Modular giant with online control, as well as textile and knitted keyboards Joe Paradiso
How it all began
Since childhood, Joseph Paradiso has shown an interest in music and electronics. He grew up in a creative environment, his father was a cameraman, thanks to this Joseph got access to a variety of studio equipment. At school, Joseph Paradiso showed abilities in physics and mathematics, which ultimately determined his life path – he became a scientist, researcher and teacher.
The history of one of the largest modular synthesizers began in 1975 at the Zurich Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), where he studied young Paradiso.
The young student was passionate about progressive rock and experimenting with analog synthesizers that were widely used at that time. In particular, the legendary Moog.
Paradiso was impressed by the concept of a modular analog synthesizer, and he decided to independently create such a device. After creating the next module of the device, it seemed to Joseph that this was not enough and he was taken for the next oscillator, filter or sequencer. Rosin haze and countless radio elements have become a constant companion of a Zurich student.
Scientist and synthesizer creator
By the time Paradiso completed his studies in Zurich, his synthesizer totaled more than 70 modules. As the scientist himself described it: “My attitude was constantly growing, like a house from King’s novel“ The Red Rose Mansion ”.
The creation of a modular colossus slowed down only in 1984, when Paradiso became an employee of the Draper Laboratory, where he participated in the development of control systems for spacecraft, sonars for underwater vehicles, fractal image processing algorithms and high-precision sensors. Relatively little is known about this period of the scientist’s life.
MIT and new features
However, it is known that in 1994 he changed his job and got a job at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he works at Media Lab. Responsive Environments research team is currently engaged in sensor networks using artificial intelligence technology. Meanwhile, the new place of work of Paradiso was closely connected with the musical research of the scientist. At Massachusetts Technological, he continued to work on a synthesizer in parallel with his core business.
At the moment, the engineer has brought the number of modules to 100. The device is recognized as one of the richest in the possibilities of analog synthesis and analog signal processing. The synthesizer uses 15 generators of eight types and more than 80 various filters, effects, reverbs and other modules. The giant Paradiso is recognized as the world’s largest modular synthesizer, created at home. A complete list is available here. paradiso.media.mit.edu/modlist.html.
Remote mode
One of the institute’s projects was multi-user access to a synthesizer with online control. So the synthesizer moved to the science center (Science and Fusion Center MIT), where it is located until now. Joe Paradiso and his students jointly created the PatchWerk web application with hardware that allows you to control the synthesizer online.
panel to control the synthesizer on the site synth.media.mit.edu/patchwerk
The project was temporary, over a week more than 40,000 people used the synthesizer. At the moment, you cannot use the onlan device, but the site and the application guide are available, which gives us hope that resuming access is possible in the near future.