How a 1980s Synthesizer Patch Created the Legendary ‘Hoover Sound’ of 1990s Raves

Music history channel Mixed Signals explained how the “What The?” patch on the Roland Alpha Juno synthesizer, which started as a joke by legendary sound designer Eric Persing in 1985, made its way around the world to become the preeminent “Hoover” sound of rave music in the 1990s.

We’ll be taking a look at the history of the hoover sound. From its origins as a joke preset on the Roland Alpha Juno, all the way to 90s rave music domination and its lasting legacy on electronic music.

The narrator amusingly also recounts that Persing had no idea that the “Hoover” sound being presented to him was actually of his own inventions

I’m getting this I’m getting faxes and texes and stuff from Japan we got to get more Hoovers. …What is this Hoover? …and so I’m looking up kind of just where it came from and I find this early website that’s that’s dedicated to the “Hoover” and it says that the sound is made by the alpha Juno  and it’s this preset called “What The” and I’m like that’s my sound.