IBM 1401, a User's Manual Part I - IBM 1401 Processing Unit

[ABitOfTheUniverse]

Anything But An Atheist

Uploaded by bdw5000 on Jan 7, 2012, brought me here.

Beautiful piece of music, thank you for the upload. I would say it makes me feel empathetic for the machine, if that makes sense?

[RealMadrid560]

Thumbs up if Ray William Johnson brought you here!

[Devialx10]

Heard this while watching Anything but an Atheist.

[Sybsop]

@Devialx10 Heh same here, this is wonderful music

[ABitOfTheUniverse]

@Devialx10 Me too, very poignant video. The definition for poignant: Adjective: Evoking a keen sense of sadness or regret: "a poignant reminder". Keenly felt: "the sensation was most poignant in winter". And keen: Adjective: Having or showing eagerness or enthusiasm. Verb: Wail in grief for a dead person; sing a keen. Noun: An Irish funeral song accompanied by wailing in lamentation for the dead. Synonyms:adj. sharp, acute, trenchant, eager, piercing, intense verb. lament Sounds about right.

[pvrvideoman]

Thank You for this. It is wonderful. I will not forget it.

[Flabbergast3d]

been searching everywhere for this, got it off screenwipe

[Micahb2]

What a great thing to hear first thing Sunday morning

[Zorica12]

My favourite part of the song is the IBM 1401 passage that repeats throughout the entire song. Of course it is enhanced with the accompanying music.

[sukiwang]

i listened to this on shrooms last night. i encourage every one of you to do the same.

[MillyVanillification]

Thats a lesley speaker :)

[Pulverize222]

Every time I listen to this I get very sad for at least four hours.

[MrsBCruz075]

I really don't understand how people can listen to this and hit the "Dislike" button... How?

[anon483]

@MrsBCruz075 Deaf and the visuals looking like a bad trip don't make a good combination, I guess.

[MillyVanillification]

@MrsBCruz075 There are people who do not want music. what they want is entertainment. the crap they got when they turn on tv and radio.

[AJD09FB]

Anyone else find this via "the indelible stamp of our lowly origin"?

[fear614]

@AJD09FB I did. What a video, huh?

[AJD09FB]

@fear614 Indeed.

[dcaptivus]

wow.

[dcaptivus]

wow.

[PeeJayZephyr]

Is it just me or is this track (and the accompanying video) really unsettling?

[SubconsciousAlive]

After hearing this on Charlie Brooker's Newswipe, I've been looking for it for months... Thanks. ^_^

[SnideCast]

@SubconsciousAlive one and half years later I stumble upon it by accident, after searching for it every few months..

[glun]

Nice concept, too bad it isn't the actual sound of an IBM 1401.

[NTOVReykjavik]

Au contraire, it´s very much based on the sound of an actual IBM 1401. Read the essay on ausersmanual (dot) org (slash) data

[glun]

@NTOVReykjavik As you said, it is "based on the sound of" an 1401, but it is not the 'found sound' of one.

[NTOVReykjavik]

@glun There are actual recordings of an IBM 1401 computer used in the piece, which were recorded by Jóhann´s dad in the early 70´s. Read the full story on ausersmanual(dot)org(slash)dat­a.

[Sybsop]

@NTOVReykjavik Reading it right now, absolutely fascinating I must say

[elbalajazz]

great music!

[Chantale35]

that will always remain my fav album from him...it is totaly haunting me.

[SolRosenberg84]

Buying this album right now.

This is awesome.

Also, an awesome use of this song can be found below. Quite a powerful video if you ask me.

/watch?v=Vg4AjD1fUaw

[SrNutritivo]

Check the album "Fordlandia" too. Cheers.

[djosiah21]

"Fordlandia" is fantastic. The opening and closing songs of the cd is why music was created.

[eStick1]

Hey that's what led me here too... I thought is was a really good use of this song too.

[BadlanAlun]

I know that some things cannot be changed, though I strive to try anyway. I ask only one thing of you, leave this world in a better place than where you found it.

[solonely8777]

i can't see that being at all possible, in this day and age, especially being on a pc using electric to write useless comments, oh...it must be ok if you have a mac

[chippywong]

Great Sound! Thank you for sharing.

[tangofizz77]

What is this IBM 1401 thing? why is it International Bussines Machines?

[AdmiralCreideiki]

The IBM 1401 was a computer made by International Business Machines during the '50s that was a relatively small (compared to the other IBM machines of the time) machine.

It was a punch card system with tape access (in most cases). Though it could also be outfit with a variety of peripherals (disk storage, communications equipment, OCR equipment, and even an online data entry console).

It was a very versatile machine, that could be used by itself or as an I/O processor for a bigger system.

[tangofizz77]

I know but why did the authour choose IBM? to express his feelings I guess.

[AdmiralCreideiki]

Why'd the author/composer choose the IBM 1401 as his subject matter?

Well from the website of the artist, it is stated that he was inspired by an old audio recording of the 1401 his father made on a reel-to-reel tape when the 1401 was "decommissioned" several years (decades?) ago. (The tape he recorded over -- most humorously -- was the actual user's manual audio recording for the 1401.)

[tangofizz77]

I know thats what I ment, "Inspired"

[shrapn0]

Pleaaaaaase put the other parts up!

An absolutely beautiful masterpiece.

Thank you for sharing :)

[buckley264]

1401's ran about $2500.00 u.s.d. a month to rent in 1950's money. This is most interesting soothing & haunting. I have just recently become familiar w/ the project. Thanks for posting.

[soremongs]

Very cool.I like it!!It sounds like something Philip Glass would do.

[dzajac123]

I always found it more akin to Brain Eno's Apollo.

[phred75]

The IBM 1401 was an mainframe computer back in the 60's. It was this huge beast of a machine that had a small flaw in which it leaked electromagnetic radiation in a frequency that AM radios could pick up. It didn't take long for the geeks of the day to figure out how to make music out of it! That wierd instrument you hear at the start that sounds kinda like a claironet but isn't... that the 1401!

[Eikinkloster]

Only that it wasn't quite a mainframe... more like a minicomputer. It came before the true mainframes, the S/360 systems, and it was a smaller counterpart for the large systems of it's day, the 700 and 7000 systems. 1401 code could run on mainframes though, through emulation, and has been till recent times.

[slymee83]

@phred75 you're kidding?! thats awesome!

[Sybsop]

@phred75 That, is amazing.

[lampdevil]

I love this music. It's so very soothing.

[anshumang1]

what exactly are we seeing here ?

[myndhreyfill]

Thanks for the tip,, i'll keep it in mind

[Eikinkloster]

I think the images go well with the music's author stated motiffs:

óhannsson aims to explore the relationship between the computer and his homeland, playing an old Icelandic hymn his father managed to coax out of the 1401, and is keen to find human qualities inside even the most arcane systems.

[cheekyegg]

its not about the fucking video though is it

[GraphicNet]

I HAVE no idea.......?