MATRIXSYNTH: Electronium


Showing posts with label Electronium. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Electronium. Show all posts

Thursday, February 23, 2023

HAINBACH Built An Early Electronic Music Studio In His Basement


video upload by HAINBACH

"Inspired by German experimental music studios like the WDR and SWR, I build Studio B (B for basement). It is a creative playground for my "Schlaufenzeit" setup, and I am working on a live show and album there. In this video I go into details on the gear and thought process behind its, how I put everything together and the big challenge using the cellar poses. I hope this video inspires in your own music studio setup, be it big or small, or 100% DAW.

SOUNDPACKS, MUSIC and LOVE: http://patreon.com/hainbach"

Monday, October 12, 2020

The forgotten 1950s vacuum tube synthesizer is back - Hohner Electronium modded


HAINBACH

"The Hohner Electronium, a German 1950s vaccuum tube synth in accordion form, came to me end of 2019 and worked for all of one day. It took me some to time to find a reliable tech that could fix it and also mod it. Now it boasts a send/return, so we can hear the direct sound of this gorgeous 1950s synth and add FX. And add FX I did."

Monday, December 23, 2019

Hohner Electronium - a vacuum tube synth from the 1950s


Published on Dec 23, 2019 HAINBACH

"In which I demonstrate one of the most beautiful instruments I ever had the pleasure of playing, the Hohner Electronium. Made by Hohner in the 1950s, this vacuum tube synth in Akkordeon form packs a deep bass and a rather poetic midrange. The German avantgarde of the time quickly discovered it, Stockhausen used the Model Pi (piano version), and Harald Boje played a modified version. You can hear it in Stockhausen's Telemusik and certain versions of Spiral.

Thanks to Jeremiah Runnels for this amazing gift!"

Wednesday, May 08, 2019

Yuri Suzuki gives Raymond Scott's Electronium electronic sequencer an AI makeover


Uploaded on May 8, 2019 Dezeen

Note Yuri Suzuki brought us the Global Synthesiser Project. You can find additional posts featuring Yuri here. See the Electronium label for demos of the original and more (including an unexpected user, none other than, Michael Jackson).

"Japanese designer Yuri Suzuki has reimagined a sixty-year-old electronic sequencer machine as a physical piece of music software that uses artificial intelligence to generate melodies.

Conceived by musician Raymond Scott in 1959, the Electronium, which is regarded as the world's first electronic sequencer, was made up of three switchboards mounted on a wooden cabinet.

Although the machine was never completed, it was meant to allow users to perform and compose music simultaneously.

Using pre-programmed algorithms, it would turn a snippet of any given melody into a full composition while enabling users to add embellishments over the top.

Presented at the upcoming Barbican exhibition AI: More Than Human, Suzuki – who is a partner at Pentagram – wanted to recreate the landmark machine using musical AI software Google Magenta.

Read more on http://www.dezeen.com/?p=1355258"

Sunday, July 02, 2017

Three Willow Park - Raymond Scott Electronium Release


Three Willow Park Promo from Stan Warnow on Vimeo.

Promo from Reckless Night Music for Basta Music's new release of Raymond Scott electronic music:Three Willow Park--Electronic Music from Inner Space 1961-1971



A new release featuring Raymond Scott's work on the Electronium, available on multiple formats via Amazon, digital on iTunes, and currently sold out at Dusty Groove.

via Raymondscott.net, where you'll find the full post.

"Three Willow Park: Electronic Music from Inner Space, 1961–1971, now available from Basta, represents the second anthology of pioneering electronica by Raymond Scott. The album contains 61 previously unissued gems, many featuring hypnotic rhythm tracks played by Scott’s Electronium — an invention which composed and performed using programmed intelligence. Three Willow Park reveals that Scott was producing beat-oriented proto-techno before the 1970s explosion of electronic music and rhythms on the pop charts, a significant achievement that should not be overlooked."

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Raymond Scott - 'Twilight in Turkey' - Electronium


Published on Mar 22, 2013 gopogator

Saturday, August 23, 2014

Electronium From New Deluxe DVD Edtion of Deconstructing Dad - The Raymond Scott Documentary


Electronium Progress Report Excerpt from the new Deluxe DVD edtion of Deconstructing Dad--The Raymond Scott Documentary from Stan Warnow on Vimeo.

"Just to give a taste of what's in this very special DVD extra which is an overall progress report on the ongoing restoration of the Electronium by Darren Davison. There's lots more on the new Deluxe Edition DVD itself."

Tuesday, June 04, 2013

Mark Mothersbaugh's Tour of Mutato Muzika


Published on Jun 4, 2013 keyboardmag1·273 videos

"In this archival clip from May 2010, Mark Mothersbaugh gives us a tour of some of the vintage synths in Mutato Muzika, DEVO's headquarters in L.A."

EMS SYNTHI AKS, Oberheim TVS, Moog Memorymoog, Minimoog & Sonic Six, various circuit bent gear, EMS VCS3, custom DIY modular Aries Modular, EDP Wasp, Novachord, Electronium, TONTO, EML 500, Polybox, Octave CAT, Pink Floyd's Ondioline, Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 & more.

Update via Michael Hewel in the comments: "the modular around 08:00 is an Aries"

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Motown's Raymond Scott Electronium Breaths New Life

You might remember the Electronium Restoration Project from this previous video post.

Jeff E. Winner, one of the men behind the critically acclaimend documentary film on Raymond Scott's life, Deconstructing Dad, wrote in on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge that they have made progress on the restoration and the Electronium is now producing sound!


A little history via wikipedia: "The Electronium, created by Raymond Scott, is an early combined electronic synthesizer and algorithmic composition / generative music machine.

Its place in history is unusual, because while in intention it is analogous to the digital algorithmic composition systems that would follow it, it was implemented entirely as an analog electronic machine.
The exact time for the beginning of Scott's efforts in making the machine is not known, but it is estimated to the late 1950s or early 1960s, with a workable unit by 1969. Scott, however, never ceased to modify and further develop the device by the time of his death in 1994.[1]

It was one of the very few electronic creations of Scott to be sold to a customer, as he was normally highly secretive about his devices[1]. A single Electronium machine was sold to Motown records, following a 1969 meeting between Scott and Motown’s Berry Gordy. The initial contract required that Scott visited Motown for three months to teach staff how the machine is used. This culminated in the 1971 hiring of Scott to serve as director of Motown's electronic music and research department in Los Angeles, a position Scott held until 1977.[1][2] No Motown recordings using Scott's electronic inventions have yet been publicly identified."

via Jeff E. Winner on The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge:

"It's Alive! Yesterday I received this email from Darren Davidson, who is attempting to restore the Motown Electronium:

On Nov 28, 2012, at 1:18 PM, Darren Davison wrote:

Good Morning!

Last night a few Electrical/Egineering freinds of mine and I were trying to get to the bottom of why the Electronium would still not utter a sound. After about an hour of tinkering and following the initial setup procedure Raymond wrote up, the machine began to make very simple and crude sounds. We recorded the sounds and although they are hardly musical, it is a fantastic milestone.

Most of the tone generators, but of course, there are more questions than answers. The voltages delivered by the power supplies are still not quite right and many of the pot switches are so sticky, that adjusting them is like steering a car in ice with a flat tire. The recording and "Auto-composing" portion is still not working and my feelings were "just get it to make some kind of controllable sound" first, then work on getting fancy.

I am sure this will accelerate things, and I have been in contact with Alan Entenman and am sending him photos of the internals of the Electronium in hopes of refreshing his memory of how some of it should work on the recording and keyboard side.

Anyway, I am hoping that by March, even if it is not recording or auto composing, the sounds are less harsh and that some of the other features such as the "Bass generators, "counterpoints", and other features are working.

I will send a copy of the sound files as soon as I can, most likely this evening. It's on the Engineering guys phone and he is having trouble sending vide for some reason. The whole thing was recorded on an Iphone and there is a 4 min? video of me adjusting knobs and such. In all fairness to their help, their names are Guy Lewis and Pete Levno.

Now I think we will start picking up steam!

—Darren"

Also on http://raymondscott.blogspot.com/2012/11/electronium-restoration-update.html - you can track the site for updates on everything Raymond Scott.

You can also see the Electronium and Raymond Scott labels directly below, at the bottom of this post, for all posts here on MATRIXSYNTH.

Thursday, May 03, 2012

RIP Mrs. Raymond Scott


Mrs. Raymond Scott: "Mitzi"
(18 July 1918 - 3 May 2012)

via Jeff E. Winner on
The MATRIXSYNTH Lounge

Jeff E. Winner is the co-producer of Deconstructing Dad, a critically acclaimed documentary on Raymond Scott. The film was directed by Raymond Scott's son Stan Warnow.

Sincere condolences to Jeff, Stan and "Mitzi's" family and friends.

Update via Jeff E. Winner in the comments: "Thanks, for me and many others, Mitzi is the real 'star' of the documentary. Mitzi was RS's 3rd & final wife, and Stan's step-mother, from 1966 until the present — from his "Lightworks" era, thru Motown, and beyond….. until today. Mitzi is seen in this (longer) trailer on Vimeo [below], just after me, at the approx. 4:00 mark"


Documentary Trailer--DECONSTRUCTING DAD--The Music, Machines and Mystery of Raymond Scott--DVD NOW AVAILABLE from Stan Warnow on Vimeo.

Update via Jeff E Winner in the comments: OBIT is now online: http://tinyurl.com/MrsRaymondScott"

Update via Jeff E Winner in the comments: "A memorial service will be held on Friday, June 22, 11:00 am, at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 24901 Orchard Village Road, Santa Clarita. A reception will follow in the church hall. The service is open to the public: http://st-stephens.org/"
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/329962387077682/

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Mark Mothersbaugh with The Electronium


via The Raymond Scott Archives's Photos

"Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo) with the Motown version of Raymond Scott’s instantaneous-composition invention, THE ELECTRONIUM (and a Yamaha DX-7), in Scott’s guesthouse in Van Nuys, CA, 1993. [Photo by Mr. Bonzai, published in BILLBOARD magazine]"

This one in via Jeff

Saturday, May 08, 2010

Raymond Scott's Electronium: The Restoration.


YouTube via DoseoDave — April 29, 2010 — "Raymond Scott Electronium: The Restoration.

As a teaser trailer, this video is designed to spark interest in learning more about the history of the Electronium, an early electronic music device invented & built by Raymond Scott.

To learn more about Raymond Scott check out this site:
YouYube
http://www.youtube.com/user/RaymondSc...
Website
http://RaymondScott.com"

Monday, November 02, 2009

Hohner Electronium Analog Synthesizer


via this auction

Friday, June 26, 2009

Michael Jacson and The Electronium


via the Raymond Scott blog.

See the update and comment at the bottom of this previous post.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

RIP Michael Jackson


As you've all probably heard by now, the King of Pop has passed away. I wasn't expecting to put a post up as all posts have to be about the synths, however it just didn't seem right to not put something up, and I did find a bit of fascinating synth history, when you think about it, below.

I remember growing up listening to bits of the Jackson Five and later Michael Jackson. My sister was in love with his music, and Elvis Presley. The perfect match. I remember when Elvis was the King of Rock and Roll and Michael announced himself as the King of Pop. I wondered if it would stick. I remember when Off the Wall came out followed by Thriller. I remember staying up to watch the Thriller video with my sister, and her telling me how it was the most expensive video ever made. I thought it was crazy how long it would be. I recently remember watching that odd video of inmates somewhere in Asia performing Thriller, a hundred plus inmates in orange, prison garbs, all in sync. All crazy memories in time, all full of life and energy. That is the one thing Michael Jackson was to me - a man filled with wonder and energy. I will always remember him as that somewhat magical character who never lost that bit of childhood wonder. I'm sure he has influenced me in ways I have yet to realize, some bits I'm coming to realize just typing this. Pretty crazy... pretty amazing... I hope he is well wherever he is. He did bring wonder to life.

As for the interesting bit of synth history and the image from Thriller. The following is a list of the synths used and the players (via micke in this VSE thread). It is an interesting look at what synths were used on THE best selling album of all time. RIP Michael. RIP The King of Pop. It definitely stuck.


"Here's a rundown of the all (?) the synths used in the making of Thriller

Yamaha CS-80
Roland Jupiter 8 (x3)
NED Synclavier II
DK Synergy
Roland Jupiter 4
Roland MC-4 microcomposer/sequencer
Yamaha GS-1 FM synth
Oberheim Four-Voice
SCI Prophet 5 (x2)
Yamaha CE20 FM preset synth
Yamaha portasound keyboard
Roland VP-330 vocoder/strings
Bode Vocoder
E-mu Emulator I
plus a couple of Minimoogs

Linn LM-1 (mostly doubled with a TR-808)
Linndrum (LM-2)

And here's a listing of the keyboardists/synthesists performing on the album:

Greg Phillinganes
Michael Boddicker (Mr. Jackson's main synth-programmer)
Steve Porcaro & David Paich
Bill Wolfer
Brian Banks & Anthony Marinelli
David Foster
Greg Smith
Tom Bahler
James Ingram"

On another non music related note, we also lost Farah Fawcett today. Sad day today.

Update via VICMOD: "And Andy huges of The Orb passed away, thats got to be synth related" Indeed.

"Andy Hughes, (born 11th November 1965 - died 12th June 2009), was an English electronic music producer from Harrow, Middlesex [1]. He is most known for his work with The Orb, where he helped mix and produce Orbus Terrarum, Orblivion, and Cydonia, as well as The Orb's singles from this period. Hughes left The Orb during the production of Cydonia, which was reworked after his departure. He also did some additional original production work and performed remixes for The Cranberries and Tangerine Dream.

Hughes died at the Liver Intensive Care Unit at Kings College Hospital in London after a short illness on June 12, 2009." via Wikipedia. And Ed McMahon. And Sky Saxon of The Seeds.

Update: Michael Jackson and the Electronium

via the Raymond Scott blog:
"In August of 1970, Motown Records founder Berry Gordy read an article in Variety magazine about Raymond Scott and his Electronium. Along with The Beatles and The Beach Boys, Motown virtually controlled the 1960s pop charts with stars like Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Diana Ross & The Supremes. And with THE JACKSON 5 as his latest smash supergroup, Gordy was at the height of his influence. ...

Hoby Cook was a technician at Motown’s MoWest facility who tested Scott’s Electronium extensively. 'I wanted some reactions, so as an experiment, I’d open the door and turn the volume up — loud.' Cook’s technique worked. Motown personnel heard the curious sounds and wandered in. “Cal Harris did a lot of recording with it, and MICHAEL JACKSON was fascinated,' Cook recalled. 'He was just this kid sitting there, staring at the flashing lights. He said he wanted THE JACKSON 5 to use the Electronium somehow.'"

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Devolution is Real - Easter at Mutato Muzika


flickr set by josh™
(click for more)

"An insane amount of old DEVO gear, most, things you don't normally see in real life."

Pictured here:
The Electronium
The EMS Polysynthi
Modded Minimoog Voyager with an added knobabove oscillator #1 labeled 'smart LFO' and the Original Mini
http://www.mutato.com/

Be sure to see Josh's flickr set for a ton more.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Raymond Scott: The First 100 Years on BoingBoing


Cool to see something from our neck of the woods on Boing Boing. The following is just an excerpt. Be sure to check out the full post on Boing Boing for more.

"Since Scott couldn't hire the perfect musicians, he built them. From the 1940s thru the 1970s, Scott, whose recording studios doubled as science labs, worked increasingly with home-built techno sound generators. He's one of the great overlooked pioneers of electronica, with US patents to prove it. His 1963 Soothing Sounds for Baby series of repetitive, high-tech nap-inducers set the template for ambient music. In 1970, Motown founder Berry Gordy was so impressed with Scott's Electronium, an analog console that composed by artificial intelligence, that he commissioned a unit. Two years later, Gordy hired Scott at Motown-L.A., where the mad scientist toiled until 1977."

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Top 20 Weirdest Instruments - Episode 4


see the write-up on Sonic State.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

Raymond Scott 100

Science Reporting has an excellent post up on Raymond Scott. The following are a few excerpts (be sure to check out the full post on Science Reporting).

"In 1942, he became Music Director for CBS Radio and made history by hiring black musicians. His CBS band was the first racially integrated band for radio. In 1946, he founded Manhattan Research Inc, "the world's most extensive facility for the creation of Electronic Music and Musique Concrete." It was the first electronic music studio...

In 1949, Raymond said, 'Perhaps within the next hundred years, science will perfect a process of thought transference from composer to listener. The composer will sit alone on the concert stage and merely think his idealized conception of his music. Instead of recordings of actual music sound, recordings will carry the brainwaves of the composer directly to the mind of the listener.'

By the mid-50's his studio began to look (according to friends such as Robert Moog) like a science fiction set. Over the years, Raymond invented numerous electronic musical instruments including the Clavivox and the Electronium.

Robert Moog credits Raymond as an important influence on the invention of the Moog Synthesizer. In 1962 and 1963, Raymond released Soothing Sounds for Baby. It was entirely electronic music he composed as an "aural toy" for children. While it was a commercial failure at the time, some now regard it as a strong pre-cursor to ambient music (over a decade before Brian Eno's recordings)."

Friday, December 07, 2007

Are You Not Devo? You Are Mutato


"Mark Mothersbaugh in Mutato Muzika’s basement. Behind him is Raymond Scott’s legendary Electronium. (Photos by Kevin Scanlon)"

click here for the accompanying article on LA Weekley.

click here and scroll for prior posts on the Electronium including a video.
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