A Relic From The Roots Of Electronic Music - Oramics on NPR

Listen On All Things Considered

"The Oramics machine is the creation of Daphne Oram, the first director of the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop and a central figure in the evolution of electronic music.

'Forget everything you've ever known about synthesizers. This machine has no piano keyboard or anything like that. It looks like the sort of thing that a mad inventor would make in his shed.'" [her shed - mad inventor Daphne Oram below left]

This one in via timelord. Be sure to see the Oramics label below for more.

Delia Derbyshire - Sculptress of Sound documentary 1 - 7

YouTube Uploaded by straypixel on Apr 5, 2010

"The broadcaster and Doctor Who fan Matthew Sweet travels to The University of Manchester - home of Delia Derbyshire's private collection of audio recordings - to learn more about the wider career and working methods of the woman who realised Ron Grainer's original theme to Doctor Who.

Further details from http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rl2ky

This is part 1 of 7; the programme is divided into chunks to fit YouTube's 10 minute length limit.

Photographs are BBC/public domain. Used, by permission, from Ray White's 'Radiophonic Gallery', http://whitefiles.org/rwg/."

Previously posted but not embedded here.

Daphne Oram's Oramics Post BBC Synthesizer

Oramics from Nick Street on Vimeo.

"A brief glimpse of Daphne Oram's pioneering and unique 'Oramics' synthesiser, designed in 1957 after she left the legendary BBC Radiophonic Workshop to pursue the project.

The machine, recently acquired by Goldsmiths College, is now in the hands of The Science Museum in London and is currently being restored. It hasn't been performed since the 1970s.

For more information on Daphne Oram and her machine check out daphneoram.org"

See the Oramics and BBC labels below for more.

The Electric Tunesmiths - 1971 BBC EMS SYNTHI 100 Modular Recording

You'll find the audio from this 1971 recording on It's Full of Stars.

Pixelh8 - The Schematic "Trailer 1"

YouTube via pixelh8 | October 07, 2010

"This is the preview trailer for the upcoming Pixelh8 double album "The Schematic" an album split between "Vol 1. Software" happy poppy classic chiptune and "Vol 2. Hardware" aggressive and ambient glitch chaos chiptune. Utilising computers from the 80's and 90's such as the BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, and Amiga 500, we hope you will enjoy the sound.

I am excited :) working hard on it at the moment.

All audio and video are copyright Hidden Youth Records UK 2010."

Pixelh8 - The Schematic "Trailer 2"

Sculptress of Sound: The Lost Works of Delia Derbyshire

"The broadcaster and Doctor Who fan MATTHEW SWEET travels to The University of Manchester - home of Delia Derbyshire's private collection of audio recordings - to learn more about the wider career and working methods of the woman who realised Ron Grainer's original theme to Doctor Who."

via VICMOD, whom BTW "is having a record label launch tonight if anyone is in Melbourne , Australia and wants to see the VICMOD ENSemble perform alongside Cray, Steve Law and Rod Cooper.

The label as of today has 6 releases.
http://vicmod.blogspot.com/2010/03/tonight-tuesday-30-march-vicmod-records.html"

Side note: I originally thought it was this Matthew Sweet. Turns out it is this one. Thanks to STG for catching it.

BBC "Bonger" Analogue Sequencer Oscillator Synth Filter

via this auction

"Not something you're going to see every day - this custom modular rack unit was rescued from a BBC studio. In all honesty I know very little about it other than what I can tell from looking at it, and I have not tested it as I don't have the Neutrik mains connector required to power it up (these are available on eBay though). This custom-made box consists of 4 modules.

From left to right:
* The first, main module, appears to be a 4 step sequencer with variable rate, hold, and reset controls. If you remove the 4 black covers beneath are potentiometers for adjusting each of the 4 frequencies.
* Next: Envelope shaper with on-off control
* Third module is a low pass filter.
* Finally a very high quality BBC PS2/13D/599 dual rail power supply.

On the side of the machine is a Neutrik mains connector and two jack sockets (possibly GPO jack).

An internal sticker indicates that the unit was known as the "Bonger" - which may well be descriptive of the kind of sound it produces.

I have no idea what this unit was designed for but it could well be an interesting addition to the analogue synthesists arsenal."

The note and the design remind me of something out of J. J. Abrams' Lost.

Sold For: GBP 182.77

CLICK FOR MORE »

The Dreams - Electronic Soundscapes by Delia Derbyshire and the BBC

via Weekend Gallimaufry via Scott Stites
"For a long time I thought Barry Bermange (a talented writer on his own) was the one behind the whole concept. I didn't realize until much later that The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was actually the brainchild of Delia Derbyshire, and she was the one responsible for the incredible electronic sound that accompanied the voices."

Future Of Sound / Future Of Light - Tuesday 24th March - Goldsmiths, London

"Hosted by Martyn Ware, founder member of The Human League and Heaven 17

Future Of Sound / Future Of Light
Tuesday 24th March 2009
Goldsmiths, University of London, New Cross, London SE14 6NW
Symposium: Media Resources Building, Screen 1, 2pm-6pm, Free
Showcase: The Great Hall, 7pm-10pm, Free
To book and for more info: Amie Ouzman - a.ouzman@gold.ac.uk +44 (0)20 7919 7640
Nearest tube: Canada Water - replacement buses to New Cross/New Cross Gate
Nearest overground: New Cross/New Cross Gate
www.futureofsound.org

Presented by Future Of Sound, Goldsmiths Screenschool, Sound Practice Research Unit and Centre for Contemporary Music Culture, Illustrious and Sonic Arts Network

SYMPOSIUM ON SYNESTHESIA
Media Resources Building, Screen 1, 2pm to 6pm

Keynote speaker: Andrey Smirnov - asmir.theremin.ru
"Graphic Sound: technology, music and science"
Andrey Smirnov is an interdisciplinary artist, composer and researcher and developer of electronic music techniques. He is a founding director and the Senior Lecturer of the Theremin Center for Electroacoustic Music at Moscow State Conservatory. His SOUND_in_Z project was recently on at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris.

Presentations from experimental artists, including:
Andy Cameron - www.futureofsound.org/4.htm
Dr Mick Grierson: Oramics - www.mickgrierson.co.uk
Derek Holtzer: Tonewheels - www.umatic.nl/tonewheels_historical.html
Rob Mullender: Photophonics - silentlight.blogspot.com

SHOWCASE
Great Hall, 7pm to 10pm

Hosted by Martyn Ware, founder member of The Human League and Heaven 17 and a pioneer in electronic music. Using a ground breaking 3D surround sound system, this multi-sensory show fuses an international collective of cutting edge audiovisual practitioners.

body>data>space - www.bodydataspace.net
Andy Cameron - www.futureofsound.org/4.htm
Sophie Clements - www.sophieclements.com
Tal Rosner - www.talrosner.com
Scanner - www.scannerdot.com
The Sancho Plan - www.thesanchoplan.com
Andrey Smirnov - asmir.theremin.ru
United Visual Artists - www.uva.co.uk"

via fabio

The Story Of The BBC Radiophonic Workshop and the Oramics Optical Synthesizer

via Steve Marshall:

"I wrote a 12 page article about the history of the Radiophonic Workshop for the April 08 Sound On Sound and it's now free to read on-line.

As a result of that article being printed, Graham Wrench got in touch - he's the engineer who'd built the prototype Oramic synth for Daphne Oram in the 60's. The current Feb 09 SOS has my new article about Graham and his story. Here's a link, but only to a preview.

Ray White has just put up a new gallery of Radiophonic Workshop pics - some not seen before; http://whitefiles.org/rwg/"

Also see Steve Marshall's SURROUNDHEAD for scans from 70's Studio Sound magazines.


Above: "Daphne Oram with the wobbulator (centre of shot), 1958."

Left: "The unique Oramics synthesizer was controlled by drawing onto 35mm photographic film."

Pixelh8 "Obsolete?"

via the Pixelh8 email list:
"I am very excited.
Recently I Pixelh8 have had the good fortune, with the help of The National Museum of Computing and the Performing Rights Society Foundation, to have a huge music project of mine funded. The project is to write a piece of music composed from sounds from some of the rarest and earliest computers and computing devices in the world to be performed at the World War II code breaking centre Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes on March 20th and 21st 2009.

The project entitled “Obsolete?” will make use of machines such as Colossus Mark 2 world’s first programmable, digital, electronic, computing device used for code breaking in World War II and probably one of, if not the most significant computer in the world. Another computer to be used is Elliot 803 from 1960, a giant machine that has only 4k!!! ithink it’s one of only three left in the world and I love it!

The blogs leading up to it have now also been declassified and can be accessed by going here http://pixelh8.co.uk/category/obsolete/

On the flipside the piece will also feature several other commonplace computing devices that have either been discarded or branded as “Obsolete?” as time moved on, so yes I will be using the ubiquitous BBC Micro too.

This will be chip tune music but unlike any other you have ever heard.

These machines have been restored to working order and in some cases completely reconstructed by volunteers and researchers at TNMOC, and I am honoured to be associated with these hard working men and women and the unique history of Bletchley Park.

This is to be one of many computer music related projects I am hoping to bring to the museum and I am very, very excited. I strongly recommend you go and visit The National Museum of Computing in the meantime, but you won’t get any more information about “Obsolete?” just yet, as it is classified information.

Pixelh8"

via brian c

Obama's inauguration speech - live mashup

YouTube via timexile. It does go somewhere.
"Most significant international events don't have a pre-warning but this one did, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to mash it up live with my live remix/mashup/improv machine which I made. It's all improvised using the BBC world service live web stream. Unfortunately the web stream flaked out at the beginning of his speech so I had to start part way in."

The Story Of Pop – Part 35. Synthetic Material.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/shows/piao/
"Alan Freeman looks at the history of the synthesiser, from its origins over a century ago right up to the digital samplers."
There's a link on the right pane of the site when you get there. It appears to require Real Player.
via Ollie.

BBC Radiophonic Workshop - Fourth Dimension

via Dinasaur Gardens where you will find more.

"I came across this album in a dilapidated Leeds (UK) record shop for just a couple euros and have held onto it for dear life — BBC Radiophonic Workshop on vinyl doesn’t sell cheap. The standout track for me is easily Vespucci, a funky saunter with a very sampleable cool synth melody. The abstract cover from this 1973 release looks quite a bit like a CD exploding, perhaps another ahead-of-their-time move from these old-timers."

via Denis

EMS SYNTHI 100

Little Boots talks via Later...

YouTube via JoeFoneboneEsq.

Tenori-On comes in at 1:19

"Little Boots talks via Later. Chris Lowe is from Blackpool.....
http://www.myspace.com/littlebootsmusic
http://www.bbc.co.uk/later/"

GForce M-Tron Pro

"The M-Tron Pro virtual instrument is a remarkable emulation of the classic Mellotron — the unique tape playback keyboard made famous by such luminaries as The Beatles, Yes, Led Zeppelin and The Moody Blues.

The 3.5GB sound library features over 200 tape banks (sample sets) including those from the M-Tron, 19 of which have been remastered at London’s legendary Abbey Road Studios resulting in a warmth of tone surpassing the originals.

M-Tron Pro also delivers 45 brand-new tape banks and over 700 patches, many created by world-class recording artists and programmers. Utilise the patches or open the lid to access G:sampler’s easy editing controls for layers, splits, reverse, halfspeed and much more. It can be used in standalone mode (Mac/PC) or as a plug-in for most popular host applications.
A Virtual Classic... and Beyond
Dating back to the pre-digital 1960s, the Mellotron was one of the first sample-based keyboards. Artists such as The Moody Blues, Yes, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Genesis and later OMD, Radiohead and Oasis have used them to emulate strings, choirs and other orchestral instruments, while the BBC used them extensively for sound effects.

When pressed, each key engaged playback of a discrete strip of tape containing an eight-second recording of that note played on an instrument such as a violin. The tape rewound after key release. The lack of looping forced the player to adapt his playing style giving the instrument a unique playing characteristic in addition to its already distinct sound. The more commercial models featured the ability to switch between three different sound sets within the installed tape bank — and adventurous owners were able to physically swap tape banks with care and patience.

We first paid homage to this venerable keyboard with the M-Tron. Now M-Tron Pro goes far beyond — and is as much a labor of love as the Mellotron itself. As well as the aforementioned Abbey Road remasters, we're also supplying over 40 of the tape banks looped.

More Under the Hood
Lift the lid of the M-Tron Pro and you’ll discover a whole new set of easy yet powerful editing controls that take the Tron experience way beyond what the original inventors ever imagined.

Set up your own splits and layers, apply vintage ensemble and delay effects, and sculpt your sound with low-pass, band-pass and high-pass resonant filters. And that’s just the beginning. You’ll find tape reverse, tape half-speed and a slew of synth-type parameters—making the M-Tron Pro a remarkable source for unique signature sounds far beyond the basic tape banks sounds themselves.

Programmable MIDI CC control implementation with MIDI Learn lets you control it all from your MIDI controller and there’s dynamic keyboard control including filter aftertouch.
Standalone or Host Operation
You can use the M-Tron Pro by itself or as a plug-in for most popular host applications including Live, Cubase, Logic, GarageBand, SONAR, Digital Performer, ACID and Pro Tools|HD®, Pro Tools LE® and Pro Tools M-Powered™ software.

Compatible formats include VST 2.4 (Mac/PC including VSTi), RTAS® (Mac/PC), MAS (Mac) and Audio Units (Mac). In other words, it’s easy to integrate M-Tron Pro with the rest of your studio and use it just about any way you want."

Be sure to see this overview video by Sonic State.

Little Boots - Meddle (Live at Jools Holland)

YouTube via nfallararo.

Yamaha Tenori-On and stylophone. You might remember Little Boots from these posts.
"Blackpool's Victoria Hesketh, aka Little Boots, had her demo picked up by Hot Chip's Joe Goddard upon her move to London. He then produced her initial single Stuck on Repeat and more recently debut single proper, Meddle. Following her BBC Introducing performance at Glastonbury this year we predict big things for Little Boots.
She was the vocalist of Dead Disco.

http://www.myspace.com/littleboots music http://www.littleboots.com"

Team records 'music' from stars

"Scientists have recorded the sound of three stars similar to our Sun using France's Corot space telescope.

A team writing in Science journal says the sounds have enabled them to get information about processes deep within stars for the first time.

If you listen closely to the sounds of each star - by clicking on the media in this page - you'll hear a regular repeating pattern.

These indicate that the entire star is pulsating."

You can listen to the stars and find more info on the BBC News. via UniQue Werkx

BBC RADIOPHONIC WORKSHOP - A Retrospective

"50TH ANNIVERSARY RELEASE

DOUBLE CD, RELEASE DATE: 3rd NOVEMBER 2008

Mute are proud to announce the release of a 50th Anniversary Retrospective double CD from the Radiophonic Workshop. This brand new compilation features classic, extremely rare and previously unavailable sounds and music by the legendary BBC organisation. Presented in chronological order, the CD includes works from stalwarts of the Radiophonic Workshop such as John Baker, Delia Derbyshire, Daphne Oram, Elizabeth Parker, Desmond Briscoe, Paddy Kingsland, Peter Howell and Malcolm Clarke amongst others.

This Retrospective features over 100 pieces of music and sound effects from various BBC TV and Radio shows from 1958 through to 1997. Including work from Quatermass and the Pit, The Goon Show, The Secret War, Blake’s Seven, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Salem’s Lot, The Demon Headmaster, Michael Palin’s Full Circle as well as the original full length Dr Who Theme and the Tardis effects.

Using reel-to-reel tape machines, early heroines such as Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire recorded everyday or strange sounds and then manipulated these by speeding up, slowing down or cutting the tape with razor blades and piecing it back together.

The pioneering techniques were created for and used on a myriad of programmes, with Dr Who being their biggest client. The sound of the Tardis in Dr Who was a sound engineer's front door key scraped across the bass strings on a broken piano. Other impromptu props included a lampshade, champagne corks and assorted cutlery.

Ten years ago the workshop was disbanded due to costs but its reputation as a Heath Robinson-style, pioneering force in sound is as strong as ever, acknowledged as possibly the greatest influence on UK electronic music, influencing the likes of Jon Spencer, Aphex Twin, Daniel Miller, Add N to (x)…. The corporation initially only offered its founders a six-month contract, because it feared any longer in the throes of such creative and experimental exercises might make them ill.

Also released on the same day are the albums BBC Radiophonic Workshop and BBC Radiophonic Music, The BBC Radiophonic Music CD concentrates on the more musical output of the legendary organisation while BBC Radiophonic Workshop deals with the pioneering sound effects and methods used to achieve them.

These releases continue a series that began on The Grey Area of Mute with the release of Doctor Who at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop Volume 1: The Early Years 1963-1969 and Volume 2: New Beginnings 1970-1980."

Synths of the Radiophonic Workshop

via Andy:
"Thought you might like these pictures of some of the old Radiophonic Workshop synths. I'm working on a show for the BBC Electric proms with Coldcut - they have created a live remix of classic Radiophonic workshop material and we'll be using the old gear along with their stuff.

There's a VCS3, Synthi A, Vocoder, ARP Odessey and the legendary 'Crystal Palace'.We are doing the show next week and it can be heard on Annie Nightingales Radio 1 show and the 6Mix on BBC 6Music, and I think it's being filmed for online as well."