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."

Obsolete?

Obsolete? from Pixelh8 on Vimeo.

follow-up to this post
"Pixelh8’s work “Obsolete?” is a audio and visual study of the people, machines, history of The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley Park and looks closely at the themes of mathematics, logic, code-breaking and enciphering. The project was funded by the PRS Foundations new music award and commissioned by The National Museum of Computing.

The music itself is composed using some of the oldest and rarest computers in the world such as the WWII code-breaking machine Colossus Mark 2 Rebuild, and the 1960’s Elliott 803 largely used for mathematics and some of the more commonplace machines such as the BBC Micro. With over thirty machines studied and utilised within the music, it is a combination of both sounds from the internal sound chips and the external electro-mechanical sounds. In addition to this, the piece also utilises such items as the early non-electrical mechanical adding machines.

The project was comprised of twelves pieces of music and accompanying visuals and culminated in two performances at the prestigious Bletchley Park Mansion on March 20th and 21st, 2009.

The project attracted widespread media attention and has been featured on BBC New 24, BBC Look East, BBC South Today, New Scientist Magazine, Dazed & Confused Magazine, Games TM Magazine, Future Music, BBC Radio 4, BBC 6 Music, BBC Radio Suffolk, BBC Three Counties and covered on several news websites including The Register, MacWorld, bit.tech, Slashdot, The IET, IT Pro and several more.

Available on iTunes, Napster, Spotify and more.

You can watch a interview with me about the making of Obsolete? here vimeo.com/3847750 [below]

Enjoy!"

Pixelh8 Chip Concert at National Museum of Computing from Alper Cagatay on Vimeo.

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.

New Order, BBC2/Radio 1 simulcast ('Rock Around The Clock', August 28, 1984)

video upload by MrMartinPipe

Two Sequential Circuits Prophet-5s and two Octave Electronics Voyetra 8s. Emu Emulator there as well as custom trigger pads.

This one is in via Ivan Trajkovic aka deejayiwan.

Video description:

"Here we have - except for the three songs that YouTube has 'flagged up' for removal - the notoriously bad-tempered 'Saturday Live' set that was the legendary New Order's contribution to the BBC's 'Rock Around The Clock' music-marathon of pop videos, live performances and documentaries.
Some of the day's programming - notably, this New Order performance from the bowels of Broadcasting House - was simulcasted on the BBC's Radio 1/2 network, as there was no stereo TV in the UK back then.
This historic programme (New Order's "live radio debut on the telly", according to BBC presenter Richard Skinner) surfaced on an old V2000 tape that was being chucked out (together with the video recorder it was in). V2000 was an unusual (but at the time, technically-advanced) European home-video format, intended to compete with VHS and Betamax. Developed by Philips and Grundig, the now-forgotten V2000 had some cool features - like 'flip over' recording, and noise-free 'trick' playback. Don't laugh - this was a big deal in the early-mid 1980s!
The recording was alas in a very poor state - machine (which needed to be repaired) and tape alike had evidently not been stored carefully. I have cleaned up the visuals as best I can - and the result is not bad, considering that the source material is over 40 years old! Better still, I had the cassette recording of the stereo FM broadcast I made at the time - which I have managed to synchronise to the video.
I have it on good authority that the result is superior to what the BBC holds in its archives (allegedly a ropey off-air VHS copy, with hissy mono sound).

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Daphne Oram documentary - Wee Have Also Sound-Houses & Early BBC radiophonics: Private Dreams and Public Nightmares (1957)

Daphne Oram documentary - Wee Have Also Sound-Houses

YouTube Uploaded by straypixel on Jan 6, 2012

"To mark the 50th anniversary in 2008 of the creation of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, the programme examines the life and legacy of one of the great pioneers of British electronic music - the Workshop's co-founder Daphne Oram.

As a child in the 1930s, Oram dreamed of a way to turn drawn shapes into sound, and she dedicated her life to realising that goal. Her Oramics machine anticipated the synthesiser by more than a decade, and with it she produced a number of internationally-performed works for the cinema, concert hall and theatre.

Daphne Oram was among the very first composers of electronic music in Britain and her legacy is the dominance of that soundworld in our culture today.

Introduced by Robert Moreby
Produced by Ian Chambers
TX BBC Radio 3, Sun 3 Aug 2008 21:45"


Early BBC radiophonics: Private Dreams and Public Nightmares (1957)

YouTube Uploaded by straypixel on Jan 8, 2012

"An early BBC experiment in radiophonic sound, predating the establishment of the Radiophonic Workshop, created by Frederick Bradnum and Daphne Oram (pictured) and produced by Donald McWhinnie.
TX BBC Third Programme, 07/10/1957.

McWhinnie's spoken introduction (the work starts at 4:20):

"This programme is an experiment. An exploration. It's been put together with enormous enthusiasm and equipment designed for other purposes. The basis of it is an unlimited supply of magnetic tape, recording machine, razor blade, and some thing to stick the bits together with. And a group of technicians who think that nothing is too much trouble - provided that it works.

"You take a sound. Any sound. Record it and then change its nature by a multiplicity of operations. Record it at different speeds. Play it backwards. Add it to itself over and over again. You adjust filters, echos, acoustic qualities. You combine segments of magnetic tape. By these means and many others you can create sounds which no one has ever heard before. Sounds which have indefinable and unique qualities of their own. A vast and subtle symphony can be composed from the noise of a pin dropping. In fact one of the most vibrant and elemental sounding noises in tonight's programme started life as an extremely tinny cowbell.

"It's a sort of modern magic. Many of you may be familiar with it. They've been exploiting it on the continent for years. But strangely enough we've held aloof. Partly from distrust. Is it simply a new toy? Partly through complacency. Ignorance too. We're saying at last that we think there's some thing in it. But we aren't calling it 'musique concrète'. In fact we've decided not to use the word music at all. Some musicians believe that it can become an art form itself. Others are sceptical. That's not our immediate concern. We're interested in its application to radio writing - dramatic or poetic - adding a new dimension. A form that is essentially radio.

'Properly used, radiophonic effects have no relationship with any existing sound. They're free of irrelevent associations. They have an emotional life of their own. And they could be a new and invaluable strand in the texture of radio and theatre and cinema and television.'"

Also see:
Delia Derbyshire - Sculptress of Sound documentary 1 - 7

1970: WENDY CARLOS and her MOOG SYNTHESISER | Music Now | Retro Tech | BBC Archive

video upload by BBC Archive

"Electronic music composer Wendy Carlos - whose debut album Switched-On Bach has introduced a new audience to classical music - explains the fundamentals of electronic sound using her Moog Synthesiser, and demonstrates some of the techniques she employed to adapt Johann Sebastian Bach's compositions for the electronic age.

This clip is from Music Now, originally broadcast 8 February, 1970.

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."

Also see Wendy Carlos Interview 1989 BBC Two including the GDS Digital Additive Synthesizer & TRON. You can find additonal posts mentioning Wendy Carlos here.

A Petition to Publish Delia Derbyshire's music from the BBC Sound Archive

Sign the petition here.

"Most of electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire's music exists in a single copy in the archives of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Many dozens, if not hundreds, of pieces of her beautiful work are mouldering unheard.

Delia's music broke new ground on several fronts: technological as she pushed what was possible with the equipment of her time, rhythmical as she experimented 11- and 13-note bars, and tonal as she freed herself from the 12-tone scale and voyaged into soundscapes and pure sound. Of Delia's work, only a tiny percentage is known to the public, whereas by far the majority of it is on tape in the Archive of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in the custody of Mark Ayres.

We petition the BBC Trust to apply pressure to the BBC so that these recordings be swiftly published on traditional audio media (CD, DVD) so that the public, and in particular the British public who paid for it to be produced, be able to learn from and develop this woman's amazing musical visionary style.

The petition's closing date, the 5th of May 2014, is Delia's 77th birthday."

Morton Subotnick Aircheck for BBC World News America

Morton Subotnick Aircheck for BBC World News America from Bill McKenna on Vimeo.

"This is the BBC World News America aircheck from February 19, 2016.

I spoke with Morton Subotnick about his music at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center in Washington DC where he performed "From Silver Apples of the Moon to A Sky of Cloudless Sulphur: VII" with the Berlin Visual Artist Lillevan.

Produced by Bill McKenna and Felicia Barr

The version for BBC Online can be found here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-35607205"

HorriblerAlien2 - Hybrid Music 5000 Software on BBC Model B

Published on Mar 22, 2013 Franco Cesarelli·47 videos

"In the late 80s I amused myself with my BBC model B and the Hybrid Music 5000 software. It was an amazing program at the time. I have not had as much fun with any computer music program since. It could be persuaded to do both interesting and silly things."

via Wikipedia

"The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, was a series of microcomputers and associated peripherals designed and built by the Acorn Computer company for the BBC Computer Literacy Project, operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation. Designed with an emphasis on education, it was notable for its ruggedness, expandability and the quality of its operating system..."

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."

Mickey Moonlight - Interplanetary Music

YouTube via TAMcorp.

"Music promo for a cover of Sun Ra's "Interplanetary Music" by Mickey Moonlight. Shot on a Krasnogorsk-3 16mm camera at various locations in the Andromeda Galaxy. Featuring Susumu Mukai (Zongamin), Bishi, Suzy Silver & Mickey Moonlight. Directed by Mike Silver. Produced by Mike & Suzy Silver. Camera Operators: Matt Fletcher, Mike Silver & Fred Wihlborg. www.TAMcorporation.com"

via Mickey Moonlight:
"the kit list for the album is pretty interesting (imo)..
Korg Mini-Korg 700-S, Farfisa Syntorchestra, Roland Jupiter 4, Roland VP-330, Roland SH-2000, Moog Minimoog, Wurlitzer EP200A, BBC Portable Tone Source PTS-13, modified Roland TR-606, Korg mini-pops junior, Pearl Syncussion SYN-1, Fender Telecaster, Hohner B-Bass, Marshall Model 5002 “A” System, Dynachord TAM-19, Roland SPF-325 , Boss Dimension C DC-2, Moog MF 103, home made ring modulator, home made valve phaser, WEM Copycat Super Shadow Type 1, Master Room MR II, STC 4038 (BBC), STC 4033A (BBC), STC 4032, home made microphone pre-amp, Akai M-8, Revox PR99, Thermionic Culture - Culture Vulture, Manley Variable Mu, TLA EQ-1, NOS Mullard valves, Digitech Studio Vocalist, Apple iMac G5, Apple Logic Pro 7, Native Instruments Reaktor 5, Destroy FX.

the vid does features a very rare bbc portable tone source pts-13. the guy i bought it from claimed that it was saved from being scrapped by someone from the radiophonics workshop, where it was used for years. i have no way of verifying this and have always suspected it to be pure provenance hype to encourage me to buy it.

you can see some pics of it here...
http://www.mickeymoonlight.com/DSC01017.jpg
http://www.mickeymoonlight.com/DSC01016.jpg
http://www.mickeymoonlight.com/DSC01015.jpg
http://www.mickeymoonlight.com/DSC01014.jpg"

1975: KRAFTWERK - Music of the FUTURE? | Tomorrow's World | Classic BBC Music | BBC Archive

video upload by BBC Archive

Click the BBC Archive link above for more.

"Derek Cooper reports on Kraftwerk, a German pop group who are pioneers of a new kind of electronic music. Ralf Hütter, Florian Schneider, Wolfgang Flür and Klaus Röder create and programme sounds at their Dusseldorf laboratory and recreate them on stage using a variety of synthesisers and bespoke electronic instruments.

Here, they perform an excerpt from their most popular track to date, 'Autobahn'.

Originally broadcast 25 September, 1975."

'Classic' Doctor Who Medley - Doctor Who Prom - BBC Proms 2013 - Radio 3

Published on Jul 13, 2013

EMS Synthi 100 I believe on screen and not live at 1:46. Other gear includes tape machines, an ARP Odyssey, KORG MS20, Roland System 100m, and I believe a Roland D-50.

"More from this Prom at http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whats-on/2... Excerpt from the Doctor Who Prom from the 2013 Season of the BBC Proms.
Featuring the classic sound of the Tardis and Sound Effects by Brian Hodgson (BBC Radiophonic Workshop).
Synthesizers and electronic effects played by Mark Ayres and Peter Howell.

'Classic' Doctor Who Medley arr. Mark Ayers, orch. Ben Foster."

Making the Most of the Micro (7): Sounds Interesting

Published on Sep 10, 2012 Jesús Zafra·89 videos

BBC Micro Computer. Spotted an Alpha Syntauri in the intro as well.

"Episode 7 (Of 10). Broadcasted in BBC-2, 21 February 1983

Making the Most of the Micro was a TV series broadcast in 1983 as part of the BBC's Computer Literacy Project. It followed the earlier series The Computer Programme. Unlike its predecessor, Making the Most of the Micro delved somewhat deeper into the technicalities and uses that microcomputers could be put to, once again mainly using the BBC Micro in the studio for demonstration purposes. The series was followed by Micro Live.

List of Episodes:
----------------------------------------­----------------------------------
1. The Versatile Machine (10 January 1983)
2. Getting Down to BASIC (17 January 1983)
3. Strings and Things (24 January 1983)
4. Introducing Graphics (31 January 1983)
5. Keeping a Record (7 February 1983)
6. Getting Down to Business (14 February 1983)
7. Sounds Interesting (21 February 1983)
8. Everything Under Control (28 February 1983)
9. Moving Pictures (7 March 1983)
10. At the End of the Line (14 March 1983)"

This one in via Ununseptium warehouse

Interview: Tom Whitwell, Music Thing Modular

video upload by AMAZONA Music Mag

"Der Brite Tom Whitwell arbeitete als Journalist für die BBC und entwickelt heute mit seiner Firma Music Thing Modular Synthesizer-Module. Das Besondere daran ist der Open-Source-Gedanke, damit alle seine Module so nutzen können, wie sie es möchten. Auf der Superbooth 2026 spricht Tom Whitwell im AMAZONA-Interview mit uns darüber, wie sein Weg in die Welt der Synthesizer aussah und wie er die Zukunft der Szene sieht.

00:00 – Vorstellung von Tom Whitwell
00:21 – Vom BBC-Journalisten zum DIY-Synthesizer-Entwickler
01:51 – Synthesizer mit Open-Source-Gedanken
03:49 – Was Tom Whitwell heute aus seiner Zeit als Journalist nutzt
04:30 – Community-Gedanke von Music Thing Modular
06:33 – Zukunft der Modular-Szene
07:30 – Pläne von Tom Whitwell"

"British native Tom Whitwell worked as a journalist for the BBC and today develops synthesizer modules with his company, Music Thing Modular. What makes his work unique is its open-source philosophy, which allows anyone to use his modules exactly as they wish. At Superbooth 2026, Tom Whitwell joins us for an interview with AMAZONA to discuss his journey into the world of synthesizers and share his vision for the future of the scene.

00:00 – Introduction to Tom Whitwell
00:21 – From BBC Journalist to DIY Synthesizer Developer
01:51 – Synthesizers and the Open-Source Ethos
03:49 – What Tom Whitwell Still Uses from His Time as a Journalist
04:30 – The Community Spirit of Music Thing Modular
06:33 – The Future of the Modular Scene
07:30 – Tom Whitwell’s Plans for the Future"

The New Sound Of Music 1979 - BBC Documentary Featuring EMS & More

YouTube via JeffreyPlaide | October 17, 2010 |

"The New Sound of Music is a fascinating BBC historical documentary from the year 1979. It charts the development of recorded music from the first barrel organs, pianolas, the phonograph, the magnetic tape recorder and onto the concepts of musique concrete and electronic music development with voltage-controlled oscillators making up the analogue synthesizers of the day. EMS Synthesizers and equipment are a heavily featured technology resource in this film, with the show's host, Michael Rodd, demonstrating the EMS VCS3 synthesizer and it's waveform output. Other EMS products include the incredible Synthi 100 modular console system, the EMS AKS, the Poly Synthi and the EMS Vocoder. Most of the location shots are filmed within the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop studios as they were in 1979. Malcolm Clarke demonstrates the Synthi 100, also known as the "Delaware", Michael Rodd demonstrates musique concrete by tape splicing and manipulation and Paddy Kingsland demonstrates tape recorder delay techniques (also known as "Frippertronics"). The Yamaha CS-80 analogue synthesizer is demonstrated by both Peter Howell and Roger Limb. The EMS Vocoder is also expertly put to use by Peter Howell on his classic "Greenwich Chorus" for the television series "The Body in Question". Dick Mills works on sound effects for Doctor Who using a VCS3 unit, and Elizabeth Parker uses bubble sounds to create music for an academic film on particle physics. Peter Zinovieff is featured using his computer music studio and DEC PDP8 computer to produce electronic variations on classic vintage scores. David Vorhaus is featured using his invention, the MANIAC (Multiphasic ANalog Inter-Active Chromataphonic (sequencer)), and playing his other invention, the Kaleidophon -- which uses lengths of magnetic tape as velocity-sensitive ribbon controllers. The New Sound of Music is a fascinating insight into the birth of the world of recorded and electronic music and features some very classic British analogue synthesizers creating the electronic sounds in this film. The prime location for these demonstrations is the BBC Radiophonic Workshop where much creativity and invention took place during the period the workshop was in operation in the latter part of the twentieth century. Electronic music today is used everywhere, and many musicians gain inspiration from the past, as well as delving into the realms of sonic structures and theories made possible by the widespread use of computers to manipulate sounds for the creation of all kinds of musical forms."

The New Sound Of Music 1979 (part 2)

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Korg All Access: Radiophonic Workshop at BBC Maida Vale, with the KingKORG, Kronos and MS-20

Published on Jan 31, 2014 Korg·426 videos

"The BBC Radiophonic Workshop, was created in 1958 to produce effects and new music, most famously producing the Dr Who soundtrack.

The original Radiophonic Workshop was based in the BBC's Maida Vale Studios in Delaware Road, London, growing outwards from the then-legendary Room 13.

Now they are back with a band of the same name , with a new album out this year and extensive touring plans, and Korg is a big part of this.

We had exclusive access to this live performance for BBC 6 MUSIC.

To learn more about these great products, head over to http://www.korg.com!"

Four sound effects that made TV history

You can find the full article from the BBC with video here. Remember to watch the video in full screen mode when you get there by clicking on the box in the bottom right of the player.

"The BBC's Radiophonic Workshop, a pioneering force in sound effects, would have been 50 this month. Ten years after it was disbanded, what remains of its former glory?

Deep in the bowels of BBC Maida Vale studios, behind a door marked B11, is all that's left of an institution in British television history.

A green lampshade, an immersion tank and half a guitar lie forlornly on a shelf, above a couple of old synthesisers in a room full of electrical bric-a-brac.

These are the sad remnants of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, set up 50 years ago to create innovative sound effects and incidental music for radio and television."
via metrosonus and Alex.

Mellotron Documentary on BBD

Upcoming on BBC Radio 4. Should be available on Listen Again via the
interweb (www.bbc.co.uk/radio4):

BBC Radio 4 Saturday 3 June 2006
Sampledelica! The History Of The Mellotron
10.30-11.00am BBC Radio 4


"Launched in 1963, the Mellotron was the first music sampler - an
instrument that could capture and play back other sounds. In this
fascinating feature, which contains new interviews with Sir Paul
McCartney, Paul Weller and Tony Banks from Genesis, Mark Radcliffe
examines the history of the Mellotron and the part it played in British
pop music history.

The programme examines the history of the instrument, investigates its
impact on the music business as the earliest sampling technology and
particularly how it was adopted by bands in the early Seventies
progressive rock era. Tony Banks, the keyboardist with Genesis, talks of
his love/hate relationship with the instrument, which proved notoriously
difficult to take on the road. Other contributions come from Andy
Partridge and David Gregory of XTC, Ian McDonald, the keyboardist from
King Crimson, and Justin Haywood from The Moody Blues, who famously used
the instrument on Nights In White Satin."

via Jordan Gibson on AH

Rare Clef PDSG (Programmable Digital Sound Generator) up for Auction

Note: links to listings are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

Via the seller: "I was recently clearing out some BBC Micro stuff and came across this Clef PDSG (Programmable Digital Sound Generator). It was the last product made by Clef. They hoped it would be taken up by Acorn computers, but it didn't happen, and I think they went out of business after that. It was supplied pretty much as seen, as a DIY project. I initially couldn't find any mention of it online, so I've put up a page to commemorate it here, with pictures and sound samples:

http://www.lemontiger.co.uk/clef.html

There's some information about it here:

http://audiotools.com/en_mi_dead_b.html

"In 1982 the company introduced the product it is best known for these days in the form of the Clef Microsynth (Later the B30 Microsynth), a budget 2 oscillator analogue subtractive synthesiser that was the only product sold by the company that was not developed by Mr. Boothman but rather a design originally published in P.E. magazine as a construction article and conceived by Allan Bradford, it is similar conceptually to the slightly more complex Jen SX-1000 and EDP Wasp in that it uses digital electronics to keep down costs but with it come some operational oddities such as the use of a 0.35V/Octave control voltages meaning that the only other synth that it interfaced with was the EMS, but it was cheap and thus sold reasonably well.

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