of Microprocessors

Hal Chamberlin
By Sonikmatter dot com on 2002-01-30
Interview by Brian Cowell.
Way back in 1980 a book titled "Musical Applications of Microprocessors"
became the companion for many Engineers designing musical instruments in the
20th century. In 1985, the book was expanded from its original 660 pages to a
whooping big 800-odd pages. Till this day, the book (albeit outdated) is still seen
as a source of learning for many students in this field. The man who wrote that
book is Hal Chamberlin.
For the last 16 years, Hal has been employed by Kurzweil (now known as
Kurzweil Music Systems). There, he has been quietly working away on both
hardware and software for the many products that Kurzweil make.
Sonikmatter caught up with Hal (at the Young Chang factory in Korea) while he
was finishing up on his design of the "remote control" for the new Kurzweil KSP8
Effects Module. Here is what he had to say:
SONIK : What has been your employment history?
HAL : Employment history is as follows:
• 1990 - Now: Young Chang Research Institute (Kurzweil)
Senior Systems Engineer
• 1986 - 1990: Kurzweil Music Systems
Senior Engineer
• 1985 - 1986: Worked as an Independent Consultant for Key Concepts,
MTU, and Kurzweil
• 1979 - 1985: Micro Technology Unlimited (MTU)
VP of Engineering. (Also owned 50% of the company)
• 1976 - 1979: Hendrix Electronics
Design Engineer
SONIK : Where did you do your schooling, and what degree's did you achieve?
HAL : North Carolina State University: 1973 - Master of Science:
1973 - Master of Science: Major - Electrical Engineering