Unlike better-known contemporaries such as Robert Moog, LeCaine
never saw his major inventions developed directly into complete
commercial products, most were one off devices which although
were never commercial successes had great influence on the world
of electronic music. Among his many creations were the "Electronic
Sackbut" and the "Sonde".
Developed by Hugh LeCaine at the University of Toronto in 1945.
The instrument was a touch sensitive keyboard voltage-controlled
synthesizer with pitch,waveform, and formant controllers.
Hugh LeCaine at the Electronic Sackbut
The Sonde
The Sonde
A one off, custom built for the University of Toronto, Ottowa.
The Sonde had 30 fixed frequency oscillators arranged in a 10X20
matrix used to create 200 sine waves whose frequencies were spaced
at 5hz intervals: from 5-1khz. Each frequency was routed to a
key of a touch sensitive polyphonic keyboard.
The Sonde
The Sonde
Sources:
"The Sackbut Blues : Hugh Le Caine, pioneer in electronic music"
Young, Gayle,
( National Museum of Science and Technology, Canada ) 1989 . ISBN/ISSN
:0660120062
© 120 Years Of Electronic Music 2005
