108 – Oramics

Daphne Oram (1925-2003) was an electronic music pioneer from the U.K. She was the founder of the BBC Radiophonics Workshop, a sound effects unit of the BBC. Oram was responsible for the sound design in the Doctor Who television show. She developed a unique system of creating electronic music that involved drawing on 35mm film strips which was then fed through her composition machine. This then affected the amount of light that hit photocells (which triggered sound). The Daphne Oram Trust is keeping her legacy alive and you can also download an Oramics emulator to get an idea what it might be like to use the Oramics machine she created. I made this short clip to demonstrate how you can modulate the sound over time.
 

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.


 

TAGS: