Abstract
This paper will explore the Townsend synthesiser archive through a lens of technological failure, repair, and conservation. In doing so it will include practices that occur inside the black box of commercial electronic musical instruments (CEMIs) within broader conversations of creative sound practice and research. Possible questions that follow an endeavour such as this include:
How / why might a commercial musical instrument archive be understood and explored through narratives of technological failure and repair?
What are the implications of obsolete parts and changing social and economic contexts for the practices of conserving vintage hardware?
What might be revealed when we read fault books, service manuals, cries for help on forums and ethnographies of repair cultures alongside accounts of creative sound making practice?
The Townsend archive is a unique opportunity to explore this topic as it is available for use, unlike standard museum archives where technologies are typically never to be switched on again. With use comes crackles, pops, noise, workarounds, and the occasional muttering of “is it supposed to do that?”. Some Technologies break, some are born broken, and some enjoy years of use in a state of disrepair alongside appropriations and modifications that were never intended by the manufacturer. User manuals, sales hype and software emulations are no help in uncovering these hidden narratives and realities of practice that accompany hardware, particularly vintage hardware. This approach has the potential to reveal something that Akrich (1994) describes as as the ‘world inscribed by an object, and the world described by its displacement’ through the unusual context of artefacts within a CEMI archive that have already ‘stabilised’ (Bijker 1994) as technologies but which require expert attention in order to remain stable enough to be used.
This presentation will draw these themes and questions together within a framework of science and technology / sound studies, with a rich selection of visual and textural materials and examples drawn from service companies, service manuals and user forums among other sources
How / why might a commercial musical instrument archive be understood and explored through narratives of technological failure and repair?
What are the implications of obsolete parts and changing social and economic contexts for the practices of conserving vintage hardware?
What might be revealed when we read fault books, service manuals, cries for help on forums and ethnographies of repair cultures alongside accounts of creative sound making practice?
The Townsend archive is a unique opportunity to explore this topic as it is available for use, unlike standard museum archives where technologies are typically never to be switched on again. With use comes crackles, pops, noise, workarounds, and the occasional muttering of “is it supposed to do that?”. Some Technologies break, some are born broken, and some enjoy years of use in a state of disrepair alongside appropriations and modifications that were never intended by the manufacturer. User manuals, sales hype and software emulations are no help in uncovering these hidden narratives and realities of practice that accompany hardware, particularly vintage hardware. This approach has the potential to reveal something that Akrich (1994) describes as as the ‘world inscribed by an object, and the world described by its displacement’ through the unusual context of artefacts within a CEMI archive that have already ‘stabilised’ (Bijker 1994) as technologies but which require expert attention in order to remain stable enough to be used.
This presentation will draw these themes and questions together within a framework of science and technology / sound studies, with a rich selection of visual and textural materials and examples drawn from service companies, service manuals and user forums among other sources
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 10 Sept 2024 |
| Event | 21st Century Music Practice Research Network: Commercial Electronic Musical Instruments in 21st Century Music Practice - University of West London, London, United Kingdom Duration: 9 Sept 2024 → 10 Sept 2024 http://www.c21mp.org/events/commercial-electronic-musical-instruments-in-21st-century-music-practice/ |
Conference
| Conference | 21st Century Music Practice Research Network: Commercial Electronic Musical Instruments in 21st Century Music Practice |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United Kingdom |
| City | London |
| Period | 9/09/24 → 10/09/24 |
| Internet address |
Keywords
- repair
- music technology
- science and technology studies