<story><title>The woman who could &apos;draw&apos; music</title><url>http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170522-daphne-oram-pioneered-electronic-music</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ssalazar</author><text>Oh wow. 
I am days away from finishing a PhD thesis on sketching sound and music [1], and Daphne Oram figures highly into my background research. 
A friend of mine built an iPhone app that emulates Oram&amp;#x27;s system [2].&lt;p&gt;Another notable figure in the world of drawing music is Norman McLaren, who literally painted or drew directly on the soundtrack portion of his animated films. 
The soundtrack for his film &lt;i&gt;Neighbors&lt;/i&gt; [3], which won an academy award in 1952, was produced this way. 
Theres a short documentary on his process here [4].&lt;p&gt;On the more avant-garde side, Iannis Xenakis had designed a computer-based system called the UPIC in the late 1970s in which you could directly draw waveforms and then direct their frequencies over time by drawing into a graphics tablet. 
He used this to compose his piece &lt;i&gt;Mycenae Alpha&lt;/i&gt; [5].&lt;p&gt;This page [6] has a really great run-down of optical synthesis in general, which includes a number of individuals and systems involved in directly drawing sound and music. 
Some of the visual sound designs used in these systems are quite striking, for instance the variophone [7] or Yankovsky&amp;#x27;s painted soundtracks [8].&lt;p&gt;[1] Demo of my research software here: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=Tdj5e82nPHQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=Tdj5e82nPHQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;itunes.apple.com&amp;#x2F;us&amp;#x2F;app&amp;#x2F;oramics&amp;#x2F;id454505541?mt=8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;itunes.apple.com&amp;#x2F;us&amp;#x2F;app&amp;#x2F;oramics&amp;#x2F;id454505541?mt=8&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[3] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=P-o9dYwro_Q&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=P-o9dYwro_Q&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[4] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=Q0vgZv_JWfM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=Q0vgZv_JWfM&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[5] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=yztoaNakKok&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=yztoaNakKok&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[6] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.umatic.nl&amp;#x2F;tonewheels_historical.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.umatic.nl&amp;#x2F;tonewheels_historical.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[7] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.umatic.nl&amp;#x2F;tonewheels&amp;#x2F;historical&amp;#x2F;vario3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.umatic.nl&amp;#x2F;tonewheels&amp;#x2F;historical&amp;#x2F;vario3.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[8] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.umatic.nl&amp;#x2F;tonewheels&amp;#x2F;historical&amp;#x2F;painted_soundtrack.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.umatic.nl&amp;#x2F;tonewheels&amp;#x2F;historical&amp;#x2F;painted_soundtrac...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>alphonsegaston</author><text>In the McLaren video you linked, the uploader edited out his music and put in some other track. Here&amp;#x27;s the link to his film with the original score:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=e_aSowDUUaY&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=e_aSowDUUaY&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>The woman who could &apos;draw&apos; music</title><url>http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170522-daphne-oram-pioneered-electronic-music</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>ssalazar</author><text>Oh wow. 
I am days away from finishing a PhD thesis on sketching sound and music [1], and Daphne Oram figures highly into my background research. 
A friend of mine built an iPhone app that emulates Oram&amp;#x27;s system [2].&lt;p&gt;Another notable figure in the world of drawing music is Norman McLaren, who literally painted or drew directly on the soundtrack portion of his animated films. 
The soundtrack for his film &lt;i&gt;Neighbors&lt;/i&gt; [3], which won an academy award in 1952, was produced this way. 
Theres a short documentary on his process here [4].&lt;p&gt;On the more avant-garde side, Iannis Xenakis had designed a computer-based system called the UPIC in the late 1970s in which you could directly draw waveforms and then direct their frequencies over time by drawing into a graphics tablet. 
He used this to compose his piece &lt;i&gt;Mycenae Alpha&lt;/i&gt; [5].&lt;p&gt;This page [6] has a really great run-down of optical synthesis in general, which includes a number of individuals and systems involved in directly drawing sound and music. 
Some of the visual sound designs used in these systems are quite striking, for instance the variophone [7] or Yankovsky&amp;#x27;s painted soundtracks [8].&lt;p&gt;[1] Demo of my research software here: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=Tdj5e82nPHQ&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=Tdj5e82nPHQ&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;itunes.apple.com&amp;#x2F;us&amp;#x2F;app&amp;#x2F;oramics&amp;#x2F;id454505541?mt=8&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;itunes.apple.com&amp;#x2F;us&amp;#x2F;app&amp;#x2F;oramics&amp;#x2F;id454505541?mt=8&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[3] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=P-o9dYwro_Q&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=P-o9dYwro_Q&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[4] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=Q0vgZv_JWfM&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=Q0vgZv_JWfM&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[5] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=yztoaNakKok&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.youtube.com&amp;#x2F;watch?v=yztoaNakKok&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[6] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.umatic.nl&amp;#x2F;tonewheels_historical.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.umatic.nl&amp;#x2F;tonewheels_historical.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[7] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.umatic.nl&amp;#x2F;tonewheels&amp;#x2F;historical&amp;#x2F;vario3.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.umatic.nl&amp;#x2F;tonewheels&amp;#x2F;historical&amp;#x2F;vario3.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[8] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.umatic.nl&amp;#x2F;tonewheels&amp;#x2F;historical&amp;#x2F;painted_soundtrack.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.umatic.nl&amp;#x2F;tonewheels&amp;#x2F;historical&amp;#x2F;painted_soundtrac...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>mmjaa</author><text>Neat links, thanks for the references.  Would be very interested in knowing more about your thesis when its something you&amp;#x27;re able to share ..&lt;p&gt;One wonders what Daphne would have thought of tools such as yours, and as well of course things like U&amp;amp;I&amp;#x27;s MetaSynth:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.uisoftware.com&amp;#x2F;MetaSynth&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.uisoftware.com&amp;#x2F;MetaSynth&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>