Synthesiser Of The Past

An electronic sequencer and synthesiser that create sounds and compositions using drawings was built by electronic pioneer Daphne Oram.

18:27 30 June 2016

Daphne Oram, the co-founder of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, developed a system of creating sounds and composition using drawings 40 years ago. The machine is thought to have remained unfinished until she passed away in 2003.

 

However, experts said that her invention, the Mini Oramic, introduced innovative approach to composition and performance that could have been influential.

 

The Mini Oramics developed ideas first realised in the earlier and considereably larger Oramics Machine, designed in the early 1960’s.

 

The Oramic Machine enabled sounds and compositions using lines and dots that were drawn or painted on to blank movie camera film stock and clear glass slides. The stacked tracks of the machine resemble those of modern music sequencing software.

 

Researcher Tom Richards, who eventually constructed the Mini Oramics as part of a PhD between Goldsmiths, University of London and the Science Museum, tried to keep close to the spirit of 1970s technology, using microcomputers such as the Arduino, for example.

 

Dr Jo Thomas, of the University of East London, said: "I felt privileged to use it.

 

"This gives instrumental pleasure and compositional pleasure at the same time, that's what makes it a brilliant instrument."