Rare 1977’s Bell Synth Demo Features Laurie Spiegel #MusicMonday
Does the year 1977 seam like a long time ago? Does it seem recent? Depending on the technology we’re thinking about — or the memory we’re having — about 50 years ago can seem strangely recent or disturbingly distant, or vice versa. When it comes to the history of music technology, that goes double. Here’s a demo of an early digital synthesizer played by American composer Laurie Spiegel. Here’s more from CDM:
In 1977, the marriage of motion pictures and telephones somehow birthed Hal Alles’ Bell Labs Digital Synthesizer – an experimental additive synth that imagined new directions for both music and vocal communication. This 1977 demo has the creator show off that vision, and Laurie Spiegel is on-hand to explore the device compositionally.
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Apparently, Laurie’s composition was the only creation for this unusual instrument. nd it was massively unwieldy and the interface was a bit – let’s say maximalist, charitable. But you’ll see a number of features (multiple FM oscillators, digital architecture) that make some sense today. Alles’ deeper vision transcends any of those specs, and explains why it was an influential creation.
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