Great Scott

Raymond Scott has been described as the ‘audio version of Andy Warhol’ yet has largely remained behind the scenes of electronic music history. He was a composer and technologist, and while he had his music licensed in cartoons, films and musicals, it’s perhaps his electronic research that is his biggest legacy. He was one of the first people to come up with the idea of sequencing notes together, with a machine capable of producing tones. He invented the Electronium during the 60s, a device shrouded in mystery, but it was a combined synth and generative music producer – perhaps the first workstation, but almost certainly one of the first keyboard synths.

Scott and Bob Moog also worked together and the latter – now widely regarded as a godfather of synth music – cited Scott as one of his greatest influences.

Google launched an excellent guide to electronic music last year that gives Scott the space he undoubtedly deserves in its history. Check it out at artsandculture.google.com/project/ music-makers-and-machines