the ‘Syntronic Organ’ ,’Universal Recorder’ & ‘Photona’, Ivan Eremeeff, USA, 1932-1935.

Ivan Eremeeff holding a 9 inch sheet of sixty optical tones from the Syntronic Organ. Image: Popular Mechanics, January 1936,20-2.

The Syntronic Organ

In the early 1930s the world-renowned conductor and at the time the director of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski began to search for ways of augmenting or even replacing a conventional orchestra with amplified and electronic instruments. Stokowski, who had premiered many of Edgard Varese’s works in the 1920s and championed Varese’s experiments with electronic sound, added a Theremin Cello to the Philadelphia Orchestra to reinforce the double bass parts of the score – later replacing this with a specially adapted Ondes Martenot. 1 Davies, Hugh, (2014) Electronic Musical Instruments, The Grove dictionary of musical instruments, New York : Oxford University Press,168.
Eremeeff’s diagram of a networked orchestra of 20 Syntronic Organs. Image: US Patent 1,924,713,  June 4, 1932.
Ivan Eremeeff began a collaboration with Stokowski around 1932 with the aim of creating an all-electronic orchestra equipped with thirty five connected electronic instruments designed by Eremeeff:
“plans are being discussed with a view to a symphony orchestra which is composed exclusively of electronic organs, of which there will be about 35. The instruments are designed to be portable and compact, and will utilize the synthetic wave films as described, for the production of various types of music, such as produced by ordinary well-known musical instruments as the violin, the flute, the piccolo, etc. , and also music the timbre or tone of which has not been heard before.”
An artists depiction of Stokowski’s synchronised orchestra with multiple connected Syntronic Organs. Image: Popular Mechanics, January 1936, 20-2.
“The symphony orchestra of the future will not be a band of a hundred or more musicians, carrying a carload of instruments, but a small group of fifteen or twenty men, each carrying a small roll of film. This small group will be able to play symphonies and other selections with greater precision, and better effects, than could be obtained from an orchestra made up of hundreds of artists playing the finest musical instruments. In fact, they will be able to obtain effects that cannot even be approximated with actual musical instruments, since every instrument has its physical limitations.
The impulses from these various devices go to a ‘mixing board,’ where they are “mixed” and enter the loud-speakers. man at the mixing board controls the volume of the various instruments. With this arrangement, the conductor will not stand before the orchestra, but a motion picture will be taken of the orchestra leader con-ducting. The picture will be shown on a screen, and the operators of the devices will follow his leading on the screen.
The conductor himself will sit at the control panels situated in the audience. He will be able to regulate the speed at which the film run, and also regulate the sound. The conductor thus, at his ease, will get the same effect as the audience. The music itself will come from loud-speakers situated about the auditorium instead of emanating from the stage on which the musicians appear.”2 Music of the Future now a Reality, Popular Mechanics, January 1936, 20-2. 
Syntronic Organ circa 1933

The Syntronic project was based at the new WCAU building in Philadelphia and sponsored by the radio station’s president Dr Leon levy. The first product of this collaboration was the Syntronic Organ unveiled at WCAU in 1934. 3 Kassell, Edward, E, (1934) A “Syntronic” Organ, Radio Craft, August 1934, 77,104-6. The Syntronic Organ was designed specifically for a networked orchestra of interconnected electronic instruments – i.e. ‘Synchronised – Electronic’ or, as Eremeeff described it in his 1932 patent:

“a system consisting of one or more synchronously coupled electrical musical instruments, each of which is capable of producing electrically tones of predetermined pitch, predetermined synthetic quality, and predetermined tonal expressions, the latter being produced by various keying means, with provision, if desired, for tremolo and a continuing diminishing of the tones after the keying has been discontinued.”4Eremeeff, Ivan, (1932), SYNTHETIC ELECTRICAL MUSICAL SYSTEM. US Patent 1,924,713, filed June 4, 1932 .
The dual keyboards of the Syntronic Organ. Image: Popular Mechanics, January 1936, 20-2.

The Syntronic Organ was a photo-electric type instrument controlled by two manual keyboards each controlling its own sound producing unit and it was designed, not just to reproduce the sound of a pipe organ, but be able to electronically recreate all the instruments of the orchestra and numerous new sound effects. Thomas Rhea described in detail the technical operation of the instrument in The Art of Electronic Music:

“This instrument is yet another of the type that has a stationary illuminated mask governing tone colour. However, Eremeeff departed from the typical tone-wheel design. Instead he used a film with transparent “light slits” which passed rapidly over the photoelectric cell. Some models had a “pitch film” that would run for a limited time — just like a tape recorder. Another version had an endless-loop pitch film. The following is a synopsis of the operating principles of the Syntronic Organ (please refer to the diagram fig1.):

The rapidly moving pitch film (a) rode on padded rollers, driven by a variable-speed motor that allowed tuning. The quality mask (b ) was divided into sections and could be advanced manually (c ) or by motor (d) to provide a selection of tone colours. Light from sources (e ) was projected through the selected quality mask, then through variable “translucency disks” (f,g) which provided pedal control of volume and speed of tremolo. Finally the light passed through the running pitch film (a) onto a photo- electric cell. When a given key was depressed, an associated light shutter (h) was raised. This allowed the light to pass through the quality mask and fall on a single pitch track of the film. (The instrument was completely polyphonic, having 88 such shutters. ) The light shutters rode in the spacers of the “diminishing rollers” (i). which revolved at a controllable speed in the direction which would cause the light shutters to return to their original position (creating silence ). The Syntronic Organ’s envelope (loudness ) control was remarkable. Each light shutter had a spring that held it against the diminishing rollers. A pedal could be used to simultaneously alter the speed of these rollers, and control the volume using the translucency disk (i) permitting the tones to fade away. That is, the Syntronic Organ could hold the sound and create a gradual release after the fingers left the keyboard — like a synthesizer. When spring tension was released, the shutters were freed: then when a key was depressed, its associated shutter would drop by its own weight back to its resting place. This created short tones comparable to staccato tones on a piano —or “zero sustain” on a synthesizer envelope generator that controls the voltage-controlled amplifier. Also. the 88-note keyboard was scaled so that “… each frequency of the musical scale has its own predetermined intensity.” Eremeeff designed not only this fascinating instrument, but the entire technology necessary for its support. He constructed a “universal” recorder capable of creating pitch and quality films by exposing running film to light patterns generated by a “flicker box.” The pitch films were composed of numerous repeating uniform slits or apertures produced by rotating cams of the appropriate shape; light was permitted to pass through their openings and expose the film, creating tracks of definite frequency. To prepare quality films (masks ), the recorder used cams with predetermined wave patterns cut into their peripheries, these too, revolved in the path of the light beams projected onto the running raw film. Naturally, the quality tracks were produced in a size that would correctly correspond to the associated pitch track.5 Rhea, Thomas, L,(1984) Photo-Electric Instruments, The Art of Electronic Music – GPI Publications, 13.

Stokowski’s ambitious plans for an all electronic orchestra ultimately never came to fruition because of disagreements between Stokowski and the orchestra’s management. Stokowski re-visited the plan with a mixed 150 acoustic and 24 electronic instrument orchestra for San Francisco 1939 Golden gate Exhibition – a plan that similarly failed to materialise. it seems that Stokowski’s disagreements with the Philadelphia Symphony orchestra’s management board and his frustration at being unable to realise his musical-technical vision lead to his eventual retirement from the orchestra in 1941.6 Davies, Hugh, (2014) Electronic Musical Instruments, The Grove dictionary of musical instruments, New York : Oxford University Press,168.

The WCAU Photona

The Photona at WCAU Philadelphia played by Leonard ‘Melody-Mac’ MacClain in 1935. Image: Theatre organ, 1962.

Ivan Eremeef later created the Photona , a cut-down commercial version of the Syntronic Organ. This instrument followed the same photo-electrical system as the Syntronic Organ and was developed by Eremeeff with the  John Leitch at the engineering department of  WCAU broadcasting station in Philadelphia, USA. The Photonahad twelve rotating optical discs illuminated by nine hundred six volt lamps. The instrument was played with two six octave manual keyboards and two foot pedals for volume and tremolo. The instrument its official debut on February 10, 1935, according to nation-wide press reports, and was officially presented to the public over coast-to-coast radio broadcasts and abroad, for 6 months, beginning on April 6, 1935. An article in the Theatre Organ describes the launch of the Photona:

“Leonard MacClain played the first electronic organ over a coast to coast broadcast on April 6, 193 5. It was the newly invented Photona, built by Ivan Eremeeff, on the photo-electric cell principle. Asked what he thought of it, Mac re plied, “It be longs in an institute!” And that is where it is today – the Franklin Institute. It has no pedals, and was very noisy, with the speaker placed in another room to get away from the racket. Cost of the device was $76,000.” 7 Klos, Lloyd, E (1962) “Melody Mac” the Giant of the T.O. World, the Theatre Organ, 6.

The Photona used a very simple system of twelve rotating light choppers, that worked to interrupt light periodically. Evidently no tone masks were used and the output was probably a complex wave. The twelve disks were cut radially with slots at several depths toward the centre of the disk, allowing for the production of harmonic or inharmonic overtones. The instrument is reported to have used 900 car lamps, switched on by keys, for the production of sound.8 “WCAU’s ’Photona’ Organ,” Electronics, April, 1905, p. 123. Thomas Rhea, again describes the function of the Photona:

“The lamps were connected, through different circuits, to the keyboard of two 73-note manuals and to “stops” which governed tone control. When a key on a manual was depressed, corresponding lamps were lit and the appropriate tone was “chopped” by the tone wheel. For timbre control, the partials of any tone could be varied in strength with knobs which increased or decreased the amount of current feeding into the appropriate lamps. Alternating current was used for keying these lamps; the Photona was constructed using no rectifiers (AC to DC converters ). Eremeeff was a designer with an car for musical nuance. In addition to the volume-control pedal that was standard fare for instruments of the era, he arranged for foot-operated control of vibrato amount. This was accomplished with a mechanical linkage that engaged a cam with a motor-driven gear; this in turn caused the displacement of the tone-generator drive belt on a cone- shaped pulley, creating true vibrato, as opposed to the constant-amount vibrato on some electronic musical instruments today. The Photona also had a “percussion push” button that caused a sudden rush of current to the photoelectric cells, creating a cracking, percussive sound. Maybe Eremeeff was trying to provide a rudimentary dynamic keyboard for touch-responsive phrasing. Even though the Photona had an impossibly complex tone generator, there were sparks of genius in its musical engineering.9 Rhea, Thomas, L,(1984) Photo-Electric Instruments, The Art of Electronic Music – GPI Publications, 13.

Photo-cell behind a revolving disc.
Photo-cell behind a revolving disc. Image: Smithsonian Institution Science Services.
The WCAU Photona at the Smithsonian Institution
The WCAU Photona at the Smithsonian Institution: Image: Smithsonian Institution Science Services.
The driving pulleys for the tone discs and transformers used for lighting and nine hundred six volt lamps
The driving pulleys for the tone discs and transformers used for lighting and nine hundred six volt lamps. Image: Smithsonian Institution Science Services.

Ivan Eremeeff’s patents for a photo-electrical instrument 1934-6

Biography: Ivan Ivanovich Eremeef (1893 – ?)

Ivan Eremeeff (later Americanised to Ivan Jerome) was a Russian-American physicist, prolific inventor and designer of electronic instruments. Born in Chelyabinsk, Russia in 1893 , he probably emigrated to the USA about 1918, and began experimenting with the construction of electronic instruments about 1923 in Dayton, Ohio, where he also developed a four rotor H-1 helicopter for the US army (1922) a barograph (1928) and a mobile aircraft hangar (1922).

Eremeeff and Bothezat’s design for a four rotor military helicopter the ‘Flying Octopus’: December 18, 1922, The first helicopter actually to fly, designated the Engineering Division H-1, was designed by Dr. George de Bothezat and Mr. Ivan (Eremeeff) Jerome.

In 1930 he moved to Philadelphia, where he founded and chaired the Society of Electronic music and took out eight patents for electronic instruments between 1932 and 1936 including the including the Gnome (1933 patent), a larger variant of the Gnome (1933), the Syntronic Organ (1934) and the Photona (1935). In the early 1930s he worked at the electronic music laboratory of the radio station WCAU in Philadelphia.

Eremeeff’s electronic instruments were based on two different sound-generating systems: electromagnetic tone-wheels, a principle he used in the Gnome, and photoelectric devices – Photona (or WCAU organ; 1935) and Syntronic organ (1934). The last instrument was enthusiastically endorsed by Leopold Stokowski, and inspired him to plan with Eremeeff an electronic orchestra, but this project was never realized. In spite of their names, Eremeeff did not attempt to recreate the tone qualities of a pipe organ in either of his two photoelectric instruments. An unusual feature of all his electronic instruments was the addition of a vibrato pedal to the normal volume pedal, and in two of them there was also a control for the decay of the notes. Eremeeff claims to have experimented with  prototypes of a Theremin like instrument intended to produce not only tones but light and odours. In the 1953 he filed a suit against Hammond Organ Co. for patent infringement of his ‘photoelectrical musical system’ which was ultimately dismissed for lack of prosecution in January 1957. 10Davies, Hugh (2014) Electronic Instruments, The Grove dictionary of musical instruments, New York : Oxford University Press, 167. 11Patent Suits. Notices under 35 U.S.C . 290 Patents act of 1952, 529.

In 1938 Eremeeff returned to aviation and created a design for a supersonic aircraft.12 Plane with the Speed of Sound Is Proposed by Designer, Popular Mechanics Magazine 1938-12: Vol 70 Iss 6, 833. After World War II, Eremeef/Jerome set up a lucrative business designing optical instruments and precision aerial cameras for the US army and moved to Southampton New York. In 1955, aged 62, Eremeev/Jerome hit the headlines when he was charged with creating obscene and pornographic films and corrupting minors at his Southampton mansion. Eremeev/Jerome jumped a $100,000 bail bond and fled the country. 131956, OBSCENE AND PORNOGRAPHIC LITERATURE AND JUVENILE DELINQUENCY INTERIM REPORT OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE JUVENILE DELINQUENCY TO THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY PURSUANT TO S. Res. 62, and S. Res. 173 (84th Congress),7


References:

  • 1
    Davies, Hugh, (2014) Electronic Musical Instruments, The Grove dictionary of musical instruments, New York : Oxford University Press,168.
  • 2
    Music of the Future now a Reality, Popular Mechanics, January 1936, 20-2. 
  • 3
    Kassell, Edward, E, (1934) A “Syntronic” Organ, Radio Craft, August 1934, 77,104-6.
  • 4
    Eremeeff, Ivan, (1932), SYNTHETIC ELECTRICAL MUSICAL SYSTEM. US Patent 1,924,713, filed June 4, 1932 .
  • 5
    Rhea, Thomas, L,(1984) Photo-Electric Instruments, The Art of Electronic Music – GPI Publications, 13.
  • 6
    Davies, Hugh, (2014) Electronic Musical Instruments, The Grove dictionary of musical instruments, New York : Oxford University Press,168.
  • 7
    Klos, Lloyd, E (1962) “Melody Mac” the Giant of the T.O. World, the Theatre Organ, 6.
  • 8
    “WCAU’s ’Photona’ Organ,” Electronics, April, 1905, p. 123.
  • 9
    Rhea, Thomas, L,(1984) Photo-Electric Instruments, The Art of Electronic Music – GPI Publications, 13.
  • 10
    Davies, Hugh (2014) Electronic Instruments, The Grove dictionary of musical instruments, New York : Oxford University Press, 167.
  • 11
    Patent Suits. Notices under 35 U.S.C . 290 Patents act of 1952, 529.
  • 12
    Plane with the Speed of Sound Is Proposed by Designer, Popular Mechanics Magazine 1938-12: Vol 70 Iss 6, 833.
  • 13
    1956, OBSCENE AND PORNOGRAPHIC LITERATURE AND JUVENILE DELINQUENCY INTERIM REPORT OF THE SUBCOMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE JUVENILE DELINQUENCY TO THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY PURSUANT TO S. Res. 62, and S. Res. 173 (84th Congress),7

2 thoughts on “the ‘Syntronic Organ’ ,’Universal Recorder’ & ‘Photona’, Ivan Eremeeff, USA, 1932-1935.”

  1. Hello. I am wondering if you have or know where to find any recordings of this instrument being played… I would love to hear it!

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