Ingenium - Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation
Uncovering the secrets of the world’s first synthesizer (Part II)
7 m
Jul 12, 2023
Media
Photo Credit
Tom Everrett
Electronic Sackbut Reconstruction in progress.
Seventy-five years ago, Canadian physicist Hugh Le Caine began work on a strange, new musical instrument with an equally strange name: the Electronic Sackbut. While you may not have heard of the Electronic Sackbut before, you’ve almost certainly heard of the ubiquitous musical instrument it pioneered: the synthesizer.
This is part two of an ongoing Channel series that follows Ingenium’s reconstruction of the 1948 Electronic Sackbut, better known as the world’s first synthesizer. Today we’ll look at progress made on the reconstruction, as well as next steps.
The Electronic Sackbut Reconstruction Project
In my previous blog in this Channel series, I described some of the reasons why the 1948 Electronic Sackbut, one of the most historically significant artifacts in Ingenium’s musical instrument collection, could not be restored to its original playable state. With so many of its aging electronic components in poor and unstable condition, restoring the instrument would require destructively removing and replacing most of its original circuitry. This would destroy important material evidence and severely compromise the historical integrity of the artifact. I wondered at the time whether it might be possible to instead bypass the instrument’s circuitry with our own custom-built modules, leaving the original electronic components intact. This would allow us to still “play” the instrument’s mechanical controls—keyboard, surface levers, knobs, and switches—while offloading the electrical work to safe and stable modern components.
Although technically feasible, a further review of the instrument’s structure and mechanical controls delivered more bad news: many of these components, too, would require destructive interventions to be restored to playable condition.
The keyboard frame of the Electronic Sackbut, for example, has warped considerably over the last 75 years. This has affected the movement or “action” of the keys (see Figure 1). To restore proper, balanced movement of the keys across the keyboard, we would need to remove and reset, and likely replace, the original wooden keyboard frame—including the piece containing the words “Electronic Sackbut.” Even removing the frame for inspection to accurately determine next steps would be highly risky, as once the tension of the warped wood was released, it’s unlikely that it and its interconnected components would ever fit back together. This would be classified as a destructive intervention, as we’d never be able to return the artifact to its original state.
Photo Credit
Don Kennedy, courtesy of the National Music Centre
Figure 1. Notice the gap between the key bed (indicated in red) and each key, which gets wider as you move from the left of the keyboard to the right. When you press the keys on the left, they barely move; when you press the keys on the right they move far too much. Leaving the keyboard in this condition would make the instrument virtually unplayable.
Similar conclusions were drawn with regards to other physical controls on the instrument. Underneath the “pinky” control lever, for example, are the remnants of an orange sponge (see Figure 2). The sponge functioned as a spring to provide resistance to the lever and allow it to return to its original resting position—pointed upwards—when not being pressed. Over many years this sponge has dried out, collapsed, and become extremely brittle. To restore the pinky lever to a playable state, we would need to remove the remnants of the original sponge and replace it with a new one. This would be destructive and irreversible, as the original sponge would crumble during the removal process and could never be reinstated.
Photo Credit
Don Kennedy and Claire Neily, courtesy of the National Music Centre
Figure 2. The “pinky” control lever (circled in red) is located in the left-hand control module on the surface of the instrument. In the image to the right you may notice some small bits of orange sponge that have fallen off the larger piece and lie beside it. The sponge is so brittle that small pieces are continuously shedding off, even with minimal disturbance.
These are just two of many examples of original components across the Electronic Sackbut that would have to be destroyed or damaged to some degree in order to restore the instrument to a playable state.
As these destructive interventions would have a dramatic impact on the historical integrity of the artifact, as well as its future exhibition and research potential, we decided to forego any restoration work and instead proceed with a standalone reconstruction. This would allow us to replicate the 1948 instrument’s physical attributes, ergonomics (playing feel), and sound design, while leaving the original artifact safely intact.
Research and planning on the reconstruction began in earnest in the fall of 2021. Despite pandemic-related delays, our team has made significant progress in the months since. For the remainder of this blog, I’d like to share with you some images and descriptions of this progress. I’ll then conclude with our next steps in building what we hope will become “the world’s first fully playable reconstruction of the world’s first synthesizer.”
Structural and Mechanical Components
The first phase of the reconstruction involved building a faithful reproduction of the Electronic Sackbut’s main structure and mechanical controls. For this, we enlisted the help of artist and materials expert Denis Larouche. Over a six-month period, Denis took detailed photos and measurements of the artifact on the floor of the Canada Science and Technology Museum, where it is currently on exhibit. In fall of 2022, he delivered to the museum a complete physical reproduction of the instrument, including base structure, keyboard, and surface controls. Figures 3 to 7 illustrate a few of the steps involved in this work.
Photo Credit
Tom Everrett
Figure 3. Hands-on session with the artifact on the floor of the Canada Science and Technology Museum. Here, Denis took detailed measurements, photos, and notes on the instrument to ensure a high degree of accuracy in his design.
Photo Credit
Denis Larouche
Figure 4. Fabrication of the Electronic Sackbut’s bespoke keyboard. This involved cutting, assembling, and finishing each component by hand.
Photo Credit
Denis Larouche
Figure 5. Fabrication of the left-hand controls, using photos and measurements of the artifact for reference.
Photo Credit
Denis Larouche
Figure 6. Fabrication of the base structure, including aesthetic finishes to capture the look and texture of the wooden cross-beams. The original structure was built c. 1945 using boards from a discarded packing crate.
Photo Credit
Tom Everrett
Figure 7. Finished physical reconstruction of the instrument, as it appeared on delivery to the museum in fall of 2022. Preliminary installation of the electronic components began shortly thereafter.
Electronic Components
The next phase of the reconstruction involved reproducing the Electronic Sackbut’s electronic components. Initially we had planned to mirror the original 1948 electronics design and employ analogue circuitry, however this proved untenable for a number of reasons.
For one, we still lack a complete understanding of the analogue circuit design of the original. In fact, one of our reasons for wanting to create a playable reconstruction is to test a number of theories about how the instrument would have been electronically designed. As mentioned in my previous post, the electronic circuitry of the original instrument is complex and not easily (read: non-destructively) mapped out. So we can’t say for sure how each circuit was designed and interconnected with the others. And since so much of the instrument’s musical sound was achieved through careful manipulation of its various playing controls—some of which, like the left-hand controls, are highly unusual—determining exactly how the instrument was electronically and instrumentally designed would require experimenting with both elements in tandem.
This involves playing the reconstruction, manipulating its various controls, and comparing the sounds produced to those captured on the few known historical recordings made by the Electronic Sackbut’s creator, Hugh Le Caine, between 1946 and 1954. It also involves modifying the controls, the performance technique, and/or the electronic circuits in order to best match the sounds heard on those recordings. Achieving this with analogue circuitry would have amplified both the time requirements and margins for error considerably, as the original analogue circuits were notoriously finicky and unstable. They were also dangerous to operate, with high voltage current flowing continuously through the instrument.
We opted instead to design a digital sound engine which would allow us to more effectively experiment with different control functions, electronic configurations, and playing techniques—safely, efficiently, and in a highly controlled manner—all the while gaining a better understanding of how the original analogue circuits would have been designed.
This strategy, we believe, will allow us to still achieve our objective of creating a standalone reconstruction of the instrument that will look, feel, and sound very close to the original, while at the same time generating evidence that can be used to support a myriad of future research projects on the instrument, including future analogue reconstructions.
To develop our digital sound engine, we enlisted the help of musician and electronic instrument designer Edmund Eagan. After carefully reviewing files in our Le Caine research archive, listening to recordings of the original Electronic Sackbut, and participating in several artifact consultations with members of the reconstruction team, Edmund was able to develop a digital sound engine that could closely approximate the functionality and sonic outputs of the original instrument. He also created a video explaining how the sound engine works, which you can watch here. Figure 8 provides a screen capture from this video illustrating how Edmund mapped the various functions of the Electronic Sackbut in a digital environment, which he then “plays” using a MIDI piano keyboard and computer trackpad. Once the reconstruction is finished, the sound engine will be installed in a module which will then be controlled entirely by the keyboard and surface controls, with no need for any external hardware or a computer.
Photo Credit
Edmund Eagan
Figure 8. Screenshot of Edmund Eagan demonstrating the Electronic Sackbut digital sound engine. The bottom left shows a photograph of the Electronic Sackbut artifact’s surface with the various digital controls mapped on. The right shows how Edmund is using a MIDI piano keyboard and computer trackpad to “play” the instrument in real time. Eventually the sound engine will be installed in the reconstruction and the keyboard and trackpad will be replaced by the keyboard and surface controls of the instrument.
Next Steps
With the physical build and digital sound engine complete, or at least complete enough to enable further development and refinement, our team is now working on wiring the physical controls to the digital interface. Figures 9 and 10 illustrate how the reconstruction currently looks at this time of writing. While we still have a ways to go in terms of designing, installing, testing, and adapting the various custom components that will be required to have the physical controls effectively “speak” to the digital sound engine—as well as effectively replicate the unique ergonomics (playing feel) and sound of the original Electronic Sackbut—we are pleased with the results so far and are looking forward to sharing further progress in the months to come.
Photo Credit
Tom Everrett
Figure 9. Preliminary installation of the electronic components (surface view).
Photo Credit
Tom Everrett
Figure 10. Preliminary installation of the electronic components (“under the hood”). The digital sound engine is installed in the two black modules located on the right of the instrument.
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Tom Everrett, PhD
As Curator of Communication Technologies at Ingenium – Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation, Tom Everrett’s main research focus is the history of sound technology, with a special emphasis on sound-based artifact research methodologies. He recently curated two permanent exhibitions at the Canada Science and Technology Museum. Sound by Design highlights significant innovations in sound technology over the past 150 years, while Wearable Tech explores the historic relationship between technology and the body. Tom holds a PhD from Carleton University in Ottawa where he is an Adjunct Professor in Curatorial Studies (Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art and Culture). You can find him on Twitter at @CommTechCurator.
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