120 Years of Electronic Music

The Composer-Tron (1953)

Developed during the early 1950's by Osmond Kendall for the Canadian Marconi Company, the Composer-Tron was an analogue synthesis and composition instrument that utilised an innovative and unique control system.
The Composer-Tron had a cathode ray tube input device that could 'read' patterns or shapes hand drawn on it's surface with a grease pencil. The drawn shape could be defined as the timbre of the note or as the envelope shape of the sound, rhythmical sequences could be written by marking a cue sheet type strip of film.

The purpose of the Composer-Tron, like that of the 'Hanert Electrical Orchestra', was to provide a synthesis and composition tool that closed the gap between composer and performer allowing the composer to define all the aspects of the music in one session:

"At present, the composer writes his mental symphonies as black symbols on white paper. He has no way of knowing wether they're just what he had in mind. Months or years may pass before he hears them played by a symphony orchestra. Not uncommonly he never hears his best work......with Kendal's grease pencil, the composer can, in effect, draw the grooves in the record. Working with a Composert-Tron....he can walk out of his study with his recorded composition under his arm."

Sources:

"The Art Of Electronic Music" , Darter,Tom. 1984 GPI Productions. (pp. 46_47)

© 120 Years Of Electronic Music 2005