A brief historyof optical synthesis heikesperling.de_VisualMusic_0.pdf

7/27/2019 A brief historyof optical synthesis heikesperling.de_VisualMusic_0.pdf

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The technology of synthesizing sound from light is a curious combination of research fromthe realms of mathematics, physics, electronics and communications theory which foundrealization in the industries of motion picture films, music, surveillance technology andfinally digital communications. As such, it's history is an interesting cross section of20th century history, reaching from the euphoria of the late 19th Century and early 20thCentury inventors (who often struggled between "scientific" and "supernatural"explainations of their work) through the paradigm-smashing experiments of the Sovietavant-garde in the 1920's and 1930's to the cynical clash of ideologies of the Post-waryears and finally to the dawn of the digital era in the 1970's.

This history has its fair share of eccentric and fascinating characters, such as LLeevvTThheerreemmiinn--the inventor famous for the musical instrument that bears his name, and who waskidnapped to build espionage devices for the USSR, AArrsseennyy AAvvrraaaammoovv--the artist who onceemployed an entire city, as well as the guns of the local army regiment, to realize one ofhis compositions, and DDaapphhnnee OOrraamm--the first woman to create and run a sound studio, aswell as the first woman to "design and build an entirely new sound recording medium" (JoHutton in Organized Sound). There is quite a bit of work left to do, particularly inrecognizing and translating the legacies of the Russian avant-garde artists such as BBoorriissYYaannkkoovvsskkyy, EEvvggeennyy SScchhoollppoo, NNiikkoollaaii VVooiinnoovv and the forementioned AAvvrraaaammoovv, whose worksare largely unknown outside the former Soviet Union. A forthcoming article on "RussianGraphical Sound" for the Computer Music Journal by Andrei Smirnov could be one of thebiggest English-language breakthroughs in this area.

Quite clearly, the connection with filmmaking is very close. Optical sound technology wasdeveloped first solely for recording soundtracks for early "speakies", and every one ofthe Russian innovators used their graphical sound techniques to provide music scores forthe kino. But the connection with the "Visual Music" movement in cinema is also veryclose, with perhaps the works of NNoorrmmaann MMccLLaarreenn providing the strongest bridge. But the"direct cinema" techniques of many filmmakers from the 1920's and 1930's on through the1960's and 1970's show more than a casual relationship with the techniques of directoptical sound synthesis. The works of OOsskkaarr FFiisscchhiinnggeerr, LLeenn LLyyee, SSttaann BBrraakkhhaaggee, JJoohhnnWWhhiittnneeyy, HHyy HHiirrsscchh, HHaarrrryy SSmmiitthh, JJoorrddaann BBeellssoonn, LLaarrrryy CCuubbaa and many others allreflect an ongoing lineage of this "visual music" tradition. (The "Kinetica" screening

programs, available from the iotaCenter of Los Angeles, provide the most comprehensiveoverview of this fascinating film history, and the Visual Music website gives anexcellent synopsis and timeline as well.)

My hope is that this small survey sparks more interest in all of these inventors,composers and artists and their incredible works, as well as provide a historical contextfor the TONEWHEELS performance.

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11882222 : French mathematician and physicist JJoosseepphh FFoouurriieerr (1768 - 1830) theorized thatany complex sound can be described by a series of simpler sinusoidal components, givingrise to modern methods of analyzing and depicting sound waves. (Source: Wikipedia, LivioZucca)

Fourier Harmonics

11886600''ss : German physicist HHeerrmmaannnn LLuuddwwiigg FFeerrddiinnaanndd vvoonn HHeellmmhhoollttzz (1821-1894) usedphysical objects ("Helmholtz resonators") to demonstrate that air cavities have sonicresonance. This further helped scientists (and later on, electronic musicians) to describe

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sound as a physical and visual phenomenon. (Sources: Wikipedia, Max Planck Institute,physics.kenyon.edu)

Helmholtz Resonators

11886622 : RRuuddoollpphh KKooeenniigg (1832-1901) developed the manometric flame apparatus, which wasused into the first decade of the twentieth century to examine the wave-shapes of sounds.The heart of the apparatus is the manometric flame capsule. Sound enters the capsule via afunnel and a length of rubber hose, and impinges on a rubber membrane placed between thetwo halves of the capsule. Illuminating gas enters at the bottom of the shaft and burns ina small flame. The oscillations of the membrane modulate the gas supply, and the height ofthe gas flame varies accordingly. The oscillating gas flame is viewed in the rotatingmirror, which supplies the necessary time base to make the waveshape visible. (Sources:physics.kenyon.edu, Wikipedia, Max Planck Institute)

Koenig's Manometer and the waveshape images made using the device

11990077 : French-born, London-based EEuuggeennee LLaauussttee (1857-1935) - who had worked at Edison'slab between 1886 and 1892 - was awarded the first patent for sound-on-film technology,involving the transformation of sound into light waves that are photographically recordeddirect onto celluloid. (Sources: Wikipedia)

11991166 : The Optophonic Piano was created by the Russian Futurist painter VVllaaddiimmiirrBBaarraannooffff RRoossssiinn (1888-1944). The Optophonic Piano generated sounds and projectedrevolving patterns onto a wall or ceiling by directing a bright light through a seriesrevolving painted glass disks (painted by Rossin), filters, mirrors and lenses. Thekeyboard controlled the combination of the various filters and disks. The variations inopacity of the painted disk and filters were picked up by a photo-electric cellcontrolling the pitch of a single oscillator. The instrument produced a continuous varyingtone which--accompanied by the rotating kaleidascopic projections--was used by VladimirRossin at exhibitions and public events. (Sources: Keyboard Museum, Historie du synthe)


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Rossin's Optophonic Piano and one painted disk

11991199 : American inventor LLeeee DDee FFoorreesstt (1873-1961) was awarded several patents that

would lead to the first sound-on-film technology with commercial application. In DeForest's system, the sound track was photographically recorded on to the side of the stripof motion picture film to create a composite, or "married," print. If propersynchronization of sound and picture was achieved in recording, it could be absolutelycounted on in playback. (Sources: Wikipedia)


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Producing optical soundtracks and two examples of sound-on-film

11992211 : The Photokinema sound-on-disc system was developed by OOrrllaannddoo KKeelllluumm, and wasemployed to add synchronized sound sequences to D. W. Griffith's failed silent film "DreamStreet". In sound-on-disc technology from the era, a phonograph turntable is connected bya mechanical interlock to a specially modified film projector, allowing forsynchronization. The sound discs themselves were 16-inch, optically printed phonographicrecords, such as used in the Vitaphone. While this system failed to win wide support inthe film industry, it did pave the way for sound-on-disc music instruments, such as theLichttonorgel and the ANS. (Sources: Wikipedia, Wikipedia)

11992277 : The cellulophone wass invented by the French engineer PPiieerrrree TToouulloonn aided byKKrruugggg BBaassss, in France. The Cellulophone ("Cellule Photo-lectrique") was an electro-optical tone generator based instrument resembling an electronic organ. The machine hadtwo eight octave keyboards and a foot pedal board. The sound was generated by rotatingdiscs in which a ring of equidistant slits were cut (54 slits for the lowest note),different shaped masks were used for different timbres. The disks masked a light beam thatflashed through the slits and on to a photoelectric cell, the speed of the rotating diskdetermining the frequency of the output signal, provided by a vacuum tube oscillator.(Sources: Keyboard Museum)

11992299 : AAbbrraamm RRoooomm directed the first sound movie created in the Soviet Union:Piatiletka. Plan velikih rabot (Plan of Great Works). A number of the future developers ofgraphical sound were involved in its production.

"When in October 1929 the first film-roll was developed, the crew members were amazed withthe view of the first sound track they ever saw. It was MMiikkhhaaiill TTsseekkhhaannoovvsskkyy who hadvoiced the idea: what if we take some Egyptian or ancient Greek ornaments as a soundtrack, perhaps we will hear some unknown archaic music?(Avraamov 1939). Each crew memberimmediately recognized in the new optical film sound process a means to effectivelyrealize their long-standing ideas: AArrsseennyy AAvvrraaaammoovv - to develop further his concept ofultrachromatic Welttonsystemand to explore the sonic qualities of new ornamental sound,EEvvggeennyy SScchhoollppoo - to develop his performer-less musical tools. The next day they werealready working furiously on experiments in what they referred to variously as ornamental,drawn, paper, graphical, artificial or syntheticsound..." (Sources: Andrei Smirnov "Soundout of Paper", Wikipedia)

11993300 : Soviet artist AArrsseennyy AAvvrraaaammoovv produced the first hand-drawn motion picturesoundtracks. This was achieved by means of shooting still images of drawn sound waves onan animation stand. (Sources: Keyboard Museum, Wikipedia, Theremin Center, ThereminCenter)

Avraamov's sound drawings

11993300 : Danish-born visual artist TThhoommaass WWiillffrreedd designed the Clavilux color organ,which used rotating glass disks with hand-painted color patterns. Its inspiration camefrom a group of Theosophists who wanted to demonstrate spiritual principles through theuse of light and color. Wilfred named the artform of color-music projections "Lumia." Hestressed polymorphous, fluid streams of color slowly metamorphosing. He established an ArtInstitute of Light in New York, and toured giving Lumia concerts in the United States andEurope (at the famous Art Deco exhibition in Paris). He also built "lumia boxes",self-contained units that looked rather like television sets, which could play for days ormonths without repeating the same imagery.


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Thomas Wilfred with his Clavilux Junior and several hand-painted disks

Although this is one of many examples from the "Visual Music" tradition, rather than asound-producing instrument itself, Although this is one of many examples from the "VisualMusic" tradition, rather than a sound-producing instrument itself, the relationship of thespinning disks to graphical sound techniques is significant. (Sources: Artists On Line,"The Dream of Color Music, and the Machines That Made It Possible" by William Moritz,Visual Music)

11993300 : The Variophone was developed by EEvvggeennyy SScchhoollppoo in Leningrad in 1930 at LenfilmStudio Productions, together with composer Georgy Rimsky-Korsakov. It was the most longliving project: the Scholpo laboratory existed until 1951. The first practical result wasachived in 1931. The technological basis of his invention was the method of photo-opticsound recording used in cinematography, which made it possible to obtain a visible imageof a sound wave, as well as to realize the opposite goal - synthesizing a sound from anartificially drawn sound wave. "The method of Scholpo gives easier access to varieties oftimbres. He doesn't shoot still images of sounds on animation stand, instead using paperdisks with a circular images of combs with appropriate shapes of cogs, rotatingsynchronously with a moving filmstrip. Exclusive benefits of Variophon are in flexiblepitch control and vibrato" (Solev 1935). (Sources: Keyboard Museum, Wikipedia, ThereminCenter, forthcoming article "Graphical Sound in Russia" by Andrei Smirnov for theComputer Music Journal)

Scholpo working with the Variophone, several examples of the sound disks and a section ofprinted film

11993300 : In Munich, RRuuddoollff PPffeennnniinnggeerr made his first films using his tnende Handschrift(Sounding Handwriting) method of artificial sound synthesis. This method involved


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photographing strips of paper with sound-curves drawn on them to represent each note ofthe soundtrack graphically. (Sources: Thomas Y. Levin, "Tones from out of Nowhere":Rudolph Pfenninger and the Archaeology of Synthetic Sound)

11993311 : The Saraga-Generator was developed by WWoolljjaa SSaarraaggaa at the Heinrich-HertzInstitut Fr Schwingungsforschung in Berlin, Germany. The Saraga Generator was an unusualphotoelectrically controlled vacuum tube instrument. The instrument consisted of aphotoelectric cell mounted on the white painted inside surface of a box with a small slitcut on one face. A low voltage neon lamp was placed at some distance from the box and theperformers movements interrupting the light beam caused variations in pitch. Envelope andtimbre were affected by manipulating a hand held switch device, the overall volume beingcontrolled by a foot pedal. The instrument had a tonal range of four octaves. (Sources:Keyboard Museum)

11993311 : The "Radio Organ of a Trillion Tones" was created and developed by AA.. LLeessttii andFF.. SSaammmmiiss in the USA. The Radio Organ used a similar technique as the Celluphone andvariants - rotating photo-electric disks interrupting a light beam at differentfrequencies produced varied pitches an timbres from a vacuum tube oscillator; theprinciple was improved in the "Polytone". (Sources: Keyboard Museum)

11993311 : British physicist EE..AA.. HHuummpphhrriieess created the first artificial speech synthesiswhen he is called upon to "correct" the optical soundtrack master to one of the firstsynchronized-sound films. The problem was that the villian in the film happened to sharethe same name as that of an aristocratic family, who threatened a lawsuit unless it wasremoved. Since the lead actress could not be recalled to the studio to re-record thespoken parts, Humphries was forced to paint each instance of the character's new name intothe soundtrack by hand! (Sources: Thomas Y. Levin, "Tones from out of Nowhere": RudolphPfenninger and the Archaeology of Synthetic Sound)

11993311 : NNiikkoollaaii VVooiinnoovv invented the "Nivotone" in the Soviet Union. This instrumentoptically read strips of paper hand-cut by Voinov as sound information. (Sources:Theremin Center, Theremin Center)

Voinov cutting paper strips, a paper soundtrack and the Nivotone

11993322 : German abstract animator OOsskkaarr FFiisscchhiinnggeerr (1900-1967) published his SoundingOrnaments article, detailing his own experiments with the synthesis of animated abstract,"absolute" images and optical sound. Unlike Pfenninger and many of the various Sovietartists who had an understanding of acoustics and could predict which shapes might producespecififc sounds, Fischinger approached the problem visually and conceptually by positingthat there might be cultural isomorphism between a sound and a graphical shape whichrepresents it. (Sources: Wikipedia, Rhythm in Motion, Visual Music, Thomas Y. Levin,"Tones from out of Nowhere": Rudolph Pfenninger and the Archaeology of Synthetic

Sound)

Fischinger and his "sound scrolls"

"Between ornament and music persist direct connections, which means that Ornaments areMusic. If you look at a strip of film from my experiments with synthetic sound, you willsee along one edge a thin stripe of jagged ornamental patterns. These ornaments are drawnmusic - they are sound: when run through a projector, these graphic sounds broadcast tonesof a hitherto unheard of purity, and thus, quite obviously, fantastic possibilities open

up for the composition of music in the future". (Oscar Fischinger, "Sounding Ornaments"Wikipedia)

11993322--11993366 : BBoorriiss YYaannkkoovvsskkyy of the USSR invented the Vibroexponator optical sound


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instrument based on the "painted sound" techniques of Soviet film soundtrack composers.(Sources: Theremin Center)

Yankovsky's Vibroexponator soundtracks

11993322--11993399 : BBoorriiss YYaannkkoovvsskkyy develops his system of "syntones" and spectral mutations.(Sources: Theremin Center, Theremin Center, Theremin Center)


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Yankovsky's syntones and spectral mutations

11993344 : AA.. LLeessttii and FF.. SSaammmmiiss's development of the Radio Organ of a Trillion Tones waschristened the 'The Polytone Organ', this instrument was a three keyboard manual organusing the same sound production system as the 'Radio Organ' - rotating photo-electricaltone-wheel sound generation. The instrument was completed in 1934 and was one of the firstmulti-timbral instruments. (Sources: Keyboard Museum)

11993344--11993355 : The "Syntronic Organ" (1934) & The "Photona" (1935) were developed.Syntronic Organ was an electro-optical tone generator based instrument engineered by IIvvaannEErreemmeeeeff and LL.. SSttookkoowwsskkii and was able to produce "one-hour of continuous variation"created by an optically generated tone using films of tone-wheels. Ivan Eremeef latercreated the "Photona" a 12 electro-optical tone generator based system, developed at WCAUradio, Philadelphia, USA. (Sources: Keyboard Museum)

11993366 : The Welte Light-Tone, designed by EEddwwiinn EEmmiill WWeellttee (1876-1958) in Germany, wasan electronic instrument using electro-optically controlled tone generators. A glass diskwas printed with 18 different waveforms giving 3 different timbres for all the octaveregisters of each single note. The glass tone wheel rotated over a series of photoelectriccells, filtering a light beam that contolled the sound timbre and pitch. (Sources:Keyboard Museum, Wikipedia)

Welte Light-tone disk

11993366 : FF.. SSaammmmiiss invented the "singing Keyboard", a precursor of modern samplers, theinstrument played electro-optical recordings of audio waves stored on strips of 35mm filmwhich were triggered and pitched when the player pressed a key. More recent instrumentssuch as the Mellotron and Chamberlin use a similar technology of triggered and pitchedmagnetic tape recordings. (Sources: Keyboard Museum)

11993388 : Russian engineer EEvvggeennyy MMuurrzziinn (1914-1970) invented a design for composers basedon synthesizing complex musical sounds from a limited number of pure tones; this proposedsystem was to perform music without musicians or musical instruments. (Sources:Wikipedia, Theremin Center, Theremin Center)

11993399 : The book "Theory and Practice of Graphic Sound" was written (but unpublished) inthe Soviet Union, focusing on the technique of "painted sound" and including BBoorriissYYaannkkoovvsskkyy's important essay "Acoustic Synthesis of Musical Colours". The manuscript iskept at the Theremin Center archive. In part, Yankovsky's essay was published inKinovedcheskie Zapisky#53, 2001. (Sources: Kinozapinski.ru, Andre Smirnov)


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Painted soundtrack

11994400''ss--11996600''ss : Canadian filmmaker NNoorrmmaann MMccLLaarreenn (1914-1987), sometimes workingwith New Zealand kinetic sculptor and filmmaker LLeenn LLyyee, created films whose sounds were

created by drawing or printing various patterns (e.g. shapes such as triangles, circles,etc.) along the optical soundtrack area of the film. (Sources: Keyboard Museum,Wikipedia, Wikipedia, Wikipedia)

McLaren's squarewave cards

11994477 : LLeevv TThheerreemmiinn (1896-1993) developed the "Buran" light-monitoring eavesdroppingsystem while working as an imprisoned scientist for the KGB in the USSR. The system workedby receiving the reflected microwaves from a surface which could be modulated by soundinside a room (a glass window, for example), and converting that back to audible sound.These principles would later be incorporated into commonly-used laser "bugging" systems.(Sources: Theremin Center, Wikipedia)

11995588 : EEvvggeennyy MMuurrzziinn finished the first version of the ANS Synthesizer. In this

instrument, sine waves are printed onto four glass discs. Each disc has 144 individualtracks printed onto it, producing a total of 576 microtones (discreet pitches) availableto the user (a later version was completed in 1964 using 5 disks for a total of 720individual tracks). These disks are arranged vertically from low frequencies at the bottomto high frequencies at the top. The convolved light is then projected onto the back of thesynthesizer's interface.


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The ANS synthesizer and a graphical score

The interface consists of a glass plate covered in opaque black "mastic" which constitutesa drawing surface upon which the user makes marks by scratching through the mastic, andtherefore allowing light to pass through at that point. In front of the glass plate sits avertical bank of photocells which send signals to band-pass amplifiers, each with dB trimswitches.

The mechanical workings of the ANS

The glass plate can then be scanned left or right in front of the photocell bank in orderto transcribe the drawing directly into pitches. In other words, it plays what you draw.The ANS is completely polyphonic and will generate up to all 720 of its pitchessimultaneously if required. (Sources: Wikipedia, Theremin Center, Theremin Center)

11995599 : The technique of Oramics was developed by pioneering British composer andelectronic musician DDaapphhnnee OOrraamm (1925-2003) at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, in England.It consisted of drawing onto a set of ten sprocketed synchronised strips of 35mm filmwhich covered a series of photo-electric cells that in turn generated an electrical chargeto control the sound fequency, timbre, amplitude and duration. This technique was similarto the work of Evgeny Scholpo's "Variophone" some years earlier in Leningrad and in someways to the punch-roll system of the RCA Synthesiser. The output from the instrument wasonly monophonic relying on multitrack tape recording to build up polyphonic textures.


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Oramics recordings by Daphne Oram

The attraction of this technique was a direct relation of a graphic image to the audiosignal and even though the system was monophonic the flexibility of control over thenuances of sound production was unmatched in all but the most sophisticated analoguevoltage controlled synthesisers. (Sources: Keyboard Museum, Wikipedia)


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The Oramics machine as it appears today, in a London storage space awaiting refurbishmentby Goldsmiths University (photos: Derek Holzer)

11997711 : The Optigan was released by the OOppttiiggaann CCoorrppoorraattiioonn, a subsidiary of toymanufacturer Mattel. The unusual feature of the Optigan was its method of sound synthesis;the Optigan optically read graphic representations of waveforms from a series of 12"celluloid LP sized discs, hence the name Optigan - 'Optical-Organ'. The Optigan read thediscs by passing a light beam through the transparent discs, the beam was interrupted orreduced by the shape of the printed waveform and picked up by a photoelectric cell causinga variable voltage which was in turn amplified and passed to the speakers.

Optigan disk with organ in the background


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Optigan disk close up (photo courtesy ofSimon Jenkins)

The Optigan was essentially an optical sampler, the disks contained 57 loops of soundswhich were recordings of real instruments, 37 of the loops were reserved for keyboardsounds ( with individual loops for each key) the other 20 loops being sound effects,rhythms etc. The celluloid discs were sold as a collection for Optigan owners and weremainly sustained organ sounds, as the continually spinning loops had no beginning or endit was impossible to create an attack or decay. (Sources: Keyboard Museum, Wikipedia)

11997722 : French composer and instrument builder JJaaccqquueess DDuuddoonn began his work withphotosonic synthesis. His system, developed more extensively between the years 1984-2002,used stationary, spinning disks printed with optical patterns drawn in just-intonationscales, plus a series of moveable light sources and optical "comb filters" to producemicrotonal music which Dudon associated with the Chakras of Indian spirituality. (Sources:Jacques Dudon, Dudon, Jacques. "The Photosonic Disk." : Experimental Musical Instruments,Nicasio CA 14 : 4, 1999.)

Dudon's photosonic synthesizer (from artwork of his "Lumieres Audibles" LP, 1996 MondesHarmoniques)


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Diagram of Dudon's system, where "L" is the light source, "D" the transparent disk withsound patterns, "F" the optical filter and "C" the photoelectric receiver

One of Dudon's photosonic disks

11997777 : Greek-born composer IIaannnniiss XXeennaakkiiss completed his UPIC (Unit PolyagogiqueInformatique du CEMAMu) system at the Centre d'Etudes de Mathmatique et AutomatiqueMusicales (CEMAMu) in Paris. Although a computer-based system, the UPIC interface wasessentially the same as in Murzin's ANS: the composer drew lines on the screen with alight-pen representing pitches which changed over time depending on the direction of theline. The compositions could be played back at almost any speed, and could also besubjected to various transformations by graphically inverting, transposing, reproducing orotherwise manipulating the lines on the screen. The waveforms used by the UPIC as well asthe volume envelopes were similarly drawn by hand at the start of a session. The UPICrealized Xenakis' dream of composing in a purely graphical manner, and can be seen as anextension of his mathematically-produced "visual" scores.(Sources: Wikipedia)


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Block diagram of the UPIC system, with the drawing tablet in the center

Xenakis imagined his UPIC system would open up the possibilties of composition to thosewith no formal musical training, allowing them to create music in a direct, intuitive way

A section of Xenakis' UPIC score for "Mycnes Alpha" (1978)

11997700''ss : Fiber-optic communication developed. This is a method of transmittinginformation from one place to another by sending light through an optical fiber. The lightforms an electromagnetic carrier wave that is modulated to carry information. This systemrevolutionized the telecommunications industry and played a major role in the advent ofthe Information Age. The information age finally catches up with the artistic and musicaluse of modulated light, and light-based signal systems finally go digital. (Sources:Wikipedia)

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I am deeply indebted to the research of Andrei Smirnov of the Theremin Center, Moscow.Without Smirnov's careful work in preserving and archiving many important documents fromthe 1920's to the 1960's, most of the information on the pioneering Soviet electronicmusic instruments, film sound and writings (as well as several surviving instruments)would be lost forever. Smirnov offers several extremely interesting lectures on the"Nonlinear History" of Soviet electronic music instruments, Lev Theremin and theinterrelationship of espionage techniques and art. I can highly recommend these lecturesas well as his workshops to academies, universities, symposiums or festivals. Anintroduction to Smirnov's work on graphical sound can be found here.

I would also like to thank the owners of the Keyboard Museum website for their exhaustivecollection and documentation of vintage electronic music instruments, especially thoseinvented before the 1960's. I consider their page, along with Andrei Smirnov's, to be oneof the best resources for starting an investigation into the history of optical synthesistechnology. UPDATE: as of 11 Sept 2009 I am sad to report that the Keyboard Museum websiteappears to be offline. This is quite unfortunate, however since there is no place to whichI can redirect any of the broken links here, they must remain as they are...

This history was compiled for the TONEWHEELS project, as part of a residency at the Teslamedia arts laboratory, in Berlin, Germany over the months of Oct-Dec 2007, and at STEIMduring the last two weeks of February 2008. I am grateful for their support of thisproject as well.

Further research has been added over time between 2007-2010, and this "paper" has formedthe basis for a lecture on the history of optical sound and graphical composition which Ihave given at numerous universities, festivals and arts centers since then.

Derek HolzerBerlin, February 2010

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A brief historyof optical synthesis heikesperling.de_VisualMusic_0.pdf

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