Korg spectrogram (2)

Date of construction: 1978–1983

This visualization, a spectrogram, shows the sound spectrum of the video demonstrating the use of the Korg MS-10 analog synthesizer. The spectrogram makes the physical characteristics of sound visible by mapping higher and lower frequencies to the vertical axis and time to the horizontal axis, with different colors indicating various intensities.

In the segment visible here, a period of “pink noise” is followed by white noise. White noise appears here as a block of solid color, mirroring its technical definition as having its power distributed equally among all frequencies; pink noise shows a different color at the top, meaning that its higher frequencies are attenuated. However, in this particular recording it also exhibits a constant stream of intensity changes across the whole spectrum, visible as an array of vertical stripes.

The original video was made by Nikita Braguinski at the Media Studies department, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, in April 2018. The unit used is part of the department’s collection of historical apparatus, the Media Archaeological Fundus (accession no. 218). The visualization was created using the software Sonic Visualiser.

Korg MS-10 source video

The Media Archaeological Fundus at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Nikita Braguinski