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"The Triadex Muse is the first digital musical instrument ever made. The Muse is a music composer machine or digital synthesizer and melody composer, involving early logic modules in a unique circuit that allows the possibility of 14 trillion musical note combinations.
It was made in 1972 by Triadex Inc., Brookline, Mass. It was designed by Edward Fredkin and Marvin Minsky at MIT. The first Muse was designed by MIT graduates Edward Fredkin and Marvin Minsky in the late 1960’s. Minsky was on the set of “2001 A Space Odyssey”, and taught Stanley Kubrick about Artificial Intelligence as he created Hal.
The Muse is an algorithmic music generator that uses digital logic circuits to produce a sequence of notes (through a 4-inch built-in speaker or external speaker) based on the settings of various controls on the front panel: four small sliders that control Volume, Tempo, Pitch, and Fine Pitch. The switches to either side are used to start and stop the sequence, or to step through it note-by-note. Of the eight larger sliders on the right, four control the musical intervals used (labeled A, B, C, and D), and four control the theme (labeled W, X, Y, and Z). A rest can be substituted for the lowest note by flipping a toggle switch.
The exact logic behind the composition engine is rather technical, and not exactly intuitive. The tempo clock can be slaved to that of another Muse, allowing for multi-part compositions. These connections are on the underside (see photo).
It is not known for certain how many were made, but they are considered extremely rare. Estimate stated by Tom Whitwell, of the now defunct blog spot, Music Thing, was that only 280 were made.
The Muse is the subject of U. S. Patent 3610801. For years, the Muse was a featured exhibit at the Museum of Science, Boston. The signage explained the device's algorithmic (and deterministic) approach to the creation of its seemingly-random music. Far from being random, its preset "song" played continuously -- and was even given a name, "Museum Musings," by the staff."
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