SalMar Construction

I am interested about logic, algorithmic techniques and human interaction in electronic music creation. Salvatore Martirano's SalMar Construction of 1972 is a pioneering instrument in these techniques. SalMar was a monster. It had 291 touch sensitive switches that gave a performer interaction with four parallel programs controlling a modular analogue synthesizer. A zoom feature enabled movement and change within micro and macro structures. The sound was output through a network of 24 satellite loudspeakers and four main speakers. Sequences are created by the use of shift registers. These sequences can then be coupled together to form a musical hierarchy. In describing his performances Martirano states : “Control was an illusion. But I was in the loop.”

SalMar is alive. The beast lives at the Center for American Music campus. Here is a Blog (http://kenbeck.blogspot.nl/search?q=salmar) where is little bit information how SalMar works and is played. And here is Martirano's progress report from 1971 (http://www.jaimeoliver.pe/courses/ci/pdf/martirano-1971.pdf) where he explains his instrument more detail (also with schematics !). Here you can find two sound examples of SalMar in action (www.subrosa.net/en/catalogue/early-electronic-music/salvatore-martirano--the-salmar-construction.html).