April 3, 2021

"Starting with the Moog and adding other synthesizers and a collection of modules, some of them designed by Mr. Cecil, they created a massive semicircular piece of equipment..."

"... that took up a small room and weighed a ton. It could be programmed to create a vast array of original sounds and to modify and process the sounds of conventional musical instruments.... Mr. Cecil lived in an apartment above the studio so that he would be available to fix anything that might go wrong, day or night. 'I get a ring on the bell,' Mr. Cecil told Red Bull Music Academy in 2014. 'I look out; there’s my friend Ronnie and a guy who turns out to be Stevie Wonder in a green pistachio jumpsuit and what looks like my album under his arm. Ronnie says, "Hey, Malcolm, got somebody here who wants to see TONTO."' What started as a demonstration of TONTO for Mr. Wonder turned out to be a weekend-long recording experiment. Seventeen songs were recorded, and a collaboration was born. Over the next three years, TONTO became a significant sonic element of Mr. Wonder’s music on the albums 'Music of My Mind' and 'Talking Book,' both released in 1972, and their follow-ups, 'Innervisions' (1973) and 'Fulfillingness’ First Finale' (1974)."

From "Malcolm Cecil, Synthesizer Pioneer, Is Dead at 84/His massive machine, known as TONTO, helped transform the music in Stevie Wonder’s mind into classic albums like 'Innervisions'" (NYT).

22 comments:

Laslo Spatula said...

Synthesizers of the 70s made a lot of messy-looking drips and scrawls and blotches on the musical canvas.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

Beedle bo de twerpp nu ner ner
zeeeel bwurf nur nurrr
wheeeeeeesh ousch bip bop bip
twerrrrrrrrrrrrrrr swoooosh

(excerpts of Moog solo at end of Emerson Lake and Palmer's "Lucky Man")

I am Laslo.

Joe Smith said...

A really terrible video. It takes 10 minutes before we even hear the damn thing. And no cuts of it being used in music we might recognize...

But the guy seems like he'd have to be pretty bright to build it...

tcrosse said...

And it all started with the Theremin

LordSomber said...

I've always been fascinated by the old analog synths.
They were always an effort -- not just laboriously patching things with cables, but you had to technically know how to "build" your sound. Oscillators, ADSR envelopes, mixers, plus patch memory wasn't really common until the '80's so you had to remember all your settings.
Still have an old analog Korg in the closet.

Temujin said...

Pretty amazing and looks like it must have been huge fun. The younger guy 'helping' demonstrate could have used much more sound on his demos, but other than that, it was interesting stuff. Amazing how far we've come in such a short time. But back then, can you imagine how most musicians would have looked at that monstrosity? On the other hand, I'll be engineers were loving it.

And good for Stevie Wonder and his ability to see how TONTO could be used. His amazing run of classic albums started with Music of My Mind. (remember 'Superwoman'?) and took off from there. He was and remains- genius.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

LordSomber said...

I've always been fascinated by the old analog synths.
They were always an effort -- not just laboriously patching things with cables, but you had to technically know how to "build" your sound. Oscillators, ADSR envelopes, mixers, plus patch memory wasn't really common until the '80's so you had to remember all your settings.
Still have an old analog Korg in the closet.


But people did creative things with the old analog synths. Once the 80's and digital came along they seemed to always end up being used as a cheap substitute for strings.

WK said...

The controls on the main panel only go up to 10. Obviously a limiting factor of the instrument.

LordSomber said...

Once the 80's and digital came along they seemed to always end up being used as a cheap substitute for strings.

That's the main reason I lost interest. "Cleaner" and more "chorus-y" sounding, but all the more ubiquitous. Meaning it sounded "too 80's" even in the 80's.

Scotty, beam me up... said...

Ronnie says, ‘Hey, Malcolm, got somebody here who wants to see TONTO.’” - Hmmmm, interesting choice of words to describe Stevie Wonder. I am guessing Stevie heard something, but I Wonder what Stevie actually saw...

Yancey Ward said...

Two examples:

Superstition
You Are the Sunshine of My Life

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Well yeah, TONTO was ahead of its time and all but they're not going to talk about the time it cut that guy loose and sent him spinning off into outer space.

RBE said...

Walter/Wendy Carlos. Her skill using the Moog is amazing. Well Tempered Synthesizer is still one of my favorite albums. Strange...I was not familiar with Mr Cecil and his relationship with Stevie Wonder. Something new!

Narr said...

Yeah, interesting but poorly paced.

Stevie Wonder is a musical god.

Narr
ELP and YES, not so much

John Holland said...

TONTO was also used for a scene in the 1974 Brian De Palma movie "Phantom of the Paradise":

https://vimeo.com/19139592

At the time I thought it was just a cool fake prop. Years later I found out they filmed it in TONTO's recording studio in New York.

P.S. for the people complaining there's not enough music examples in the video: any clips from any popular music longer than a second or two would cause YouTube to demonetize or take down the video. Why? Because of Universal Music Group and their lawyers.

Will Cate said...

Hey I know a little something about this guy -- he and his TONTO synthesizer contributed to the 1977 Steve Hillage album "Motivation Radio"

Fernandinande said...

Two examples:

Superstition
You Are the Sunshine of My Life


Pretty sure neither one of those had the TONTO monstrosity; Superstition had a Moog, Sunshine a Fender Rhodes piano.

Fernandinande said...

Fun fact! I got 2 units of college credit for messing around with a Moog synth, hooking up all those oscillators with patch-cords, back when they were new. Probably my 2nd most memorable class, after optics.

stevew said...

Pictures at an Exhibition, ELP, King Crimson, all first experienced in my youth. Great memories and terrific music. Didn't know about the Stevie Wonder connection.

paminwi said...

“Innervisions” one of my favorite Stevie Wonder albums.

God of the Sea People said...

I actually have several Moog synthesizers, as well as bunch of other modern and vintage analog synths. Modular synths used to be extraordinarily expensive, but clones of those modules are now pretty affordable, in the range of $50-$100 each. A whole system might run you around $1000, but that is peanuts compared to the $50,000-$100,000 that a full Moog modular system might cost.

God of the Sea People said...

LordSomber, let me know if you ever decide to part with your old Korg. I love Korg synths, and the analog models are a lot harder to find these days.