Mutabor (synthesizer)

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Mutabor is originally a synthesizer designed to experiment with different moods. At first it was all about pure moods . Later versions of Mutabor were created as software .

introduction

The Mutabor prototype is a synthesizer that was created between 1980 and 1984 under the direction of Rudolf Wille . It was used to experiment with pure moods .

The basis was an organ kit from Haus-Musikelektronik, Schöllkrippen. The original organ oscillator was replaced by Georg Raabe in 1980 with a set of 12 programmable dividers. The first attempts at the game showed that the divider size of 12-bit was not sufficient.

The first test setup from Mutabor. On the left the AIM-65 computer used for control. To the right of the power supply is the oscillator with the programmable dividers.

Therefore, in cooperation with the Institute for Transmission Technology and Electroacoustics at the TU Darmstadt, Hartmut Henkel received an organ main oscillator of 40 MHz and a frequency divider with 16-bit from Hartmut Henkel in 1983 as part of his diploma thesis. There was also a CP / M control computer with an organ operating program written in assembler and Fortran IV

The name is derived on the one hand from Latin and means "I will be changed". It is also an acronym for courage ierende a utomatically b etriebene Or gel. Then later software versions were developed by building Mutabor.

history

The synthesizer was initially programmed in such a way that, depending on the chords played and the previously played chords, it was constantly reprogrammed during the game in order to achieve the most pure tuning possible. The reason for this is that the equal tuning commonly used today is actually a slightly dissonant compromise. A pure mood should avoid this compromise. In order to implement other logics according to which the mood is adjusted, however, the programming had to be intervened every time.

In the course of the experiments it became clear that there is no clear ideal algorithm for this. For this reason, a programming language was developed that is specially tailored to musicians and their technical terms. With the help of this special programming language, it was no longer necessary to adapt the software yourself in order to change the programming. The rules according to which the synthesizer is retuned could also be established by musicians without extensive programming knowledge.

The synthesizer was presented to a wider professional audience at the Salzburg Music Talk in 1984 , chaired by Herbert von Karajan . On this occasion Karajan also played on the synthesizer.

The mathematician Bernhard Ganter was involved in the development of Mutabor . When he was appointed to a chair at the TU Dresden , he took the topic with him. Software versions of Mutabor were developed there under his direction.

The prototype of the Mutabor synthesizer is now in the Haus Eller piano museum in Bergheim , near Cologne .

The name Mutabor was also used in some cases by other developer groups who experimented with the same objective.

Trivia

In the Mutabor handbook , the acronym is also jokingly interpreted as: courage that the ear could fall off ( courage from ear ).

literature

  • Tom Collins, David Meredith, Anja Volk (Eds.): Mathematics and Computation in Music . Springer International Publishing, 2015, ISBN 978-3-319-20602-8 .
  • Rudolf Wille: Music Theory and Mathematics . In: Music and Mathematics . S. 4-31 .

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ a b Volker Abel, Peter Reiss, Rüdiger Krauße, Tobias Schlemmer: User manual of the surface - Mutabor. (PDF) TU Dresden, Institute for Algebra, accessed on October 13, 2015 .
  2. ↑ Bernhard Ganter, Hartmut Henkel, Rudolf Wille: Mutabor . In: Music and Mathematics . 1985, ISBN 3-540-15407-8 , pp. 95-97 .
  3. ↑ a b c Heinz Götze, Rudolf Wille (ed.): Music and mathematics: Salzburg music talk 1984 chaired by Herbert von Karajan . Springer, 1985, ISBN 978-3-540-15407-5 .
  4. ↑ Bernhard Ganter, Hartmut Henkel, Rudolf Wille: MUTABOR: a computer-controlled musical instrument for the investigation of moods . Techn. Hochsch., Fachbereich Math., Darmstadt 1984 ( tib.eu [accessed on January 14, 2019]).
  5. ↑ Henkel, H., Structure and programming of a microcomputer system for controlling an experimental organ. Diploma thesis (D2042UET), TH Darmstadt, Institute for Transmission Technology and Electroacoustics 1984.
  6. ↑ Mutabor. TU Dresden , accessed on October 13, 2015 .
  7. ↑ Piano Museum Haus Eller - Dohr Collection. Verlag Christoph Dohr, accessed on October 13, 2015 (English).