, she begins a journey to understand both the machine and the father she barely knew. Her investigation leads her through archival material, family memories, technical discoveries, and conversations with musicians and artists who help place Don’s ideas in the context of experimental and popular music. As she works to revive the Resynator and make its capabilities accessible to a new generation, the project becomes more than an attempt to complete her father’s unfinished mission. At the center of the film is Alison herself, whose search for an important piece of musical history gradually becomes a personal exploration of identity, grief, and family connection. Don remains an enigmatic presence, encountered through his invention, recordings, photographs, and the testimony of people who remember his imagination and ambition. The Resynator functions almost like a character of its own: a fragile, fascinating artifact that links past and present while raising questions about how technology can preserve a person’s voice. Blending music history, family memoir, and a celebration of creative experimentation, Resynator considers the ways unfinished dreams can be inherited and reinterpreted. It is also a portrait of the emotional process of getting to know a parent through the traces they leave behind. Warm, curious, and deeply personal, the film treats its synthesizer not merely as a piece of vintage equipment, but as a bridge between generations and a means of transforming absence into connection.