Sound Synthesizer with Optical Control

A new sound synthesizing system controlled by an optical program pattern (similar to the Sonagram) has been devised. The system employs ADP crystals with different resonance frequencies as the mechanical filter bank with electrical input and optical output. As the source signal, any electrical wave form can be used, and the pitch of voiced sounds can be controlled by a separate pitch channel. Possibilities of development of some variations for the visible speech playback and a Vocoder system without any electrical filter bank are described.