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Artist
Tonto's Expanding Head Band
12+ albums
electronicambientexperimentalpsychedelicNeed to Rate
about
Tonto's Expanding Head Band was an electronic music duo consisting of Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff. Despite releasing only two albums in the early 1970s, the duo were (and still remain) hugely influential because of their voluminous session work for other musicians (most notably Stevie Wonder), extensive commercial advertising work and the unique warmth and personality of their work. Tonto is an acronym for "The Original New Timbral Orchestra," the world's first (and still the largest) multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizer, designed and constructed by Malcolm Cecil. Tonto started as a Moog modular synthesizer Series III owned by record producer Margouleff. Later a second Moog III was added, then four Oberheim SEMs, two ARP 2600s, modules from Serge with Moog-like panels, EMS, Roland, Yamaha, etc.[3] plus several custom modules designed by Serge Tcherepnin and Cecil (who has an electrical engineering background). Later, digital sound-generation circuitry and a collection of sequencers were added, along with MIDI control. The modules are all mounted in an instantly recognizable semicircle of huge curving wooden cabinets, twenty feet in diameter and six feet high. What possessed him to assemble such a monstrous system? "I wanted to create an instrument that would be the first multitimbral polyphonic synthesizer. Multitimbral polyphony is different than the type of polyphony provided by most of today's synthesizers, on which you turn to a string patch and eve
