Radio Age - 1955, April - 36 Pages, 2.8 MB, .PDF - VacuumTubeEra

How They Work .
. .
Electronic Music; Electronic Cooling
The RCA Electronic Music Synthesizer and the
RCA Electronic Cooling System, two widely diverse
products of research at RCA Laboratories, attracted
nation-wide attention on Jan. 31 when they were first
described publicly by Brig. General David Sarnoff.
Both were heralded by press and radio as developments
of major significance in their respective fields. In view
of the wide interest aroused, and the importance of
these new systems, a more complete description is presented
here of the principles upon which they operate.
THE RCA ELECTRONIC MUSIC
SYNTHESIZER
The Electronic Music Synthesizer, developed at the
David Sarnoff Research Center of RCA, under the direction
of Dr. Harry F. Olson, is an infinitely versatile
system for producing entirely by electronic means any
known or imaginable tone or combination of tones.
These pictures show two key elements of the RCA Electronic
Music Synthesizer: above, the master keyboard
and punched paper record that controls output of the
system; below, the recording system, with which tones
are recorded separately on the upper disk and combined
on the lower one.
Operation of the Synthesizer is based upon the fact
that all sound can be broken down into a set of clearly
defined physical characteristics each of which can be
generated by electronic means. These characteristics
are: frequency or pitch; intensity or loudness; growth
to full intensity; duration at full intensity, and decay.
Two additional characteristics possessed by many instruments
and the human voice are portamento, or glide
from one tone to another, and vibrato.
The Electronic Music Synthesizer has been equipped
with circuits capable of generating each of these characteristics
and combining them in any desired fashion,
and with any desired rhythmic pattern. Unlike conventional
musical instruments, however, it has no inherent
physical limitations, and it requires no physical
dexterity on the part of the performer, composer or
engineer. As a result, a composer or musician, working
with the Synthesizer, can create any musical effect he
wishes to achieve, whether or not he is able to play an
instrument.
How the Synthesizer Operates
The system is controlled by a coded paper record
that is punched out by an operator at a keyboard resembling
that of a teletype machine. The keys are
arranged in five groups controlling note selection,
10 RADIO AGE