MATRIXSYNTH: Oramics


Showing posts with label Oramics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oramics. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Making music by DRAWING - Oramics Reinvented


video upload by Hack Modular

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hackmodular
Hack Shop: https://www.tindie.com/stores/hackmod...

See the Oramics label below for related posts.

Thursday, October 12, 2023

Hack Modular at Machina Bristronica Synth Festival!


video upload by Hack Modular

Hack Shop: https://www.tindie.com/stores/hackmod...

Monday, September 04, 2023

Norman McLaren's hand-drawn sounds


video upload by Robotussin Vintage Synths

"Scottish-Canadian animator Norman McLaren developed a technique of painting onto the optical soundtrack area of the film negatives of his animations.

The shapes would then make drones and buzzes when played through a special type of projector. He used the technique to create experimental soundtracks to his animations.

It's similar to Daphne Oram's technique of turning shapes into sound – though hers, which she called Oramics, was more complex, with dedicated machines that read shapes on the entire area of the 35mm film, rather than just the little strip that contains the soundtrack.

You can see the results in the third video above, an extract from McLaren's film 'Dots', which employs the technique.

McLaren – born in Scotland in 1914 – worked for the British Post Office's film unit until around 1939, when he moved to New York, then to Canada in 1941, where he produced animations for the National Film Board, before setting up an animation studio at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal and the Ontario College of Art.

There he produced around 70 films, much of it highly experimental and strange. He died in 1987 aged 72."

This also reminds me of the Optigan.

Norman McLaren is mentioned in this book: Vector Synthesis: a Media Archaeological Investigation into Sound-Modulated Light

Sunday, April 02, 2023

1969: What Is ELECTRONIC MUSIC? | Workshop | Radiophonic Workshop | BBC Archive


video upload by BBC Archive

Be sure to check out 3:59 on. I won't give it away, but it's interesting they had the same views back then. Note 7:33 for a glimpse of what would come. Finally also see this post for Daphne Oram's Oramics and her Bird of Parallax. See the Oramics label for more.

"What is electronic music? How is it produced?

Desmond Briscoe - the head of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop - enlists the help of Daphne Oram, David Cain and John Baker to explain the fundamentals of synthesised sound.

This clip is from Workshop: The Same Trade As Mozart, originally broadcast 3 August, 1969.

You have now entered the BBC Archive, a time machine that will transport you back to the golden age of tv to educate, entertain and enlighten you with classic tv clips from the BBC vaults."

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Cosmic Tape Music Club Podcast hosted by The Galaxy Electric - E12 Daphne Oram


video upload by The Galaxy Electric

"Thanks for joining us for Episode 12 of the Cosmic Tape Music Club Podcast! Join your hosts Jacqueline and Augustus of the experimental pop band The Galaxy Electric as they get cosmic on the topic of Daphne Oram. What a pioneer of sound and vision.

Recommended Listening: Bird of Parallax - [below]

Vimeo video on the Oramics Machine - [below - also posted here]

Her book - https://www.daphneoram.org/anindividu...

Our Daphne-inspired Synth Performance - [below]"

You can find additional posts mentioning Daphne Oram here.

Daphne Oram - Bird of Parallax


"Daphne Oram - Oramics - Bird of Parallax
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_Oram"

Oramics from Street | Films on Vimeo.

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

For a look at the Oramics machine now, in the Science Museum's "Oramics to Electronica" exhibition see this new film. http://vimeo.com/29318062 | http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/oramics

This short film features Dr Mick Grierson, Director of The Daphne Oram Collection, acquiring the synthesizer from a collector in 2009.

Contact me (Nick Street) regarding the documentary film
http://twitter.com/street83

Dr Mick Grierson - Director of the Daphne Oram Collection
http://doc.gold.ac.uk/~mus02mg/

For more information on Daphne Oram and her machine
http://daphneoram.org



The Galaxy Electric - Improvised Electroacoustic Music - Daphne Oram Theme

video upload by The Galaxy Electric

"Thanks for listening! Come on a musical voyage with us where we'll send you a new song every day, a cosmic story, and a chance to earn space treasure: https://thegalaxyelectric.lpages.co/5...

Radiophonic Sci-Fi Sonics Inspired by Daphne Oram

Utilizing analog tape delay (unfortunately out of frame of this video) - we set out to improvise in the style of the early work of Daphne Oram, whose first radio program was an extended poem set to eery radiophonic tape experimentation.

In this video, we created an improvised soundtrack to a poem by Edgar Allen Poe.
Join us every Wednesday for a ride on The Galaxy Electric Express 🚀

We perform a LIVE (improvised) Cosmic Tape Music soundtrack for your retro-futuristic travels 💫 You never know what planet you will land on…but you know it’s going to be an unforgettable journey…"

Friday, May 13, 2022

Silhoutte Eins Optical Synthesizer at Superbooth 2022


video upload by ound On Sound magazine

"Silhoutte Eins Optical Synthesizer at Superbooth 2022

Objects placed on the light table create the source audio waveforms in real time.

The user interface consists of an on-monitor plexiglas hardware controller which addresses 4 software pages. 20 potentiometers and 21 buttons give you quick access to the functions. All values are shown directly behind and around the controlling potentiometer or button.

SOS says ... this is not unlike Daphne Oram's famous Oramics machine reinterpreted for the 21st Century.

More info here. http://www.silhouette-synthesizer.de/"

See the Przygodda label for additional posts.

Friday, April 03, 2020

The Galaxy Electric - Improvised Electroacoustic Music - Daphne Oram Theme


Published on Apr 3, 2020 The Galaxy Electric

"Thanks for listening! Come on a musical voyage with us where we'll send you a new song every day, a cosmic story, and a chance to earn space treasure: https://thegalaxyelectric.lpages.co/5...

Radiophonic Sci-Fi Sonics Inspired by Daphne Oram

Utilizing analog tape delay (unfortunately out of frame of this video) - we set out to improvise in the style of the early work of Daphne Oram, whose first radio program was an extended poem set to eery radiophonic tape experimentation.

In this video, we created an improvised soundtrack to a poem by Edgar Allen Poe.
Join us every Wednesday for a ride on The Galaxy Electric Express 🚀

We perform a LIVE (improvised) Cosmic Tape Music soundtrack for your retro-futuristic travels 💫 You never know what planet you will land on…but you know it’s going to be an unforgettable journey…"

Cosmic Tape Music Club - Exploring Daphne Oram

Thursday, April 12, 2018

Mini Oramics at Camden Arts Centre (Highlights)


Mini Oramics at Camden Arts Centre (Highlights) from Tom Richards on Vimeo.

"Excerpts from performances and works by Sarah Angliss, James Bulley, Shiva Feshareki and Tom Richards. Performances were the culmination of a month long composition residency at Camden Arts Centre."

See the Oramics label below for more.

Monday, August 01, 2016

Radionics Radio - An Album of Musical Radionic Thought Frequencies - Delawarr Multi-Oscillator (c.1962)


Published on Aug 1, 2016 ashford daisyak

This one in via Daniel Wilson: the album "draws attention to one of the strangest sound-making devices ever made - the under-researched Delawarr Multi-Oscillator (c.1962), which was designed to convert thoughts into clusters of frequencies. My research into this oddity has culminated in this release."

Video Description:
"Advert for the new release: Radionics Radio - 'An Album of Musical Radionic Thought Frequencies' on Sub Rosa (due August 5th 2016).

Radionics Radio is an electroacoustic and musical exposition of alternative tuning systems derived from frequencies submitted via the Radionics Radio app. All the sounds strictly originate from respective thought-frequency submissions and octaves thereof.

Further background info on this research-based project can be viewed here: [embedded below]

From press release:
'Daniel Wilson's Radionics Radio draws upon the fringe-science of radionics, with its invisible forces and psychic resonances, to spawn electroacoustic and electronic compositions employing very alternative tuning systems. Radionics' idea that thoughts can be represented as frequencies is vigorously explored on this new release through microtonal compositions which range from mutating drones to electronic sambas, with nods to Raymond Scott and Daphne Oram along the way.'

Radionics Radio was made possible through Sound and Music's Embedded programme and Resonance 104.4FM.

www.miraculousagitations.com
www.subrosa.net
www.resonancefm.com
www.soundandmusic.org

RADIONICS RADIO
Sub Rosa CD SR423 digipack + 20 page booklet
File under: Electroacoustic Experimentation
Release date: Aug 5th 2016"

Radionics Radio - Radionics in Relation to Sound (Part One)

Radionics Radio - Radionics in Relation to Sound (Part One) from Sound and Music on Vimeo.

"Radionics Radio is a project by Resonance FM's Sound and Music Embedded Composer in Residence Daniel Wilson. It draws on the radionic idea that thoughts can be intuitively linked to clusters of frequencies. From this, it is possible to explore unusual alternative tuning systems supposedly embodying certain thoughts. The Radionics Radio EP will be released by Sub Rosa in the summer of 2016."

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Tom Richard's Mini-Oramics Machine Based on Daphne Orams


Mini-Oramics Medley from Tom Richards on Vimeo.

"Early experiments with Mini-Oramics from composers Ain Bailey, James Bulley and Jo Thomas"

The video above should give you an idea of what it does. In short it reads what is drawn on the transparent sheet and generates audio through hardware. You can see an image of the hardware further below. The implementation reminds me of the ANS.

I spotted this one on the BBC website which has the following to say:

"An electronic sequencer and synthesizer has been built based on designs produced over 40 years ago by electronic music pioneer Daphne Oram.

Daphne Oram who died in 2003, co-founded the BBC Radiophonic workshop and developed a system of creating sounds and compositions using drawings.

The 'Mini Oramics' machine is thought to have remained unfinished in Daphne Oram's own lifetime, but experts argue that its approach to composition and performance would have been influential.

Tom Richards, the researcher who finally constructed the Mini Oramics, told The World At One it helped answer the question "what if this had come to pass in 1973?"

There has been quite a bit posted on Daphne Oram and Oramics here on MATRIXSYNTH over the years, so click through either link to dig deeper. Now would also be a good time to post a reminder on the Kickstarter Campaign to Republish Daphne Oram's "An Individual Note: of Music, Sound and Electronics".


The following images are from John Lely's website, posted on April 8, 2016.

"First full day working with Tom Richards’ Mini-Oramics machine, a device for drawing sound, based on the work of Daphne Oram. Here is a link to Tom’s videos of construction and early trials."

Note the hardware synth engine that is driven by the optical reader.

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Kickstarter Campaign to Republish Daphne Oram's "An Individual Note: of Music, Sound and Electronics"



You'll find the Kickstarter campaign here.

"A pioneer and little-known visionary whose work has been a major influence on the development of British experimental electronic music.

By republishing her seminal book "An Individual Note: of Music, Sound and Electronics" we want to write Daphne Oram back into music history; sharing her vision with new generations of musicians, composers, musicologists and contemporary music lovers.

We want to establish Daphne Oram as one of the UK’s leading modern composers, but we can't make this happen without your support.

Daphne Oram (1925-2003) was ahead of her time. She was a remarkable and inspirational woman who should be recognised and remembered as one of Britain’s leading cultural and historically significant figures.

She was the first Director of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which she co-founded in 1958, after years of persuasion and perseverance. She predicted that computers and electronics would revolutionise music decades before they became popular, and invented a new form of sound synthesis – Oramics – which was a significant step towards this revolution.

She was truly passionate and dedicated to her work. She composed a number of radical pieces such as Still Point. She lectured on electronic music throughout her career and, in 1972, she wrote her seminal book, “An Individual Note: of Music, Sound and Electronics”, which was a pioneering explanation of electronics in relation to music and sound.

When Daphne Oram first wrote and published the book, electronic music was still in its infancy. The book’s depth and its exploration was unprecedented, and her ideas and theories radical. Now that electronic music is an established and popular field, it is important that the book is redistributed to allow more people to learn and benefit from reading it.

In 2017 it will be 45 years since Daphne Oram’s book was first published. There are only a handful of copies available to access, and we want to share her story far and wide with future composers, producers and fans..."

Friday, May 13, 2016

Upcoming Hyve Touch Synthesizer ElectroSound Exhibit in Paris


The Hyve Touch Synthesizer will be at the ElectroSound Exhibit in Paris May 25 to 2 October 2016. You'll find the ElectroSound site in French here and Googlish here.

via Skot Weidmann, creator of the Hyve Touch Synthesizer and the man behind Motus Mavis:

"I am so excited to be a part of the ElectroSound exhibit in Paris.

The Hyve Touch Synthesizer will be included in the Future section of the show, and visitors will get to play it!"

We have Skot to thank for bringing the event to our attention!


Exhibits will also include (apologies for the translations via Google):

Pictured: Daphne Oram

"Jean-Yves Leloup and NoDesign, the commissioners Electrosound, chose a unique perspective to talk about, with the red wire machines and technological innovation. They plunge us into an immersive, interactive experience scanning a wide spectrum of musical productions, from 1945 to today, pioneers and scientists from 1950 to 1970 (Pierre Schaeffer, Robert Moog, Peter Zinoviev, Brian Eno, Jean-Michel Jarre ...) to the current and popular triumph electro. Electrosound, the lab at the dancefloor going back in time, over the 20th century that saw the electricity and electronics invest the musical field, until emergence of a major cultural movement, which is called 'electro', 'house' or 'techno'."


"Electrosound, the lab at the dancefloor, is an exhibition aimed at a wide audience, the curious beginner to the connoisseur. It is divided into six chapters decrypting the major stages of this musical revolution. Around a timeline, she meets machines and period instruments (synthesizers, drum machines, and other strange machines), popular objects of broadcasting and listening to music, archives (from the GRM, EMS studios and many international sources) and artistic photographs by Jean-Jacques or Jacob Ader Khrist, showing changes since search studios 1950s until the DJ culture."

Tuesday, August 06, 2013

Casio MT-100 upright by S-CAT @ The Oram Analogue Barn Studios. UK.


Published on Aug 6, 2013 PHONICPOTION·446 videos

"We are very pleased to announce that we have joined forces with Oram professional audio. We are currently working on the prototype design of a new analogue device, inspired by our circuit bending endeavors over the past five years. We approached Mr. John Oram and Mr. Dave Cherry with a project brief and were invited along to the Analogue barn, where we demonstrated a range of our hand built, modified and circuit bent instruments. The video demonstrates our custom upright Casio MT-100 running, as you can see, through some very high-end Oram equipment. Dave was amazed to learn that there was no additional circuitry inside. Thats all we can reveal at this stage. Watch this Space-Cat!!!"


S-CAT on eBay (RSS)

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

The BBC Radiophonic Workshop Gallery


This one in via Ununseptium warehouse. You'll find the full gallery with captions here.

The top left in the pic above almost looks like old stoves and dish/sink cabinets.  It's an interesting design choice for tape and audio mangling at the time.  The woman to the left and is Daphne Oram and below is Delyia Derbishire.

Left: "Caption: Daphne Oram demonstrating Radiophonic techniques on television by means of Brenell tape recorders and Jason oscillator."  It almost looks like something from Dewanatron.

Below: "Caption: Delia at the southern end of room 12, where she sits in front of the twelve Jason oscillators, an electromechanical frequency counter and the keying unit, as used to create the 'Doctor Who' theme. The dual gramophone turntable unit to her left is a BBC RP2/1."

After checking out the pics be sure to check out the labels below or use the top left search box to search on Daphne Oram, Oramics, Delia Derbyshire, and/or BBC for more posts featuring them here on MATRIXSYNTH.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

An Interview with Paddy Kingsland of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop


You'll find the full interview on Astronauta Pinguim, including mentions of Delia Derbyshire & Daphne Oram.

BTW, today is Paddy Kingsland's birthday.  Happy Birthday Mr. Kingsland!  :)

Pictured: Paddy Kingsland and the EMS Synthi 100 (the Delaware)

"Patrick 'Paddy' Kingsland was born in Hampshire (England) on January 30th, 1947. He took piano lessons in his youth and got his first guitar when he was 15. By this time he also built his own valve amplifier and began to play in a band in his school days. After attending Eggars Grammar School in Alton, Hampshire, Paddy joined the BBC. He was a technician there until, in 1970, he had the chance to join the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, the famous department that was responsible for providing the soundtrack and sound effects to BBC radio and TV shows. Paddy worked there for 11 years and created the music for many programs, including "The Changes", "The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and several episodes of 'Doctor Who'!

"In 1973, BBC Records released the album 'Fourth Dimenson'. Although it was credited to The BBC Radiophonic Workshop, "Fourth Dimension" is the first solo album released by Paddy Kingsland and includes tracks that he recorded from 1970 to 1973, using mainly the EMS synthesizers VCS3 and Synthi 100 (the Delaware)..."

You can still find the release on Amazon and eBay.

The first synth to enter the BBC? "The first synthesizer arrived in 1970 - an EMS VCS3. It was great for learning about voltage control and making sounds, but no good for playing tunes on. The Arp Odyssey which came a bit later was much better for that."

via Fabricio Carvalho aka Astronauta Pinguim on the MATRIXSYNTH Lounge. You can find interviews with other synth legends on his site or via the Interviews label below.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

TONEWHEELS HURDY-GURDY(VIELLE A ROUE OPTOÉLECTRONIQUE)

TONEWHEELS HURDY-GURDY(VIELLE A ROUE OPTOÉLECTRONIQUE) from macumbista on Vimeo.


"This optoelectronic hurdy-gurdy was commission by the Acces(s) Festival, Pau France in October 2012.

TONEWHEELS is an experiment in converting graphical imagery to sound, inspired by some of the pioneering 20th Century electronic music inventions, such as the Light-Tone Organ (Edwin Emil Welte, 1936 Germany), the ANS Synthesizer (Evgeny Murzin, 1958 USSR), and the Oramics system (Daphne Oram, 1959 UK). Transparent tonewheels with repeating patterns are spun over light-sensitive electronic circuitry similar to that used in 16 & 35mm motion picture projectors to produce sound.

The TONEWHEELS Hurdy-Gurdy presented at Acces(s) is not an "interactive" artwork in the common sense. While it does not reward the impatient museum visitor with flashing lights and noises at the simple touch of the button, it does invite participation in the process of technological music creation. Although it first appears to be a very traditional instrument known to many folk-music cultures, it functions in a very different way which can only be discovered by playing it.

The artist would like to thank Tobias Traub of Oroborus Customs e.K. and Carlo Crovato for their invaluable assistance in creating this instrument. Circuits designed by Jessica Rylan and Eric Archer are also used within the system.

More information on this project can be found at http://macumbista.net/?p=3020"

Tuesday, August 07, 2012

D.A.R.W. Session Master 2000 'Powertran'


flickr By futureshape
(click for more)

"From the Science Museum exhibition: 'Oramics to Electronica: Revealing Histories of Electronic Music'"

Circuitry from the Oramics Machine


flickr By futureshape

"From the Science Museum exhibition: 'Oramics to Electronica: Revealing Histories of Electronic Music'"

Friday, May 04, 2012

Puredata Fake-oramics Waveforms


YouTube Published on May 4, 2012 by SeaweedFactory

"Here's a puredata patch that synthesizes evolving waveforms by maniulating control curves. A wavetable is read by two oscillators at two different rates. Control curves are drawn for the wavetable read rate and the difference between the two rates of speed. The output is stored in another wavetable after being averaged with the two samples surrounding it on each side. The curves can be redrawn while the patch is running to change the harmonic content of the waveform. The waveform is written to a wave file. The sounds in the video were made by speeding that waveform up to about 1% it's original speed.

See more at http://seaweedfactory.blogspot.com/"

Friday, March 30, 2012

Alex Pleninger and the TimeSpace FX - Moscow Synth Gathering

Performance in Skryabin museum, Moscow, 15-02-2012

YouTube Uploaded by traffkin on Feb 19, 2012

"I played Acoustic Grand Piano, Atari ST 1040 onboard synth, my diy Spacetime FX processor and iPad with Movement I-V, Oramics and Yumi:synth.
Videoart by Oleg Makarov
Sorry for poor picture quality!"

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