Synthesiser innovator and producer Malcolm Cecil has released the iTonto app for iPad and iPhone – offering ‘a trove of historical and technical information about the world’s largest synthesiser’.
Best known for its prominence on four Stevie Wonder albums in the late 1970s, The Original New Timbral Orchestra – or Tonto – is a assemblage of various synthesisers and custom components, making it a legend in a field with no shortage of noteworthy instruments. It was the world’s first, and still the largest, multitimbral polyphonic analogue synthesiser.
Designed and constructed over several years beginning in 1968, it was created by Cecil from two Moog IIIC modular synths, four Oberheim SEMs, two ARP 2600s, modules from EMS, Roland, Serge, and Yamaha, as well as custom modules designed by Serge Tcherepnin and Cecil himself. It was also the first attempt to enable analogue synthesisers made by different manufacturers to communicate with each other – a revolutionary development in music history. Digital sound-generation circuitry, a collection of sequencers, and Midi control were eventually added.The original instrument is housed in an iconic semicircle of towering curved wooden cabinets, that are 20-ft long and 6-ft high.
iTonto is an informational application that provides a platform for enthusiasts to investigate this otherwise rarely seen instrument. Every component, both front and back, can be easily expanded and examined. Further, the user can view original schematics or drawings for each component and read detailed descriptions of the functionality of each parameter, written by Cecil himself. A musical component of the iTonto app is planned at a later date.
‘I am gratified to bring Tonto alive for people all over the world through their mobile devices,’ Cecil says. ‘Now everyone can get an up-close and personal look at this technological creation, one which inspired so much music of the late 1970s and early 1980s. It is only fitting that I give back to the pioneering legacy of Bob Moog through the Bob Moog Foundation, as his work laid the foundation for this instrument.’
iTonto is available in the Apple Store for an introductory price of US$4.99. A portion of the proceeds from the app will be donated to the Bob Moog Foundation to support their education and historic preservation projects.
