General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

2

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

METAL FRAME & CASING/ SYNTHETIC KNOBS, KEYBOARD KEYS, HANDLES, PARTS/ WOOD FOOT PEDAL UNIT/ RUBBER? PEDAL COVER/ GLASS, METAL, & SYNTHETIC WORKING PARTS

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

60.8 cm

Width

54.2 cm

Height

167.7 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Communications

Category

Music

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

NRC

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

City

Ottawa

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Quebec

Period

1970 +

Canada

A unique instrument designed by pioneering Canadian electronic music composer and instrument designer Hugh Le Caine of NRC, and built at NRC. It was designed for composer Paul Pederson of the McGill University Electronic Music Studio, which was the second such facility in Canada, opened in 1964.

Function

A polyphonic synthesizer operated by a three-octave touch-sensitive keyboard, in which the 37 notes of the keyboard could be used as a series of specific pitches defined by the user, each with its own waveform, or it could be used as a conventional keyboard instrument.

Technical

This polyphonic synthesizer was built 10 years before such devices were commercially available and before the advent of digital control in hybrid synthesizers. It was operated by a keyboard with touch-sensitive keys. each key had its own sound source, and waveform and pitch controls.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

RED IMPRESSION-PRINTED LABEL READING 'NEW IMPROVED/ NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL/ POLYPHONIC SYNTHESIZER/ 'THE LE CAINE'/ NUMEROUS black and red impression-printed labels for control functions

Missing

unknown

Finish

PLATED METAL FRAME/ FLAT GREY CASING/ BLACK KNOBS/ BLACK & WHITE KEYS & HANDLES/ MULTICOLOURED & CLEAR SYNTHETIC PARTS

Decoration

N/A