8/14/2019 El-music 1953.pdf

1/5

ELEOTRONIC MUS I C FAST, PRESI NT ND FIJTUEW

In keeping with the ' E A policy of h c l u d i n g , fmm h n e to ''tFnlf,,.ubj,e&koutside of the s t r i c t bapdaries of T sc,hnology, we have invilted Dr. antto submit his v ry fine review of Electronic Nugic. Future ;de~&l.apment.sin Aud i o techniques, and, thepfors, this subj,ect i sbcw@ t M ,of .P-terest to a l l E A members. ditorial Commit tee.

8/14/2019 El-music 1953.pdf

2/5

TRANSACTIONS OF TK IRE-TGA . 2 MARCH-APRIL, 1953

8/14/2019 El-music 1953.pdf

3/5

TRANSACTIONS OF TKE IRE-EA 3of t h e tra dit io nal ins tru me nts , he must spendconsiderable ime i n develop-ing muscle s, muscul ar control , and techniq ues in o r d e r t o make a tone t h a tdoes not sound very discouraging to him and t o all who have t o l i s t e n t oi t With an e l ec t ron ic mus ica l i n s tmen t , the beginner can make a varietyof beaut i fu l tones from the beginning, and can s t r t at once t o l ea rn t oplay the r i g h t note a t the r i g h t time with the properexpression.

Electronic musical nstruments of the organ ype have become an ac-cepted fact to the general public and are enjoying widespread applicationin l i t u r g i ca l , conce r t , andentertainmentmusic.These instruments are the only twentieth century musical instruments;and they are opening new hor izons i n music.A demonstration o the versatil i ty and scope of the electroni c organWas shown in the pre sid ent ial nominat ingconventionshere l a s t summer. TheIn te rn at io na l Amphitheatre, where the conven tions were held, had no organ;and the Connsonata was s e l e c t e d t o ill he need f o r t h i s type of music,

The seating capacity i s twelve housand, In ad di ti on t o the permanentsea t in g space on th e main f l o o r and balcony, th er e i s a c lea r cen t r a l a r ena23 x 236 f e e t with a clear height of 73 fe et . The f l oo r space al l ote d fort h e organ was l e s s t han L.5 square feet , but this was more than enough sinceroom remained f o r sev eral chai rs., To i n s t a l l a pipe organ, with su f f i c i en tpower t o dominate,supplement, o r override the sound level , occasioned byth e customary enthusi astic demonst rations of s o many people i n so largeroom, would no t be prac ti ca bl e on a temporary basis, and mpossible i nt h e i n s t a l l a t i o n time andspaceallowed.The two basic funct ions in musical instruments are the generation ofmusical tones and thecon trol of those ones. The generat ion of good tonesi n a practicable manner i s re la t ive ly easy due t o t h e advanced state of el-

ec t ro n ic c ir cu it s and components. Loudspeakershavegenerallybeen heweak link here because he general run of radio ype oudspeakers have notbeen adequate or t h e s t i f f requirements. The high peak power, the 32 t o1 2 o r s3 yclerange,and hesustainednature of the ones, a l l demandgood transientres ponse, good frequency esponse, and owdis tor t ion . However, speakers are now avai lable t h a t give good results i f properly used.The co ntr ol of 'the one nclu des: he star ting and stopping of thetone ( t h e envelope of the at ta ck and release are qui te importan t) , the qua-l i t y of timbre of the one, hehremulant, the dynamics o r loudness, t h e l o -cat ion of t h e source of sound (i ncl udi ng ech o eff ec ts) and the formant ofthe ones. Solo andensemble e f f ec ts must be considered, and i t i s impor-t an t t ha t t he o rg an i s t f ee l a t home a t theconsoleandfind hecontrols

where he is accustomed to fi nd in g them.The organ type instrument i s the grandest and most magnificent' of a l linst suments nvented by human genius. The organchallenges t h e t o t a l cap-ac i ty of th e or ga ni st 's mind and body i n t h e production of music,but it

does not give him the ntimatecontrolover he one t ha t i s possible witha monophonic o r solo type nstrument; s o we must not negl ect this 'phaseof e lec t ron ic instruments, and more will be said about tha t l a t e r .

8/14/2019 El-music 1953.pdf

4/5

TRANSACTIONS OF TK IRE-EIGA 4The Connsonata use s pl at e keyed Hartley o s c i l l a t o r s f o r t h e t o n egenerators. There i s one osc il la to r fo r each key and ped l plus a fewextra t ha t ar e keyed through couplers that operate beyond t h e range ofthe keyboard. The frequencyvibrato is produced by introducing a lowfrequencysine wave a t the grid of the ube. A f lute-l ike tone is pro-

duced a t the t a p on the tank coil, and a pulse one is produced across ar e s i s t o r i n the cathode circuit. By mixing these two basic ingredientsand by means of f i l t e r s f o r formant con tro l, we produce a basic organtone - he diapason, the oboe, the vox humana, thechorusreed o r organtrumpet, and others. One t e s t o f anorgan i s t o determine how the f o u rbasic tone families sound i n ensemble, Fi rs t, hediapason group, secondthe f lu tes , third t h e strings, and f inally the reeds.Organs ar e ca ll ed upon t o play concert music: they are used extensivelyi n churches f o r li tu rg ic al music, they are used for novelt y effect , particularly on the radio, and they must be a b l e t o play music for gener al ent -ertainment o r theatrical work.While electronic organs are now generally accepted by the genera l publi ci n a l l types of organappl ication, th e same i s not t rue for e lec t ronic solo-type instruments. Theyhave not supplemented conventionalmusical nstru-ments i n the way tha t they c n andshould. It is p o s s i b l e t o build s o l oelec tronic ins t ruments tha t f u l f i l l a l l musical requirements, but it willtake time t o overcome th e in er ti a th at prev en ts a good instrument fromreaching hefe llow who needs i t badly.' & a l l school bands or orchestrasoften have but one o r perhaps none of certain instruments i n t he i r organi-za ti on . For example, perhaps the group has onegood oboeistorfrench hornplayer , and he graduates eaving noone t o play those parts. A good elec-tronic instrument could play any of the missing parts well enough t o be agr ea t he lp , Perhaps one sect ion i s weak andneeds rehforc ement to obtainproper balance. An electronic nstrumentcould do it. The teacher who

must teach several instruments he does not play could play t h e parts f o rthe student i f he had a versatile electronic instrument that would closelysimulate he nstru ments he i s teac.hing. There are m ny other nstanceswhere electronic solo instruments can subs t i tu te fo r t r ad i t iona l igstru-ments. If they can do a good job as a substi tute, i t w i l l gradually becomeapparent t h a t they can stand on t h e i r own merits i n serious music. I havetalked t o progressive directors who f e e l t h a t this need can and will bef i l l e d sa t i s fac to r i ly with electronic musical instruments. O f course, onefellow retorted that he never expected t o se e a band marching down thef o o t b a l l f i e l d with power cordsdraggingbehind, That would be out of thequestion, but with t h e advent of th e tr an si st or and oth er impruvements i nsmall ef fe ci en t el ec tr on ic components, we may some day see an a l l electron-i c band without he cords dragging behind.Technological advances i n el ec tr on ic ci rc ui ts and components nil1 bringimprovements i n el ec tr on ic musical instruments just as fast as people willtolerate them.,and it is already evident tha t these changesw comefas te r than they haveon the traditional instruments.

8/14/2019 El-music 1953.pdf

5/5

TRANSACTIONS OF THE IRE mA 5In ad di ti on to t he improved electronic instruments of the solo a dorgan type, I believe the future will find s t i l l different instrumentsin Use These instruments w i l l fu rt he r expand th e pos sib ili tie smusic by doing what is impossible on other nstruments. Forexample, Is ta r te d th e development of such an instrument, which I ca l l an e lec t ronicmusic box, as a spare time project. This instrument was described a t theNat ion al Ele ctr oni cs Conference last year, 1 Percy Grainger, a noted m m -

i c i a n and composer, came to El kh ar t t o see my music box and was veryenthusiast ic about i t s possi bilit ies, since hehadcomposed music havingsuch ir re gu la r rhythm and scales that no one could play it He surprisedme by saying tha t th e gr ea te st handicap t o music i s the musicians hands.O f course, Mr. Grainger is a vi sionarg rebe l, and some musicians wouldtake offense a t that statemen t, but what I have i n mind woul not hurtmusicians. 1do not believe that actors ham suffered any loss becameWalt Disney i s a b l e t o produce motion picture fantasies by animated cartoons, He has ju s t expanded the motion pi ct um fi eld, and I believe thatsomething l ike rqy music box Kill produce musical fantasies for recordings,and the like, t h a t could never be produced through manual manipulations-Lack of time has made my progress slow i n completing the develoment oft h e music box, ,but I an s t i l l working on i t and perhaps you'll hear moreabout it la ter .These new d e d c e s w i l l not o n y remove the limi ta tions i n tonal pro-duction, as do the other e lectronic m u s i c a l instruments, but will removethe l i mi ta ti on s of the musician's hands. They will make it possible fo ra camposer t o produce h i s music di re ct ly without going through interpre te rs .

1 Kent, Earle L., An Electronic Music Box, I Transactions o f the IRE-PGA.Proceedings of the Maticnal Elec tronic Conference, Vol. 7, Febmav, 1952