ï~~
the instruments did not sound very
musical, largely because the quality of
the sound was too simple, too pure. He
believed that the musicality of a sound
resulted from the imperfections of the
instrument and performer, that the slight
irregularities of the violinist's wrist
movement or of the bow itself brought the
sound to life.
As a scientist in high energy physics
Le Caine had worked extensively with
oscillators, wave form generators, amplifiers and other electronic equipment that
was used extensively in physics to make
measurements of ionization, and in radio
engineering to test circuits. He was able
to imagine a new concept of musical
instrument and he had the understanding
of electronic technology to build an
instrument to demonstrate his new
approach. He began to build the new
electronic instrument almost forty years
ago, working at home after hours between
1945 and 1948. He named his instrument
the "Electronic Sackbut" and we now
recognize it to have been the first
synthesizer, employing as it did detailed
and complex voltage control of electronic
sound sources, and varied wave forms for
generating timbres.
II - THE SACKBUT CONCEPT
The instrument was named the Sackbut
after the medieval wind instrument that
was the precursor of the trombone. The
name could have been chosen because an
important feature of the new instrument
was its sliding pitch device, but Le Caine
explained in the footnote of an article
describing the Sackbut that "the choice
of the name of a thoroughly obsolete
instrument... was thought'to afford the
designer a certain degree of immunity
from criticism."
To overcome what he perceived as the
monotony of electronically generated
sound, Le Caine wanted to be able to
highlight the changes within the melodic
line that make the tone warm and alive.
He wanted a keyboard instrument that
would be as musically satisfying as a
violin; one that would deliver the same
musical message as an acoustic instrument,
but would be capable of greater variation
and easier to learn to play. The subtle
shading of the elements of a sound would
lead to a greater expressivity and to the
development of the essential continuity
of a melodic line.
In 1945 few scientists or musicians considered electronic testing equipment to
be capable of producing an interesting
musical sound. In introducing his first
demonstration tape of the Sackbut,
be Caine comments: "Many people think of
the square wave as being basically unpleasant, but I think of it as having a
poignant, mysterious and rather melancholy
quality." Listening to the recording of
the Sackbut's square wave we hear a simple
waveform with detailed and subtle changes
in the pitch and volume, and the sound is
remarkably similar to that of a clarinet.
Building on the example of the instruments
of the 1920's, Le Caine had developed an
instrument that provided detailed control
of limited resources. It is a monophonic
instrument for use in a live performance
situation. Le Caine believed that the
monophonic instrument was the most
important instrument, the starting point
of all musical thinking. To him the
polyphonic instrument was simply an
expedient solution to the problem of
having too few musicians available to
play monophonic instruments.
III -'THE SACKBUT KEYBOARD
Both pitch and volume are controlled
through the keyboard of the Sackbut which
is organized as a two dimensional pressure
sensitive mechanism. Lateral pressure on
the key results in an adjustment in pitch
while vertical pressure results in an
increased volume level. Because the
volume control is operated continuously
by finger pressure on the key, the keyboard is both touch sensitive and pressure
sensitive. The performer can control both
the attack, which can be adjusted from
gradual to percussive, and the volume
envelope which can be increased or
decreased through the duration of the
note. The touch sensitive keyboard is
simple in concept, and in a monophonic
instrument, does not add a high degree of
difficulty for the performer.
Le Caine perceived that the development
of significant musical ideas takes place
in a considerably smaller range than that
D
T
co'
F 1
C
B
A
Fig. 2 Graph of pitch over time showing
how the performer on an expressive mono phonic instrument might approach and
perform a sustained note. 1 - glissando,
2 - portamento, 3 - intended pitch,
4 - vibrato.
ICMC '84 Proceedings
206
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