now that looks like fun
dam those hairy tl074"s
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This is intriguing. I recognise the DEC PDP-11 (recognisable from the black panels and the small DECTape spools) and the ASR 33 teletype complete with paper tape punch and reader. Then there’s this weird mix of what looks like sixties/early seventies music keyboard and audio electronics. Does anybody have further information about this?
I thought the video terminal at the back might be a DEC GT40, but the profile is wrong. The machine to the left of the teletype is interesting: some kind of early portable synth? Could it be an EMS Synthi?
From here:
The studio as it was circa 1970. Clockwise from bottom left, with equipment in racks listed from top to bottom:
- Telephone.
- Analyzing keyboard (outputs to computers).
- Synthi AKS. Tannoy loudspeaker (behind).
- KSR-33 Teletype.
- Rack 1. Filter controls; audio-frequency oscilloscope; DEC tape drives; DEC PDP8/L (“Leo”).
- Rack 2. High-frequency oscilloscope; filter controls; potentiometer bank; frequency counter; Wavetek oscillator; 32K hard disk drive.
- Rack 3. Amplifier controls; DEC PDP8/S (“Sofka”); various audio devices; main patch panel.
- Rack 4. Digital-analog controllers, including the “button panel” for interaction with MUSYS programs; reverberation units.
- Monitor and keyboard for programming computers. Tannoy loudspeaker (behind).
- Synthi 100.
- An Ampex 4-track tape deck with Dolby noise-reduction units on top.
- Another Ampex 4-track tape deck without Dolby.
- The main mixer, built by Robin Wood, who aquired control of the rights to EMS equipment in 1995.
- Custom unit for 4-track spatial effects.
- (Centre.) Valuable Persian carpet.
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Which led to this fun little clip, strictly for boffins:
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Putney, of course! Looks like his back garden computer shed is essentially a converted Anderson bomb shelter. It’s partially sunk and it looks about the right size.
From Wikipedia I notice that his father was called Leo and his mother was Sofka. These are the names of the two PDP-8s in the larger photograph.
Here is another photo of the same room, black and white, with caption:
The studio as it was circa 1970. The studio was originally built in a shed at the end of the garden of 49 Deodar Road, Putney, overlooking the River Thames. By the time the photograph was taken, it had moved into the ground floor of the house.
And here it says:
EMS was unusual for the time, because it had two minicomputers, named after their owner’s children. The first computer, a PDP8/S (Sofka), was acquired in 1967; the second, a PDP8/L (Leo), in 1968.
Mother Sofka and daughter Sofka both have Wikipedia pages too.
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Alt text of the above cartoon: If the first audio they downlink is from the descent, we probably won’t be able to hear anything over the sound of the rover screaming.
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