Father of the VCS3 synth dies

Don't know if anyone caught this story:

http://film.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/0,,2277581,00.html?82%3A+Film+news

Nah... -He's just gone to service this:


Keith

Interesting that his father was the novelist Joyce Cary.

What an amazing legacy. There aren't too many legends of Cary's stature left...

Justin

Apparently, Bebe Barron died in that same week too.

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/04/21/obituary-bebe-barron-pioneering-electronic-composer/

I was fascinated with the sound track of Forbidden Planet and spent quite a bit of time making neon bulb relaxation oscilators to duplicated some of the sound effects.

Later, while working with an installation artist who acquired a VCS-3, I constructed a sequencer that would drive the synthesizer with pre-programmed or random sequences generated by a long shift register. I got to demonstrate the setup to Morton Subotnick at a conference in Minnesota at which he gave a performance of "Silver Apples of the Moon" and some of his other works.

[quote author="burdij"]Apparently, Bebe Barron died in that same week too.

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/04/21/obituary-bebe-barron-pioneering-electronic-composer/

I was fascinated with the sound track of Forbidden Planet and spent quite a bit of time making neon bulb relaxation oscilators to duplicated some of the sound effects.
[/quote]
"
Doc Ostrow: The total potential here must be nothing less than astronomical.
Dr. Edward Morbius: Nothing less. The number 10 raised almost literally to the power of infinity.
"

I really love that "almost literally" line :grin:

Man, I love that movie. The soundtrack gives me chills. Keyboard Magazine did a nice piece on the Barrons back in the mid-80s. I've still got it in a box...somewhere. I'd missed the news that Bebe had passed.

And on the original topic...was Cary responsible for the early electronic Dr. Who theme with all the reverb/delay and grungy, slightly overdriven, sine/tri lead line? I'm not a Dr. Who fanatic, but I've always liked that early theme with the throbbing, bouncy bass line.

[quote author="bcarso"][quote author="burdij"]Apparently, Bebe Barron died in that same week too.

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2008/04/21/obituary-bebe-barron-pioneering-electronic-composer/

I was fascinated with the sound track of Forbidden Planet and spent quite a bit of time making neon bulb relaxation oscilators to duplicated some of the sound effects.
[/quote]
"
Doc Ostrow: The total potential here must be nothing less than astronomical.
Dr. Edward Morbius: Nothing less. The number 10 raised almost literally to the power of infinity.
"

I really love that "almost literally" line :grin:[/quote]

Commander Adams: "All right, so it's impossible. How long will it take?"

Chief Quinn: "Well, if I don't stop for breakfast..."

-a

[quote author="AnalogPackrat"]Man, I love that movie. The soundtrack gives me chills. Keyboard Magazine did a nice piece on the Barrons back in the mid-80s. I've still got it in a box...somewhere. I'd missed the news that Bebe had passed.

And on the original topic...was Cary responsible for the early electronic Dr. Who theme with all the reverb/delay and grungy, slightly overdriven, sine/tri lead line? I'm not a Dr. Who fanatic, but I've always liked that early theme with the throbbing, bouncy bass line.[/quote]

Delia Derbyshire voiced the original Dr Who theme. It's a landmark piece of electronic music IMO. There's a BBC documentary entitled 'Alchemists of Sound' - you can see it at YouTube. In the doc you see her explaining how the tape loops were put together, and they even have a modern recreation where an engineer demos the original layers via a modern DAW.

Download here: http://www.getlofi.com/2005/12/alchemists-of-sound-bbc-special-video.html

I think it's been pulled from Utube for copyright reasons...

http://www.delia-derbyshire.org/index.php

Justin

They had a VCS 3 at the school I went to, which was the most state of the art thing at the time, with its blue touch keypad !!

That was an AKS Rob. The model after the VCS3.
It was probably the first synth with a digital sequencer.

[quote author="barclaycon"]That was an AKS Rob. The model after the VCS3.
It was probably the first synth with a digital sequencer.[/quote]

Martyn, I think you're right now I've looked at some pics. The one at school was the suitcase version.

They were essentially the same Rob, apart from the touch sensitive keyboard and sequencer in the lower half.
Did you see the 'Classic Albums' programme about the making of 'Dark Side of the Moon' ?
The track 'On the Run' was basically built around a sequence done on the AKS.
I was looking on a vintage synth site the other day for a company called Dewtron who used to make encapsulated modules so you could build your own synthesizer. Anyone remember them ?
They used to advertise in all the electronics magazines.
They also did the 'Wavetrap' for picking up distant AM stations.