If I remember, I will ask my father on Monday. His wife is barely old enough to remember phones that crank for the operator and have no dial.

Thanks!

I'm looking now for very old games with 60hz arpeggios or the exact model of a 70s digital phone with a nice arpeggish ring sound.

If I remember, I will ask my father on Monday. His wife is barely old enough to remember phones that crank for the operator and have no dial.

Btw, those type of sounds were trying to replicate a telephone? After hearing so many effects I really do think now that the first ultra fast arpeggio in the history was from an actual telephone. The default ringtone of every phone is a ultra fast arpeggio.

I wonder what year the ringback tone was invented? it's an oscillation between 440hz and 480hz (A4 and about a quarter tone between A#4 and B4), though it doesn't exactly sound like it's trying to imitate any kind of chord

Delek wrote:

I really do think now that the first ultra fast arpeggio in the history was from an actual telephone. The default ringtone of every phone is a ultra fast arpeggio.

haha I didn't even think of that

Mechanical ultra fast arpeggio:

I really do think now that the first ultra fast arpeggio in the history was from an actual telephone. The default ringtone of every phone is a ultra fast arpeggio.

haha I didn't even think of that

Also, this recording of the variophone from 1941:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y-2shMhv0M

Also around 0:46 you'll hear some faster arps that sound like a late 70's, early 80's space shooting game.

Wow I didn't expect to hear that type of sfx in a 1941 experiment! Pretty awesome! Thanks for sharing.

Wow it is amazing, an harp doing super fast arps. Some of them are almost 60hz because the speed is not constant.

Btw, those type of sounds were trying to replicate a telephone? After hearing so many effects I really do think now that the first ultra fast arpeggio in the history was from an actual telephone. The default ringtone of every phone is a ultra fast arpeggio.

Very famous example of lead guitar arpeggios: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87Iz3RHZNDQ

Especially for prog rock or metal, I could see fast arps fitting into their aesthetic.

yup, lots of recent prog metal stuff uses super fast arpeggios.. cf. the end of this Scar Symmetry track (played on a guitar!)

If the time stamp doesn't load, 58 seconds in are a bunch of 30ish hz arps - Bruce Haak, 1970

You might want to check out this electronic album from 1932:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCjEOFOoLkU

At 46s, you'll hear some rapid notes playing, although not quite as fast as a 50/60Hz arp.

Also, this recording of the variophone from 1941:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y-2shMhv0M

Also around 0:46 you'll hear some faster arps that sound like a late 70's, early 80's space shooting game.

Very unique sounds, and they were wave table sounds that were hand drawn and cut from pieces of paper. They used this electro mechanical machine to interpret the waveforms through photo-optics. It's like a real "steampunk" way of doing chiptunes!

As far as similarities with other arpeggios in more traditional music, I think the chip arp stands on its own. The original intention of arpeggios in classical music was more along the lines of not wanting to put a chord with all notes played simultaneously and give more movement to a part but retain a certain simplicity because layering too many "unique" melodies over one another can become chaotic quickly. Whereas the original intention of the chip arp is kind of the opposite, you WANT to have a chord, but you just don't have the means to do it. Of course overtime it became such a staple sound that people when beyond emulating chords and started using them fairly creatively.

Well, you could think of the super fast arp as overcoming voice limit of early computers; you could also look at it as overcoming human physical limits, which was previously impossible. I'm sure many of the early examples of fast apps were on modular systems, and people probably got a kick out of the sound of very fast chords. Especially for prog rock or metal, I could see fast arps fitting into their aesthetic.

It's a pretty complex use of arpeggios, and not exactly instrument-based. But iirc this was the earliest example of computer arpeggios that I found when I was looking around.

This sounds like something goto80 would know.  Anders?

for real, this thread is begging for some serious goto80 knowledge