Fact #172787
When:
Short story:
Electronic synthesiser pioneers Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil release the album Zero Time under the name Tonto's Expanding Head Band on Embryo / Atlantic Records in the USA. The album is performed entirely on an electronic music synthesising system of their own creation which they called The Original New Timbral Orchestra or, as an acronym, T.O.N.T.O.Full article:
Malcolm Cecil : I wanted to create an instrument that would be the first multitimbral polyphonic synthesizer. Multitimbral polyphony is different than the type of polyphony provided by most of today's synthesizers, on which you turn to a string patch and everything under your fingers is strings. In my book 'multitimbral' means each note you play has a different tone quality, as if the notes come from separate instruments. I wanted to be able to play live multitimbral polyphonic music using as many fingers and feet as I had.
(Source : not known)
Malcolm Cecil : With the synthesizer we're not limited to twelve tones. We can change the tuning and put 17, 19, 25 — pick a number! We wondered how many intervals there were in an octave and decided to check it out with these glide tones. They're spread over a long time because we were trying to pick out individual notes.
(Source : feature in Keyboard magazine, 1984)
Robert Margouleff : The temporariness of it, the chaotic quality of it, the ability to create these most wonderful sounds that are there for a second and then go away, then you act on the thing in a very impulsive way, much as a jazz musician acts impulsively on his instrument. But the creation of the sound itself, the invention of the instrument itself comes very briefly to light out the chaos, and then it's gone again.
(Source : Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesiser by Trevor Pinch and Frank Trocco, Harvard University Press, 2014).
Stevie Wonder : It can be said of this work that it parallels with good wine. As it ages it only gets better with time. A toast to greatness... a toast to Zero Time... forever.
(Source : Lavie Tidhar; Tim Maughan, Liz Williams and Mark Millar, Adventure Rocketship!, 2013)
Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo) : TONTO represented the cutting edge of artificial intelligence in the world of music - Robert and Malcolm are the mad chefs of aural cuisine with beefy tones and cheesy timbres, making brain chili for those brave enough and hungry enough. Consequently, back in the cultural wasteland of the Midwest, the release of Tonto's Expanding Head Band was an inspirational indicator for starving Spudboys who had grown tired of the soup du jour. It was official - noise was now Muzak, and Muzak was now noise.
(Source : liner notes to re-issue of Zero Time)
John Diliberto : This collaboration changed the perspectives of black pop music as much as The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper altered the concept of white rock.
(Source : feature in Keyboard magazine, 1984)
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(Source : not known)
Malcolm Cecil : With the synthesizer we're not limited to twelve tones. We can change the tuning and put 17, 19, 25 — pick a number! We wondered how many intervals there were in an octave and decided to check it out with these glide tones. They're spread over a long time because we were trying to pick out individual notes.
(Source : feature in Keyboard magazine, 1984)
Robert Margouleff : The temporariness of it, the chaotic quality of it, the ability to create these most wonderful sounds that are there for a second and then go away, then you act on the thing in a very impulsive way, much as a jazz musician acts impulsively on his instrument. But the creation of the sound itself, the invention of the instrument itself comes very briefly to light out the chaos, and then it's gone again.
(Source : Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesiser by Trevor Pinch and Frank Trocco, Harvard University Press, 2014).
Stevie Wonder : It can be said of this work that it parallels with good wine. As it ages it only gets better with time. A toast to greatness... a toast to Zero Time... forever.
(Source : Lavie Tidhar; Tim Maughan, Liz Williams and Mark Millar, Adventure Rocketship!, 2013)
Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo) : TONTO represented the cutting edge of artificial intelligence in the world of music - Robert and Malcolm are the mad chefs of aural cuisine with beefy tones and cheesy timbres, making brain chili for those brave enough and hungry enough. Consequently, back in the cultural wasteland of the Midwest, the release of Tonto's Expanding Head Band was an inspirational indicator for starving Spudboys who had grown tired of the soup du jour. It was official - noise was now Muzak, and Muzak was now noise.
(Source : liner notes to re-issue of Zero Time)
John Diliberto : This collaboration changed the perspectives of black pop music as much as The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper altered the concept of white rock.
(Source : feature in Keyboard magazine, 1984)