Many punched paper rolls are found in the archives, apparently used to generate sounds on the RCA sysnthesizer. The edges of the paper rolls are perforated, and holes were punched in the paper to generate sound.
Scattered throughout many of Babbitt's papers and sketches are references to "holes", "ratios", and "gears".
I hope to gain some more insight into these terms by speaking to the Associate Director of the Center. I'm speculating that perhaps "holes" refers to the holes punched in the paper rolls, and that the calculations had to do with tempo. I'm still not sure how "gears" and "ratios" fit in, but it would be interesting to determine if they have any connection to the fractional notations found in some Babbitt scores and sketches.
And, just how might this fit into things!?
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Perhaps something having to do with threading tape loops? Have you gained any more insight on this since it's posting?
Oh...hadn't noticed that those were proper gears with teeth. Guess no one's threading tape through that.
Jon,
Thanks for your comments. I've spoken with the one of the engineers who was active at the studio, and he did tell me that the tempo of the resulting sound would be controlled by the speed at which the paper rolls were fed in. Hence, I believe, the notations relating to ratios and perhaps to the gears. I saw at least one Babbitt score that contained a tempo indication of "quarter note = 8 holes per second". Still not sure exactly how the mounted gears relate to things! I'll post more info as I get it.
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