The ANS synthesizer is a photoelectronic musical instrument created by Russian engineer

Evgeny Murzin Yevgeny Murzin (russian: Евгений Мурзин; 1914–1970) was a Russian audio engineer and inventor of the ANS synthesizer. Murzin's synthesizer In 1938, invented a design for composers based on synthesizing complex musical sounds fr ...

from 1937 to 1957. The technological basis of his invention was the method of

graphical sound Graphical sound or drawn sound (Fr. ''son dessiné'', Ger. ''graphische Tonerzeugung'',; It. ''suono disegnato'') is a sound recording created from images drawn directly onto film or paper that were then played back using a sound system. There are ...

recording used in

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens to focu ...

(developed in Russia concurrently with USA), which made it possible to obtain a visible image of a

sound wave In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

, as well as to realize the opposite goal— synthesizing a sound from an artificially

drawn sound Graphical sound or drawn sound (Fr. ''son dessiné'', Ger. ''graphische Tonerzeugung'',; It. ''suono disegnato'') is a sound recording created from images drawn directly onto film or paper that were then played back using a sound system. There are ...

spectrogram A spectrogram is a visual representation of the spectrum of frequencies of a signal as it varies with time. When applied to an audio signal, spectrograms are sometimes called sonographs, voiceprints, or voicegrams. When the data are represen ...

. In this case the

sine wave A sine wave, sinusoidal wave, or just sinusoid is a curve, mathematical curve defined in terms of the ''sine'' trigonometric function, of which it is the graph of a function, graph. It is a type of continuous wave and also a Smoothness, smooth p ...

s generated by the ANS are printed onto five glass discs using a process that Murzin (an optical engineer) had to develop himself. Each disc has 144 individual tracks printed onto it, for a total of 720 microtones (discrete pitches), spanning 10 octaves. This yields a resolution of 1/72

octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...

(16.67 cents). The modulated light from these wheels is then projected onto the back of the synthesizer's interface. These are arranged in a continuous swath vertically, with low frequencies at the bottom and high frequencies at the top. The user interface consists of a glass plate covered in non-drying opaque black

mastic Mastic may refer to: Adhesives and pastes *Mastic (plant resin) *Mastic asphalt, or asphalt, is a sticky, black and highly viscous liquid * Mastic cold porcelain, or salt ceramic, is a traditional salt-based modeling clay. *Mastic, high-grade con ...

, which constitutes a drawing surface upon which the user makes marks by scratching through the mastic, and therefore allowing light to pass through at that point. : ''and'' : — these small figures describing how ANS Synthesizer generate the sound: (1) On the bottom: the rotating glass disk (optical tonewheel) irradiated by a light beam through a slit, generates intermittent light beam corresponding to the multiple sound wave spectrum (with 144 pitches per disk). (2) On the middle: this intermittent light beam irradiate the score glass plate from the bottom, passes through the transparent area (caused by scratch) of the score glass plate. (3) On the top: the resulting light beam is incident to the multiple photocells above the score, and these outputs as electrical signals are summed, amplified and finally played through the loudspeaker, as the sound intended on the score.
On the above process, (1) the intermittent light beam as the sound spectrum, and (2) score glass plate, are corresponding to Scriabin's colour keyboard. On the horizontal axis of the score, the time is plotted. The vertical axis is the pitch of the sounds on a logarithmic scale, i.e. the tempered scale of pure sinusoidal tones. The optical slit of the pure tone generator is located behind the score along the vertical pitch axis. Light beams modulated with pure tones are projected onto the optical slit. On the other side of the glass of the score is placed a reading

photocell Photodetectors, also called photosensors, are sensors of light or other electromagnetic radiation. There is a wide variety of photodetectors which may be classified by mechanism of detection, such as photoelectric or photochemical effects, or by ...

. The glass of the score can be moved in the direction of the time axis. Along the optical slit of the generator, all pure tones have the same width, and each tone occupies a definite geometric place according to the logarithmic scale of the pitch of sounds. In front of the glass plate sits a vertical bank of twenty

s that send signals to twenty

amplifier An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It may increase the power significantly, or its main effect may be to boost the v ...

s and

bandpass filter A band-pass filter or bandpass filter (BPF) is a device that passes frequencies within a certain range and rejects ( attenuates) frequencies outside that range. Description In electronics and signal processing, a filter is usually a two-p ...

s, each with its own gain adjust control. It is akin to a ten-octave equalizer with two knobs per octave. The ANS is fully

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

and will generate all 720 pitches simultaneously if required (a vertical scratch would accomplish this). The glass plate can then be scanned left or right in front of the photocell bank in order to transcribe the drawing directly into pitches. In other words, it plays what one has drawn, similar to how a score is written. This process can be aided with a gear-motor drive (similar to an engineering

lathe A lathe () is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, and turning, with tools that are applied to the workpiece to c ...

) or it can be moved manually. The scan speed is adjustable down to zero. The speed at which the score scans has no relation to pitch but serves only as a means of controlling

duration Duration may refer to: * The amount of time elapsed between two events * Duration (music) – an amount of time or a particular time interval, often cited as one of the fundamental aspects of music * Duration (philosophy) – a theory of time and ...

. Murzin named his invention in honour of the composer Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin (ANS): Scriabin (1872–1915) was an occultist,

theosophist Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion ...

, and early exponent of color-sound theories in composition. The synthesizer was housed in the electronic-music studio situated above the Scriabin Museum (just off of the

Arbat Arbat Street (Russian ), mainly referred to in English as the Arbat, is a pedestrian street about one kilometer long in the historical centre of Moscow, Russia. The Arbat has existed since at least the 15th century, which makes it one of the ...

in central Moscow) before moving to the basement of the central university on the corner of Bolshaya Nikitskaya. It was saved from the scrapheap thanks to Stanislav Kreichi, who persuaded the university to look after it. The ANS was used by

Stanislav Kreichi Stanislav and variants may refer to: People *Stanislav (given name), a Slavic given name with many spelling variations (Stanislaus, Stanislas, Stanisław, etc.) Places * Stanislav, a coastal village in Kherson, Ukraine * Stanislaus County, Cali ...

Alfred Schnittke Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (russian: Альфре́д Га́рриевич Шни́тке, link=no, Alfred Garriyevich Shnitke; 24 November 1934 – 3 August 1998) was a Russian composer of Jewish-German descent. Among the most performed and re ...

Edison Denisov Edison Vasilievich Denisov (russian: Эдисо́н Васи́льевич Дени́сов, 6 April 1929 – 24 November 1996) was a Russian composer in the so-called " Underground", "alternative" or "nonconformist" division of Soviet music. ...

, Sofia Gubaidulina, and other Soviet composers. Edward Artemiev wrote many of his scores of the movies of

Andrei Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky ( rus, Андрей Арсеньевич Тарковский, p=ɐnˈdrʲej ɐrˈsʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ tɐrˈkofskʲɪj; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Russian filmmaker. Widely considered one of the greates ...

with the help of the ANS. Of particular note is Artemiev's score of Tarkovsky's ''

Solaris Solaris may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature, television and film * ''Solaris'' (novel), a 1961 science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem ** ''Solaris'' (1968 film), directed by Boris Nirenburg ** ''Solaris'' (1972 film), directed by ...

'' in which the ANS was used to abstract, sci-fi effect akin to

ambient music Ambient music is a genre of music that emphasizes tone and atmosphere over traditional musical structure or rhythm. It may lack net composition, beat, or structured melody.The Ambient Century by Mark Prendergast, Bloomsbury, London, 2003. It u ...

. After several years at the

Theremin Center {{notability, date=June 2022 The Theremin Center for Electroacoustic Music was created in Moscow, Russia in 1992 by the group of musicians and computer scientists, under the leadership of Andrey Smirnov. It was named for Leon Theremin - Russian in ...

, the ANS (there is only one—the original was destroyed and this is the improved version) is now located in the Glinka State Central Museum of Musical Culture in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

Recordings

An album of works by the composers mentioned above, called "Musical Offering" was released on

Melodiya Melodiya ( rus, links=no, Мелодия, t=Melody) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) record label. It was the state-owned major record company of the Soviet Union. History Melodiya was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm ...

(C60 30721 000) in 1990—although the recordings date from the 1960s and 1970s. Recordings by Stanislav Kreichi—"Ansiana" and "Voices and Movement"—as well as earlier works ("Electroshock Presents: Electroacoustic Music") that used the synthesizer are available on Electroshock Records. A soundtrack of the film ''Into Space'' (1961) in collaboration with Edward Artimiev remains unreleased. In 2002,

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

broadcast a program about the ANS by Isobel Clouter as part of her ''Soundhunter'' series. In 2004, the British experimental group Coil released '' CoilANS'', a boxed set of experimental

drone music Drone music, drone-based music, or simply drone, is a minimalist genre that emphasizes the use of sustained sounds, notes, or tone clusters – called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy audio programs with relatively slight harm ...

performed on the ANS. The Norwegian artist

Zweizz Zweizz is the primary performing alias of Norwegian musician and composer Svein Egil Hatlevik (born May 27, 1977). History Hatlevik started using the Zweizz alias in 2003 after leaving the Norwegian black metal group Dødheimsgard. Accordin ...

released a cassette in 2007 on which side B is made entirely out of ANS recordings. The British experimental group T.A.G.C. utilized sounds generated on the ANS on two compositions that were released in 1996 on the ''Deepnet'' compilation album.

Virtual ANS

The ANS has been simulated by developer Alexander Zolotov in his software, ''Virtual ANS''. Written in Pixilang, the app is supported by Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Apple iOS and Android. Now in its third major version, the simulator's stable release was in 2019.

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

{{columns-list, colwidth=30em, ;Documents *{{cite web , ref={{sfnref, Kreichi, 1997 , author = Stanislav Kreichi , date = 1997-11-10 , title = The ANS Synthesizer: Composing on a Photoelectronic Instrument , url = http://www.theremin.ru/archive/ans.htm , website = Theremin Center *{{cite book , ref={{sfnref, Smirnov, 2013 , author = Andrey Smirnov , date = 2013 , chapter = 7. Graphical Sound: The ANS Synthesizer , chapter-url=http://asmir.info/soundz/Sound_in_Z.pdf#page=121 , title = Sound in Z - Experiments in sound and electronic music in early 20th century Russia , url = http://asmir.info/soundz/Sound_in_Z.pdf , location = London , publisher = Sound and Music / Koenig Books , publication-date = 2013 , isbn = 978-3-86560-706-5 , pages = 227-236 ;Patents *{{cite patent, ref={{sfnref, Murzin, 1957 , country = USSR , number = 118695 , status = application , title = Фотоэлектрический синтезатор музыки (Photoelectric Music Synthesizer) , url = https://patents.google.com/patent/SU118695A1/en , pubdate = 1957-06-24 , inventor = Е.А. Мурзин (Murzin, E.A.) .
''For the figurers lacked on above, see'' {{cite web , url=https://img.findpatent.ru/img_data/357/3576286.jpg , title=Fig.1, 2 on: {{cite web , author = Е. А. Мурзин , date = 1957-06-24 , title = ФОТОЭЛЕКТРИЧЕСКИЙ СИНТЕЗАТОР МУЗЫКИ , url = https://findpatent.ru/patent/11/118695.html , website = FindPatent.ru ;Discographies and reviews *{{cite web , ref={{sfnref, Snowman-john, 2011 , date = 2011-07-07 , title = The ANS Synthesizer discography (part 1) , url = http://snowman-john.livejournal.com/23776.html , {{cite web, ref={{sfnref, Snowman-john, 2013 , date = 2013-06-03 , title = (part 2) , url = http://snowman-john.livejournal.com/23776.html , language = Russian, English , website = snowman-john.livejournal.com *{{cite AV media , ref={{sfnref, Electroshock, 1999 , people = various artists , date = 1999 , title = Electroshock Presents Electroacoustic Music Volume 4 • Archive Tapes Synthesizer ANS 1964-1971 , trans-title = , type = CD, Compilation , language = , url = https://www.discogs.com/release/235627-Various-Electroshock-Presents-Electroacoustic-Music-Volume-IV-Archive-Tapes-Synthesizer-ANS-1964-197 , access-date = , archive-url = , archive-date= , format = , time = , location = Russia , publisher = Electroshock Records , id = ELCD 011 , isbn = , oclc = , quote =
''See also reviews on'': {{cite web , ref={{sfnref, Groove Unlimited , title = Electroacoustic music #4 , url = http://www.groove.nl/cd/3/39881.html , format = reviews , id = 39881 , website = Groove Unlimited ;Others *{{cite web , ref={{sfnref, Zolotov, 2020 , author = Alexander Zolotov , date = 2020-04-12 , title = Virtual ANS imulator, url = https://warmplace.ru/soft/ans/ , website = warmplace.ru *{{cite web , ref={{sfnref, Kirn, 2019 , author = Peter Kirn , date = 2019-06-06 , title = Jam like you’re in a Tarkovsky film with this major app update , url = https://cdm.link/2019/06/virtual-ans-3-spectral-synthesis/ , website = cdm.link Synthesizers Soviet inventions Russian inventions Russian electronic musical instruments Graphical sound optoelectronics