Instead of calling the EG and ADSR generator, they called it a
"GD&D control." Growth, decay and duration control. The synth
has filters but they are manually adjusted and something called
a resonator chain which isn't explained.
The whole thing is made from Vacuum tube and mechanical
technology of the day. It fills a sizable room and consumes a
hell of a lot of power. Exactly how big and how much isn't
stated. It's not like they produced a spec sheet and colour
glossy brochure for prospective buyers. :) It's input device is
a pair of piano rolls. Literally piano rolls. They took apart
two pianola mechanisms and put them to service as input devices.
The parts are played in on a pianola recorder and further
encoded with data to control the synth as it plays. These are in
turn synchronized to it's output device. A single disk cutting
lathe. Since the synth is only two channels I can only assume
that the disks where then taken elsewhere and synchronized
together like a multitrack recorder to produce finished works.
Indeed the recorder points to this as being the way it's done as
they explain how a song (Blue Skys by Irving Berlin. Uploaded to
hyperreal as an MPEG) is put together.
Circa 1958 there was a Mark II version of the RCA electronic
music synthesizer. It was modified from the original. It then
contained 2 built in paper piano-roll punchers to record the
settings and control of the synth as well as 2 cutting lathes.
In addition a tape recorder was added.
It was originally located at Collumbia-Princeton university's
Electronic music centre. However in 1996 I believe it is being
pulled down and it's fate is unknown at the time of writing. It
would be nice to think that it would be given a good home in the
future and kept in working order. This synth produced some
unique sounds. even though the relatively modern voltage
controlled, transistorized Moog synthesizers also produced
unique tones, there is no comparison to the sound of the RCA
beast. Listening to it is like listening to a radio broadcast
that has been travelling in space for 40 years. Twisted and
warped by time like a message in a bottle. The terminology used
on the recording is the rudiments of the synthesis language we
use today. Like listening to ancient English. You can understand
what they're on about but the language has evolved since.
Interestingly they refer to the player of a synthesizer as being
a "synthesist". Even though they make a distinction between the
engineer programming the machine and the musician playing it.
The hopes and aspirations mentioned in Brig. General David
Sarnoff's speech above, seem to have been fulfilled in modern
synth technology but I'm sure he would have never expected
things to have progressed in the manner they have today.
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