*harmonium

When humans first tamed electricity they began to imagine how it might be used to make music. In fitting fashion with the times, some of the first machines which they dreamed into existence were humongous affairs, matching industrial textile operations in size and complexity. The first and most famous was the enormous Telharmonium, designed and constructed under the oversight of Thaddeus Cahill. The Telharmonium is a lovely example of a technology both of and immensely above its own time. It weighed 200 tons. Its sweet, smooth sinusoids were generated by absurdly large iron tone wheels. It was an instrument designed for mass distribution, yet it came and went before the age of the amplifier, the radio, and the record. It could only be heard through the then nascent telephone network.

I think, somehow, that the physical manifestation of my own musical journey--- a pile of synthesizers, filters, wires, and controllers in a bright corner of my room--- is somehow descended from that grandaddy beast of sound.

Thanks to the internet, you can hear what it sounds like:

yayaya
sombra
durkival
homey