2. THE ANALOG RYTM
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2. THE ANALOG RYTM
There is geometry in the humming of the string.
There is music in the spacing of the spheres. (Pythagoras, circa 530 BC)
A long time ago, the son of a Samian carpenter discovered that harmonic sounds were produced when
fretting a vibrating string at certain geometric points. During his travels in the Far East he learned and
understood the interconnectedness of all things. Phenomena in the heavens above and in the vegetable
patch below were not intrinsically different. The proportion and spacing of natural elements like the moons
of planets, the seeds of a sunflower or the dimensions of a well-crafted bow were all curiously - musical.
Octaves, multiples of octaves, fifths and other musical ratios seemed to be at the core of all things, large
and small alike. And the fundamental building block of all this was Number.
He went on to found the first school of discrete mathematics in Croton on the southern tip of Italy. Many
aspects of the natural world that awed and inspired him may have seemed random and impossible to
grasp. Yet any complexity, he realized, could be made to reveal its hidden grain and understood if probed by
mathematics. Once the structure was found, it was possible to recreate and further investigate the natural
phenomena using digital computation and geometric visualization.
We would boldly like to claim that the Drum Computer we call Analog Rytm embodies and honors the spirit
of Pythagoras: combining the fearless hands-on strumming of nature’s vibrating strings with the cool analyt-
ic framework of digital computation. Making sure you are always in control. Analog and digital - the two are
not destined to be forever separated. At last the great divide will be bridged. By you.
Whether the musical world you choose to inhabit is an ordered, harmonious and intelligible one or one of
disharmony, chaos and earth-shattering noise, the Analog Rytm will be your guide, companion and work-
horse. It is our firm belief that you will have as much fun using the machine as we have had developing it.
Enjoy.
The Elektron Team