Raymond Scott's Electronium

[InfiniteRhombus]

it has to be able to be restored, lets remember that this isn't completely impossible, especially not now in 2011.

but it'd be a massive undertaking, especially with all the cleaning, replacing of parts, probably having to get parts made that obviously aren't available anymore. But it isn't impossible, it would just take ages.

I propose mark put together an army of engineers, cleaners, tinkerers, machinists and others and just let them go to town.

[AnalogAudio1]

It might contain a sequencer - long before sequencers were available. It is 100% worth restoring it, no matter what is costs.

[AnalogDecay420]

yeah, looks like they got a serious project on their hands...if it's met with water damage, it's probly gonna need SERIOUS SERIOUS restoration work.

THIS ISN'T JUST A MACHINE, IT'S A WORK OF ART!~

[CassetteMaster]

Probably to fix it it would have be be at least re-capped and all the switches sprayed and pots sprayed.

[paulj0557]

My freak idea came to me after making so many tape loops on a Wollensak RR about 12 years ago. I mentioned a while back somewhere on Utube. Anyway, my idea is to get an aux. ( CD adapter) to cassette adapter and place a tape in it's path. In other words you have your decks cassette head/ 8-track tape head, whichever, and your adapters tape head. The deck is the input and the adapter is the output. The deck's PB/Rec head is also an output ;) Now vibrate heads w/ fast tape loop? An oscillator!

[transitaautomatic]

just to much for the brain to take in how a man could jump so far forwards all at once. scott is right up there with all the great minds of the past. just amazing.

[getthis162001]

they should never turn this machine on, who knows what can happen to the world?

[Elspode]

Heh...someone has put little ARP Odyssey type slider/switch caps on some of the switches. Sweet!

[gabolora]

its not DOO wah, it is DCO wah. DCO is a parameter for synthesizers and it stands for Digitally Controlled Oscillator. :)

[RaymondScottArchives]

No, it's "Doo Wah" — Raymond Scott made this version of the device specifically for Motown, according to Berry Gordy's specifications.

[DrRek]

yea I thought so!

[grassulo]

listen to manhattan research, Mr. Scott shows how he laid out the patterns in that synth, it's a huge step sequencer, by the way the missing labels on the knobs are because Raymond would only label the first in the series of dials in a module series, once you got over the odd labeling of controls this machine could really still be used, and make some really amazing music, the guy was a genius, ahead of this time is a huge understatement!

[MayaMeows]

This is a national treasure, it shouldn't be in a basement rotting like some old classic car you'll never fix but never get rid of! Ahhh!!!!!! You gotta be able to get a federal grant for this kind of thing!!!

[DrRek]

@MayaMeows indeed mark saved this thing from being thrown away, and would like to see it be restored and stuff, but it seems to quite the task

[zxcv1234vcxz]

@DrRek At least being owned by Mothersbaugh, it's in the hands of someone who appreciates and respects it for what it is.

[DrRek]

exactly ;)

[zxcv1234vcxz]

Yeah, but Thomas Dolby might be a better owner. He likes restoring old devices, as well as appreciating and creating electronic music.

[RaymondScottArchives]

And Dolby is a fan of Raymond Scott too; he bought a copy of the MANHATTAN RESEARCH book/CD set from me about 10 years ago — as soon as we released it.

[RaymondScottArchives]

Liike I said above, an attempt is now being made to restore it; & it's no longer @ Mutato. (It wouldn't have been thrown away, BTW.)

[RaymondScottArchives]

It was removed from Mutato last year & a restoration attempt is now being made!

[peles73]

Oh My God!!!

[sirPUNKsir]

This really does deserve to be a museum peice. Good luck fixing it!

[luigisfireball]

Yuhu, emin lehrer xD

[nikebordom]

jaraha, pretty obviously you never worked with an old modular synthesizer. all of them have a unique sound and till now it's still impossible to "rebuild" the sound with digital devices. analogue synthesizers "live", depending on the temperature of the inner parts the sound differs even with exactly the same settings.

come back when you know what you're talking about.

[jaraha]

It's not "so epic" as the person in the video says. It is outdated and stupid. Simple electronic devices as big as a cd player can be more effective than this hulking heap. Near the end you say, "Wow, wow." I agree, but I am wowing at it's uselessness. Yes it's an ancient relic, but let's forget that crap and try to move on.

[jaraha]

melindarann, if this excites you, all hope is lost.

[melindarann]

what's the matter don't you like the analog revival in electronic music?

[gangsta40fo]

Odd that you have chosen to become so irate over something such as this. Do you become this bitter when you see an old airplane or the switchboards telephone operators once used? What about the pyramids of Egypt or Great Wall of China?

You claim to like music from the 50s and 60s - would that not be considered "outdated and stupid" by your own standards? Why not "forget that crap" and try to move on?

[jaraha]

Because music from the 50's and 60's still has value. It offers something today's music can not it terms of its sound.

That synthesizer is completely outclassed by any modern version. It has nothing to offer. Unless you like turning knobs and pushing buttons. And if that's the case, enjoy your toy, I guess.

[gangsta40fo]

There are no examples of the sonic capabilities in this video, so there's no way to make an accurate comparison. As for 50's music, we still have the same instruments and technology they used then. Today's music can replicate an earlier era in the same way a synthesizer can.

Whether or not a modern synthesizer can match it is not the point - it is an elaborate and complex machine hand-built using archaic circuitry rather than digital processors. Can you not appreciate the ingenuity behind that?

[sirPUNKsir]

I think Jaraha lacks the ability to see any historical significance in something that they now considers outdated because technology has moved on when they miss the relevance of a machine or person like Raymond Scott in the first place. They may as well be saying the Soyuz 1 and Yuri Gagarin are crap... move on and look at the space shuttle

[pureevilfnord]

AND it has a button marked DOO-WAH! How cool is that!

[Indygodcd]

I am in the process of restoring this for Mark Mothersbaugh, and trust me, the comment "Looks pretty bad back here" isn't the half of it.

Raymond began tearing this apart to build another musical device. to top it off, there are no instructions and very limited diagrams as to how things work.

We will see how it turns out.

[AmparitoVic]

The father of all Electronic Music !

[biloby]

WOW! LIKE..TOTALLY! did you guys suck that things dick or what? like...WOW! totally.

[shoiblem]

do us all a favor and give your camera to someone who knows how to use it or can at least hold it steady for more than a few milliseconds.

[ollieroks]

what a treasure.

[mush01]

It is an impressive bit of kit. I was rather amused to see it had a hurdy-gurdy on top of it in this video though!

[RoobRuckus]

man if you ever wana get rid of that u gotta hit me

[Dogsledfan]

Too bad MM can't "Whip It" back into playing condition LOL (-:

[zblofu]

owch! hehehe nice one

[greenoutlet]

mark mothersbaugh from devo? man he is cool

[EA78751]

Awesome. will you PLEEEEASE make a video that shows the stuff behind the control panels? like, when the voice in the video says "Whoa - its looking pretty bad back here"... what is he looking at? MUST KNOW!!! : )

Tubes? Stepping relays? Transistor logic?

please please please?

[TrentBrad]

No bugsduggan, it's totally normal. "Wow." "Wow." Wow.

[bugsduggan]

Is it wrong that that makes me horny?

[MrUnidyne]

@bugsduggan It's an invaluable piece of history and it was built,. by hand, by Raymond Scott. You can react that way over it.

[BROWNSOULxxx]

That knowledge of running that machine passed on with Raymond Scott unfortunetly..... he was incredibly secretive about his electronic music and never revealed anything to hardly anyone. The only soul who knew more than anyone is the great Bob Moog and he has passed on as well! That is an extension of Raymond Scott's Soul and I don't think that anyone could totally bring forth the mystery of what made that machine do what it does! He invented the first sequencer!! Ultimate genius!!

[inthefade]

beautiful.

Some day someone will start historical project to restore it.

Mothersbaugh, you are my hero on so many levels!

[54spiritedwill54]

Oh man....like a holy grail of sorts. Even tho RS was really secretive, there *must* be a schematic of it somewhere so it could conceivably be restored - Fantastic clip

[Gazdatronik]

I have a hunch that its a Hammond Novachord sequencer workstation. It has various other tone controls, but no doubt has very rudimentary electronic ideas, simply designed, for what it is. Any decent EE should be able to get it running, but nobody wants to spend the time.

[RaymondScottArchives]

No, its not a Novachord, not rudimentary, & not simply designed.

[RaymondScottArchives]

& a restoration is now being attempted

[Gazdatronik]

Yeah, I'll bet the inside of that thing is the most massively epic kludge. Does anybody know if it ever worked at all? From what I read, it could be a case of having been in development hell for 40 years now!

My ultimate dream is two novachords hooked to the same keyboard, with a few more controls, such as filter sweep and such, to essentially have a vacuum tube Polymoog.

[OFR]

restoration HAS been investigated several times. But it would be INCREDIBLY expensive and difficult to achieve without more documentation. PLUS the Electronium is not a "synthesizer" of sound - it is a composing machine, it writes notes ; which could be done in software emulation, if you want to know what it could do. Msrk Mothersbaugh saved the Electronium when NO ONE knew about it or cared - he was a friend of the family and has taken great care of it.

[kingdorkiv]

is that mothersbaugh speaking?

[micr0cosm]

Amazing...thanks for the look :)

[GolumTR]

I always imagine his instruments being labeled in inexplicable ways. What does "DooWah" do?

I also would like to wonder out loud what Mr. Scott would do with programs like SuperCollider, or other live coding systems.

[JamieBarnes11]

wow someone else who wonders about that kind of stuff to. I have questioned many times what composers from the past would do with new technology

[Metamusik]

Now, THIS, is a superior machine.

[chapeauetbarbe]

Where did you obtain Scotts electronium machine? I'm sorry but i think it belongs in a meuseum, if you ask me, this item needs to be preserved.

[kotep777]

dude dont bring up devo when talkin about raymond scott.......you dont know shit

[DrRek]

the lead singer of devo owns this, both devo and raymond are awesome

[Dogsledfan]

DoctorPatient: Any way that you could get Mr. Mothersbaugh to let you help to restore it to operational condition? Very impressive that Mr. M, BTW, has progressed beyond that idiotic DEVO aggregation of the early 1980's. Can't believe we listened to that - stuff....! Having had some electronics training, I can imagine that this would be a Herculean effort to say the least (-:

[aaasamaaa]

what? DEVO was amazing stuff and it isn't like mark hates his past as devo, it's very important part of his past and forming his music now.

[Bazillion]

Yeah, ignorant comment. You should have stuck with the training through the Devo segment...Mondo Mutato!

[decorativeedison]

Thanks for posting, this stuff is great, I love all of Raymond Scott's music and instruments.

[thesecretsgrprogram]

Wonderful

[sanchezdot]

nice to see it

[DoctorPatient]

I got chills watching this, since I spent almost a year with Ray building it. In '70 I met Ray when he was looking for a prototype wireman, & I jumped on the chance to work on such an amazing, one-of-kind instrument. It was for Motown's Berry Gordy, to be put in a new studio just for it. I hand wired much of the circuitry, as IC's were very scarce. I also did a lot of the transfer lettering for the controls. It was built in Farmingdale, NY. Ray was wonderful, and, oh yeah - it sounded amazing!

[ndkent]

Incredibly cool. I'd love to hear what you remember about the capabilities you actually heard demoed. There is a lot of curioity surrounding what it could really do versus what he was designing it to do.

[GolumTR]

What was the funding like? Did you have freedom to experiment or did Mr. Scott (or Mr. Gordy) have a strict plan?

I have a million questions!

[bobertxxx]

Many thanks for sharing. It feels like one of those sci-fi movies where there is a Great Machine which no longer works, and nobody knows how to repair it. The wonderous Electronium.

[MargusKiistheCritic]

First programmeable music instrument.

[PowerSalad]

Oh man....like a holy grail of sorts. Even tho RS was really secretive, there *must* be a schematic of it somewhere so it could conceivably be restored - one can only hope...Whaddaya say, Mr M? :-) Fantastic clip, thanks.

[eddie23a]

WOW indeed!

[DrRek]

in a secret underground lair, i found this dilapidated electronium

[mubo144]

how did you get this video?

[deciduus]

As a big fan of Raymond Scott, I want to thank you for posting the video clip of the Electronium!

[MichaelStenson]

Constalgumation