Ivan Eremeeff developed the Syntronic Organ around 1934 in collaboration with Leopold Stokowski, who was then the Director of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra. This instrument is yet another of the type that has a stationary, illuminated mask governing tone color. However, Eremeeff departed from the typical tone-wheel design [see C.K., July, Aug., Sept. ’77]. Instead he used a film with transparent “light slits” which passed rapidly over the photoelectric cell. Some models had a “pitch film” that would run for a limited time—just like a tape recorder. (Fake it! I have to rewind my organ!) Another version had an endless-loop pitch film.
The following is a synopsis of the operating principles of the Syntronic Organ (please refer to the diagram):
The rapidly moving pitch film (a) rode on padded rollers, driven by a variable-speed motor that allowed tuning. The quality mask (b) was divided into sections and could be advanced manually (c) or by motor (d) to provide a selection of tone colors. Light from sources (e) was projected through the selected quality mask, then through variable “translucency disks” (f, g) which provided pedal control of volume and speed of tremolo. Finally the light passed through the running pitch film (a) onto a photoelectric cell. When a given key was depressed, an associated light shutter (h) was raised. This allowed the light to pass through the quality mask and fall on a single pitch track of the film. (The instrument was completely polyphonic, having 88 such shutters.) The light shutters rode in the spacers of the “diminishing rollers” (i), which revolved at a controllable speed in the direction which would cause the light shutters to return to their original position (creating silence).
The Syntronic Organ’s envelope (loudness) control was remarkable. Each light shutter had a spring that held it against the diminishing rollers. A pedal could be used to simultaneously alter the speed of these rollers, and control the volume using the translucency disk (f), permitting the tones to fade away. That is, the Syntronic Organ could hold the sound and create a gradual release after the fingers left the keyboard—like a synthesizer. When spring tension was released, the shutters were freed; then when a key was depressed, its associated shutter would drop by its own weight back to its resting place. This created short tones comparable to staccato tones on a piano—or “zero sustain” on a synthesizer envelope generator that controls the voltage-controlled amplifier. Also, the 88-note keyboard was scaled so that “…each frequency of the musical scale has its own predetermined intensity.”
Eremeeff designed not only this fascinating instrument, but the entire technology necessary for its support. He constructed a “universal” recorder capable of creating pitch and quality films by exposing running film to light patterns generated by a “flicker box” (see diagram). The pitch films were composed of numerous repeating uniform slits or apertures produced by rotating cams of the appropriate shape; light was permitted to pass through their openings and expose the film, creating tracks of definite frequency. To prepare quality films (masks), the recorder used cams with predetermined wave patterns cut into their peripheries (as shown); these too, revolved in the path of the light beams projected onto the running raw film. Naturally, the quality tracks were produced in a size that would correctly correspond to the associated pitch track.
Eremeeff and Stokowski had ambitious plans for this instrument. We read in 1934:
At the present writing, plans are being discussed with a view to a symphony orchestra which is composed exclusively of electronic organs, of which there will be about 35. In such an orchestra, the individual instruments will, at specified intervals, play with definite qualities. When it is required that the quality be changed, the individual instruments themselves will take on, selectively, an entirely new and different tone.
Evidently these plans failed to materialize. But it is apparent from the preceding that Maestro Stokowski would have exploited the timbral capacities of the instrument to the fullest. Of more importance was the awareness of the features of musical nuance that constitute good performance:
The tonal effects, such as the tremolo, which produces a rapid or slow fluttering reiteration of the tones, the diminishing or “fading away” of the tones after the performer’s fingers have left the keys, the volume control, and the effects produced by the manner of key attack, are all controlled and varied by the individual touch of the artist. That is to say, the player must be an artist, since, in any symphonic music, the many intricacies of music modulation must be completely understood by each participant.
I believe Maestro Stokowski envisioned an orchestra of sound, not a “keyboard ensemble.” So often we have fallen into the “timbre trap.” Truly, one of the exciting things about electronic instruments is the control they allow over tone color. We can construct timbre electronically in ways that are difficult or impossible with instruments of a physical construction. But must we forget basics? The final quote on the Syntronic Organ hits this nail squarely on the head:
The electronic organs permit of the finest musical control and expression, due to those devices which change the musical effects as well as to the many qualities which can be had from the quality masks [emphasis added]
Stokowski and Eremeeff knew this in 1934, I wish that all existing manufacturers of electronic musical instruments knew it now.
Next month, a final column on photoelectrics.
OCTOBER 1977
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