4/27/2016 Amanda Honigfort/Illinois Public Media
Written by Amanda Honigfort/Illinois Public Media
Computer synthesizers have likely become a staple of your daily life – Siri, digital music, YouTube and more – but do you know where they come from?
One of the earliest synthesizer structures was invented in the University of Illinois’ Experimental Music Studio in the early 1960s as part of one of the first computer instruments – The Harmonic Tone Generator.
“A lightbulb went off and I decided: we build electronics for audio, we record using electronics in playback, but what about making music or sounds from electronics to begin with?” said James W Beauchamp, a research professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois.
He completed the Harmonic Tone Generator in 1964 as part of his PhD project in electrical engineering.
"At the time it was pretty exciting for composers to use," said Beauchamp. "But after 6 years, 8 years, it just became one of the devices in the studio."
The Harmonic Tone Generator doesn’t play anymore, but a replica was created for an exhibit currently on display at the Sousa Archives and Center for American Music in Champaign-Urbana.
The replica was built by Mark Smart, a former student of Beauchamp and an electronics professional in the U of I Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Both the replica and the original look incredibly similar. They contain three different panels filled with various knobs and switches above a keyboard - though the original’s instrument’s keyboard did not survive the test of time.
You may not be able to draw a straight line from the Harmonic Tone Generator to Siri or electronic dance music, but it is connected – and that’s part of why Smart wanted to recreate the Harmonic Tone Generator.
Smart says he believes that it is a significant invention.
“It’s historically important, but not many people know about it. I think Jim’s an unsung hero of synthesizers,” said Smart. “Jim’s structure is unique. I’ve never seen it anywhere else and I think it’s not as well-known because he didn’t sell it to rock stars [as Robert Moog did with his synthesizer structure].”
Smart said he believes there is still much left to learn and study from the synthesizer structure that Beauchamp used. And, he says, with the right software you can push it beyond what was possible in the 1960s.
Both the original Harmonic Tone Generator and its next generation counterpart will be on display at the Sousa Archives museum until May 27th.
You can here recordings from the original Harmonic Tone Generator here.
If you would like to hear more from the recreation or try for yourself to play the instrument, visitors of the exhibit are encouraged to play the replica. A different recording of the replica than heard in the piece can be found here.
Listen to the audio version of this story on Illinois Public Media.