In Daphne Oram’s Oramics system, electronic sound began as marks on transparent film. Waveforms and control shapes were drawn across 35mm strips, then read by photoelectric cells inside a machine that occupied much of a room. Ten strips could run at once, turning lines into instructions for pitch, rhythm, timbre and volume.
The fascinating part is not simply that Oram anticipated the graphic interfaces of later music software. Her machine kept the physical gesture visible. A curve was not decoration added after the sound; it participated in producing the sound. Composition, synthesis and drawing briefly became the same act.
https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8242581/waveform-slide-for-oramics-machine
