Institute of Sonology, Utrecht
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1972-73 PDP-15 version, programs POD4, POD5 & POD6 * Note: POD
stands for Poisson
Distribution which was the original stochastic
probability distribution
(for random isolated events) that was used to
determine the placement
of sonic events in the original sequence of programs;
when the DMX-1000
was added in 1982 (see below), the X was added to the
name. |
|
Simon Fraser University, Vancouver
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1973-78 Hewlett Packard 2116 version, programs POD6, PDFIL, MERGE, POD7 |
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1979-80 PDP 11/34 version, same programs plus PDMSK |
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1981-82 LSI 11/23 version established in the Centre for the Arts, SFU 1982 LSI 11/23 version with DMX-1000, PODX system with polyphonic real-time programs |
 Martin Gotfrit with the LSI 11/23 &
DMX-1000, ca.
1982 Watch a short video
introduction to the
PODX hardware system in 2013 
|
1986
Real-time Granular Synthesis program added (GSX) using the DMX microprogrammable architecture with this synthesis code
Computer Music Journal article
Watch a video demonstration of real-time granular synthesis with the GSX program and the DMX-1000 in 2013
1987
Real-time Granulated Sampled Sound added to granular synthesis (GSAMX)
1988
Initial work on Motorola DSP 56001 board to be controlled by an Atari computer
1990
Digisound-16 converter added to PODX enabling 16-bit conversion of samples to hard disk (at sampling rates between 19 and 32 kHz); granulation and time stretching incorporated
Computer Music Journal article
1991
Demo of "Quintessence Box" real-time granular synthesis using DSP 56001 at ICMC 91, Montreal
1993
Quintessence Box incorporating granular time stretching installed in SFU studios; prototype of a multiple-DSP board designed by Harmonic Functions, Burnaby
1995
DM-8 box for computer-controlled diffusion demonstrated at ICMC 95 and installed in the Sonic Research Studio at SFU; Karplus-Strong digital resonators (single and double, in mono or stereo) added to the real-time signal processing modules during disk playback, in addition to reverb, stereo delay, comb filter, multi-comb filters, high and low-pass filters
1996
PODX system "retired" to the author's private studio where it continued to be compositionally productive using the DA-88 8-track recorder
1999
Audiobox (16x16 matrix mixer) added to the system for computer-controlled diffusion2010
Harmonic Functions’ TiMax2 matrix mixer, marketed by Outboard Inc (UK), added to the system for computer-controlled diffusion2013
Consult the list of publications and recent papers for various compositional documentations
Michael Clarke and Frederic Dufeu from Huddersfield visit the system to document it as part of their TACEM Project which includes a detailed analysis and re-creation of Riverrun. This work was published as Inside Computer Music, Oxford University Press, 2020. Several videos, as included here, were made of the system in operation. Shortly thereafter, various hardware problems emerged that could not be fixed and the system essentially was no longer usable. After 31 years of productivity (and a previous 10 years of its predecessor, the POD system), R.I.P. PODX!
Note: More detailed
analyses of pieces realized with the system are included
in the
composer's HTML Documentation as part of the WSP
Database (contact
Barry at truax@sfu.ca for a guest password)
References:
B. Truax, "Discovering Inner Complexity: Time-shifting and Transposition with a Real-time Granulation Technique", Computer Music Journal, 18(2), 1994, pp. 38-48 (sound sheet examples in 18(1)).
B. Truax, "Real-time Granular Synthesis with a Digital Signal Processor", Computer Music Journal, 12(2), 1988, pp.14-26.
B. Truax, "The PODX System: Interactive Compositional Software for the DMX-1000", Computer Music Journal, 9(1), 1985.
B. Truax, "Computer Music Composition: The Polyphonic POD System", IEEE Computer, 11(8), 1978.
B. Truax, "The POD System of Interactive Composition Programs", Computer Music Journal, 1(3), 1977, pp. 30-39.
B. Truax, "Some Programs for Real-time Computer Synthesis and Composition", Interface, 2, 1973.
B. Truax, "The Computer Composition -- Sound Synthesis Programs POD4, POD5 and POD6", Sonological Reports, No. 2, Utrecht State University, Institute of Sonology, 1973.
