Rare MUSE TRIADEX Sequencer Synthesizer

via this auction

More pics at the auction while up.

"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
The Muse is an algorithmic music generator: it uses digital logic circuits to produce a sequence of notes based on the settings of various parameters.
The four small sliders in the lower-left 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(if you can find one) allowing for multi-part compositions.


The Muse is the subject of U. S. Patent 3610801, and their patent abstract of this electronic music composer reads as follows:
In the apparatus disclosed herein, a note generator is controlled by a long term, quasi-periodic function which is in turn generated by applying digital feedback in preselected combinations around a digital register.
The register comprises means for holding a plurality of bits of digital information in a given order, e.g. a shift register or counter, the held information being changeable according to a predetermined pattern in response to input signals applied thereto.
Digital feedback is provided by applying to the register at least one input signal which is obtained according to a preselectable or adjustable code from bits of information obtained from various points in the register itself.
The apparatus thus, in effect, composes music as distinguished from merely synthesizing sound."

"Rare and extremely collectible! The Triadex Muse is the first digital musical instrument. Very Few of these were produced. Some say it was the first of its kind.

Designed in early 70's by two MIT professors: Marvin Minsky and Edward Fredkin. About that time, Minsky was moonlighting on the set of 2001 A Space Odyssey teaching Stanley Kubrick about Artificial Intelligence as he created Hal.

SPECS:

Model: Muse-1

Serial no. 00883-116
AC 115-125v 60CPS 40w
ok50Hz

Made in USA Triadex, Incorporated Newton, Mass

MEASURES approx 13 1/2" across, 10 3/4" side, 9 3/4" tall.

CONDITION: Appears to be in very good WORKING Condition. The Built in speaker Sound is good. Start ON-OFF, auto hold and step, the tempo, volume, pitch, fine pitch sliders all work for sure. The other 4 "interval" & 4 "theme" program sliders seem to "click" as they should to change the pattern etc. The vertical lights on the right seem to function as designed. I did not test the "rest normal" & "external normal" speaker switchs or any the jacks on the underside.

Cleaning the sliders to sliders more smoothly is up to you, I'm not messing with them as they seem to work ok. (I do not have a manual)

Cool Original circuit-bent type sound manipulator."

New Esoteric Friend Triadex Muse VS Bahntier Random

Published on Apr 12, 2012 Creatures From the Black

"The Triadex Muse is a sequencer based synthesizer. It was produced in 1972. It was a deterministic event generator that used early digital integrated circuits to generate an audio output that could sound very musical. It was designed by Edward Fredkin and Marvin Minsky at MIT. It is an algorithmic music generator: it uses logic circuits to produce a sequence of notes based on the settings of various parameters. It has four small sliders that control Volume, Tempo, Pitch, and Fine Pitch. It is not known how many were made, but they are considered very collectable.
It was known to be used by the first wave of electronic musicians in the Philadelphia area in the late 70s. Users included: Charles Cohen, Lenny Seidman, Jeff Caine, George Keutemeyer, Rex X Ray and Stephan Spera, Paul Wozniki and the groups: Heavenside Layer, Ghostwriters, Watersports and The Orchestra of Philadelphia Electronic Musicians.
Muse was also used during the WXPN radio show Stars End by host Gino Wong in the fall of 1977.
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.
During her time as a fellow at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies, Maryanne Amacher famously composed much of her 'eartone' music using the device given to her by Marvin Minsky."

New Aoide Muse Eurorack Sequencer Based on the Triadex Muse from otherunicorn

Discordant Initial Test Published on Mar 24, 2018 otherunicorn

"First ever test of the Aoide muse. Sound is coming from a Roland System 100M. All pitch and gate signals are generated by the Aoide"

Update:

Aoide melodic test

Published on Mar 24, 2018 otherunicorn

"Melodic test of my version of the Triadex Muse, the Aoide muse. Sound is coming from a Roland System 100M. All pitch and gate signals are generated by the Aoide.
The camera is hanging around my neck!"

Triadex Muse driving synth 2

Published on Dec 1, 2017 otherunicorn

"Not much to look at, but here we have a Triadex Muse successfully driving a 1V/oct Eurorack synth. The Muse itself can be heard. There are two different gates out, one which emulates the Muse's "rest" mode while the other, the normal mode. Both are used here, driving different voices. There us also a drone, some harmony and a drum running from the muses divided down clock.
Of course it sounds a lot better in person than it does when picked up through a camera's mic!"

See the Triadex label below for more.

Rare Triadex Muse Sequencer-Synthesizer-Instrument

via this auction

"rare Muse synthesizer-sequencer-instrument made by Triadex of USA. This device was designed by two MIT professors (Marvin Minsky and Edward Fredkin) and first marketed in 1972. The best information I could find is that less than 300 of there devices were made and that they were primarily sold in high-end audio stores. As I recall, they were sold for about $350 in the 1970s (which would be about $1844.00 in 2011 dollars). The Muse is a music composer computer that is both a synthesizer and a melody composer. With the user-operated controls, it allows the possibility of over 14 trillion note combinations. The device has a built-in speaker. The controls are as follows: The four sliders in the lower left control volume, tempo, pitch, and fine-pitch. The switches on either side of the four sliders are used to start and stop the sequence or to step through the sequence note-by-note. There are eight longer sliders on the right. Four of those sliders control the musical intervals (labeled A, B, C, and D), and four control the theme (labeled W, X, Y, and Z). In the lower right corner are two switches. One allows the user to substitute a rest for the lowest note and the other switch provides for using an external amplified speaker. The tempo clock can be slaved to that of another muse which would allow for multi-part compositions. The Muse I am selling is working well in all functions. The Muse is in excellent cosmetic condition with only very minor signs of use. The serial number of this muse is 00285-106. This is a great device for the music tinkerer and also a fine and rare early electronic music collectible."

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Triadex muse demo

Triadex muse demo by doombient.music
"This track was recorded using the Triadex Muse sequencer / tone generator for all the pitched stuff. External processing included an original Mini Moog (for filtering and modulation effects), a Moog Ring Modulator, an MXR Pitch Transposer, various tape delays, and some digital reverbs and delays from Roland´s 330 series."

The Triadex Muse in Action

Uploaded on Jan 6, 2012 johnnyeponymous·51 videos

"The 1972 Triadex Muse, designed by Marvin Minsky and Ed Friedkin, is a tone generator and sound synthesis device. This demonstration shows a few of the possible song combinations, along with changes in pitch, tempo and volume."

See the Triadex (Muse) channel below for more.

A Triadex Muse in Javascript

You can find it at till.com here.

"This is a web implementation of the 1971 Triadex Muse digital algorithmic music composer."

If you are not familiar with the Triadex Muse, see the label at the bottom of this post for more posts.

Vtg 1970s SWTPC Psych-tone Melody Composer Synthesizer Project

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.
Rare SWTPC Psych Tone 1971 digital analog synthesizer sequencer triadex Muse electronic music Published on Apr 28, 2013 salvadory

Interesting note that this was the first digital sequencer synth prior to the Triadex Muse, the first digital synth.

"First of all my camera is terrible so my apoligies for audio and video-( my camera keeps shutting off even though the power is charged-)

However this is a very rare SWTPC psych tone music composer from 1971 with original magazine article- the only video on youtube as of now - my model is in very good full functioning condition and is a much sought after piece- a precursor to the famous and also rare Triadex Muse-

An interesting missing link in synthesizer development from the early age.... quirky interesting patterns and sound- design way ahead of its time in my opinion- plenty of switches and knobs to make things interesting!"

Note the Popular Electronics article at the end.

via this auction

Looks like a crusty, beat-up KORG Volca in a custom case with speaker. These do come up now and then. You can find some in the archives here. You can find pics of the inside/backside below.

Note the video above is not for this specific listing. You can see it is dated 2013. I found it searching for demos on YouTube. This is the first demo of the SWTPC Psych-tone posted on the site for that matter.

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Move testing of the Muse to Syntesizer converter

Published on Oct 2, 2018 otherunicorn

"The Triadex Muse sound's a lot more interesting when hooked up to t a synthesizer!"

That's the muse to the left. See the Triadex (Muse) label below for more.

Triadex Muse Pyramid.MOV

YouTube Uploaded by NakagawaGakki on Sep 30, 2011
Watch your volume levels after :26 - high pitch sounds.

"Triadex Muse Pyramid with Light Show and Amplifier Unit.
Left channel is Master with a short themed patch. Pitch and Tempo of all 3units are synced with Master when using Multi Muse cable. Center channel is Slaved with a medium themed patch and controlling the Light Show. Right channel is slaved with a long themed patch. Rear Muse and Binson Echorec are not used in this video. Original Boxes, Warranty Certificates, Receipts, User Manuals and Price Tags."

Triadex Muse Guitar

YouTube Published on May 17, 2012 by NakagawaGakki

"I have built an interface for using the Acc. Output signals from the Mighty Triadex Muse to drive circuits. In this video I have the 8 Muse outputs switched down to 4 then run through an OPAMP buffer to little motors striking a 4string instrument. The motors have silicon plectrums on them that stretch when spinning but clear the strings when stationary, they strike from the bottom. This way the motors never stall. One motor in this video is faulty...
An infinite variety of sequences is possible with this set up, it gets really interesting when the tempo and theme parameters are altered. Complex harmonics are heard through the individual pickups, rhythmic drones. This video is shot using the low end camera mic. Sorry. A weird querk is when the Muse is shut down... for some reason the motors spindown and drain a voltage.
I plan to use a similar interface as a sequencer for my Modular, but in reality the complex pulses can be used to drive just about anything"

Triadex THE MUSE Digital Synthesizer w/ Light Show

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

via this auction

"This auction is for an extremely rare Muse digital sequencer synthesizer made by the Triadex Corporation in 1972. The Muse was created by MIT professors Marvin Minsky and Edward Fredkin and is considered to be one of the first electronic musical instruments. The Muse uses a series of 14 sliders to control tempo, pitch, etc., and can create trillions of possible musical variations. This auction also includes a Triadex light show that links with The Muse . The Muse is extremely rare, less than 300 were believed to have been made, and only 50 of the light show! This unit is in very good working condition, the bottom wood panel of The Muse is warped and has a shrinkage crack. There is also some slight warping to the wood on the light show and a small crack. There is some light wear and few spots to the faceplate. The Muse and light show both appear to be in good working order, the sliders move smoothly, switches are good, and it sounds great."

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TRIADEX MUSE

images via this auction

"The Triadex Muse is the first digital musical instrument and it was produced in 1972 rite here in Boston by Edward Fredkin and Marvin Minsky at MIT. The Muse is an alogorithmic music generating instrument in that it uses digital logic circuits to produce a sequence of notes based on the settings of various parameters. The unit has four small sliders that control volume,tempo,pitch and fine pitch.With large sliders on the right side,the Muse was designed to have the capacityto select notes and invent themes, as an early experiment in artificial intelligence. By adjusting these sliders you can control and change how the theme develops.An extremely rare piece,only about 240 of these were made and were not typically available for commercial sale."

The Muse

Title link takes you to shots pulled from this auction. Notes from the auction below. Via David. Thanks David!



"14 trillion musical note combinations

It has been claimed that the Triadex Muse was the first digital device for making music. The original Muse was designed by Edward Fredkin, now at Carnegie-Mellon; and Marvin Minsky ( http://web.media.mit.edu/~minsky/ ), now at the M.I.T. Media Lab; in the late 1960's.

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.

Manufacturer: Triadex Inc., Brookline, Massachusetts
Inventors: Edward Fredkin and Marvin Minsky
Original Price: $249

The Muse is an algorithmic music generator: it uses digital logic circuits to produce a sequence of notes based on the settings of various parameters. The four small sliders in the lower-left 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.

Their patent abstract of this electronic music composer reads as follows:

In the apparatus disclosed herein, a note generator is controlled by a long term, quasi-periodic function which is in turn generated by applying digital feedback in preselected combinations around a digital register. The register comprises means for holding a plurality of bits of digital information in a given order, e.g. a shift register or counter, the held information being changeable according to a predetermined pattern in response to input signals applied thereto. Digital feedback is provided by applying to the register at least one input signal which is obtained according to a preselectable or adjustable code from bits of information obtained from various points in the register itself. The apparatus thus, in effect, composes music as distinguished from merely synthesizing sound.

It is not known exactly how many Muses were made, but they are very rare, and were not available in stores."

Vintage 1970s Triadex Muse Synthesizer w/ Amplifier Speaker & Light Show Module

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

via this auction

"The Triadex Muse is a sequencer-based synthesizer that was made during the very early 1970s. It was designed by Marvin Minsky and Edward Fredkin, who were both MIT professors. This Synthesizer was sold for only a brief period of time during the 70s so complete examples are considered extremely rare. The exact number of units sold is estimated to be under 300. Even more rare then the synthesizer itself are the accessories that Triadex produced to go along with the Muse. We have both the amplifier module, external speaker and a Light Show module."

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Future Retro Releases the Zillion and Swynx

"Austin, TX, May 27 2014—Future Retro is proud to announce the release of two new products, the Zillion and Swynx.

The Zillion is a single track algorithmic MIDI sequencer based on the principles of the Triadex Muse. While the Muse used counters and a shift register to generate more than a million musical melodies, the Zillion expands on these ideas to add more features and functionality, providing a zillion possibilities for you to discover.

There are 16 operating modes including: Playback, Tempo, Swing, Direction, Loop, Transpose, Scale, Scale Program, Melody, Rhythm, Velocity, Theme, Shift Register, MIDI OUT, MIDI IN, and Sync.

Many unique features not found in other sequencers.

The Zillion provides the ability to store all parameter settings of where you last were. You can also reset parameters to typical Triadex Muse settings as a quick way of starting new adventures.

This product comes with a universal power supply and can be used anywhere in the world.

Each product is hand made in the USA, has a list price of $300, and is currently shipping.

For more information on the Zillion please visit:
http://www.future-retro.com/zillionoverview.html"

Swynx details and pics below.

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TRIADEX MUSE SEQUENCER & AMP SPEAKER w/ Original Boxes

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

MUSE SEQUENCER via this auction

"Meticulously overhauled by the most critical professionals around and working perfectly. The unit is in exceptional shape and is in excellent working order. You won't find a better one."

EXTERNAL AMP SPEAKER via this auction

"Professionally Serviced and working just fine. This rare piece is designed to hook up the the Triadex Muse Sequencer box. Gets a lot louder than the sequencer's internal speaker, though you wouldn't want to crank it as you could damage it.

The fabric covering the speaker is stained. We imagine a professional cleaner may be able to remove this stain, but this is nothing we wanted to attempt. Comes with original box (!)."

Additional Tone Tweakers Listings, also on Reverb

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Triadex Muse Amplifier SN 00048-108 with Original Box

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.
via this auction via analogsd

Note this is the speaker amplifier only.

"A vintage 1970's speaker amplifier that is an accessory to the rare and famous Triadex Muse Synthesizer
I very seldom use the term "mint in the box" when describing vintage items .In this case it applies to this unit.
The Muse was designed by two famed MIT professors, Marvin Minsky and Edward Fredkin
Although the sythesizer had its own built-in speaker, this amp was available as an external
The Mid-Century Modern Triangle shape measures 13-1/2" wide x 11-1/2" high x 11-1/4" deep
The case is made of wood and brushed aluminum
The speaker cover is made of worsted woven wool in turquoise and black
Please note that the connector is an RCA style

Model: AS-1
Serial no.: 00048-108
AC 115-125v 60CPS 40w
ok50Hz"

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Triaxex Muse driving modular synthesizer.

Published on Jul 4, 2019 otherunicorn

"Messing around with one of the 5 Triadex Muse to synthesizer adapter/converts I have made. The muse is to the left, sitting in front of its case! The converter is to its right. It contains two sections - one that converts the muse output directly to CV for use with 1V/octave synths, and one that allows a user to pick 8 different CVs (frequencies) that are selected by which note the Muse chooses. This allows harmonies, or sequences that are not limited to the 2 octave major scale of the Muse itself, or control of a VCF or VCA.
There are also CV outputs for note-only and octave-only, as well as some inversions, and gate signals, including gate, gate/rest and rest. The CV outputs can be mixed with a root-in CV, and can also be switched to work in a minor scale. The inverted outputs will not reflect the correct scale.
Jumpers on the circuit board allow for some responses to be changed. For example, the four input bits can be inverted, as can the REST output.
Theoretically, this converter can be used to convert the digital outputs of other equipment, if a suitable wiring harness was made, as it is essentially a deluxe CGS Diatonic Converter."