Cologne and Elektronische Musik
P. M. Manning · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2004
Elektronische Musik, unlike musique concrète, was pioneered not as the result of the efforts of a single individual, but as the result of a collaborative venture between several interested parties, drawn from both musical and technical backgrounds. The early advocates of elektronische Musik not only restricted themselves to entirely synthetic means of sound production but also were at pains to dissociate their work from the imitative qualities of electronic musical instruments. A continuing interest in phonetic research however, was to exert a major influence on this quest for a “pure” electronic serialism, working entirely from first principles of sound synthesis. In due course, a growing interest in the subtleties of manipulating and synthesizing formants led to the integration of natural voice sounds with electronic sources, thus opening the door to the creative possibilities of manipulating other material of a natural acoustic origin.