Malcolm Cecil on Creating TONTO

TONTO is an acronym for The Original New Timbral Orchestra. It was created by Malcom Cecil and Robert Margouleff in 1968 , and marked the first attempt at creating a universal language for different synthesizers to communicate with each other, which was revolutionary at the time.

Now housed at Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre, TONTO is being used for a new generation of artists to create music.

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[andrewwilliams]

The electronic Stonehenge. Long may it produce glorious new sounds.

[RadioCamp]

Back in 1977 I was the morning DJ at a tiny AM/FM station in Mendocino, California. Of course "Songs in the Key" of Life was spinning a lot. One morning I commented on the ultra-tight horn section on "I Wish." A woman called and said "those aren't real horns, it's a synth." What??? Next thing I knew she'd arranged for Malcolm Cecil (who I guess was living locally at the time) to come by the studio for an interview. Wow!

[benkleschinsky]

It would have been amazing to be a fly on the wall when guys like Stevie Wonder and Weather Report were using this to make their albums in the 70's. This is an absolute incredible piece of music history. I'm glad it's been preserved.

[thejoe]

R.I.P Malcolm! Was a really cool dude, did some work building a new shed for him a couple months before he passed

[mikeschneider]

I knew Malcomb quite well and he was always a joy to work with. I miss him.

[musicproCO]

I met Bob and Malcolm when I was working on staff at Westlake Studios, RIP Malcolm. Recently I heard Bob Margouleff in an interview from a year ago (2024) and he sounds great at 84. It would be great to get his memories on that era and Tonto too. Thanks for posting!

[thesoundsmith]

"From the front, it's got to be playable and from the back it's got to be _serviceable._ H"ow true. I gave up trying to create an amalgam of Arp 2600, Roland System 100, a row of PAIA modules and "keyboard." when it started to look like an Escher print... Great job, sir., Respect, Rest In Passion, you'd be bored with 'peace'...

[benaustin]

RIP Malcolm. Thank you for helping to create the sonic landscape of my childhood and for managing to not only craft amazing music technology, but for building the relationship with perhaps the greatest creator of music using those tools. Much appreciated.

[infinit]

Brilliant. the small detail of adding a faraday cage is genius!

[smduk]

I noticed the sequencer keyboard from a Synthi AKS stashed away in there.

[seankellymurray]

Truly amazing level of design, Malcolm Cecil a genius and visionary in his time.

[michaelwilde]

About Time was one of the best and most amazing albums of all time, sad to hear of Malcolms passing a true pioneer of music

[soloharmonicsrobj]

This is an amazing setup, and so many great electronic instruments in one arena. I've heard Tonto's Expanding Headband on a late night radio show titled Hearts Of Space.

[benkleschinsky]

This should have a million views. Incredible.

[loskioskbears]

So sad to hear that he left us today. BTW, this video is very interesting, but the sound of the synth itself is way too low in the mix. I can hardly hear it!

[chromepanther]

Malcolm was the fucking man! Absolute genius and legend.

[CraigMansfield]

Airways knew the synths, but never knew the man who put it all together. I'm sorry to learn of him by his "passing".

Sympathy to everybody who feels this loss

[davidhall]

I was curious about Stevie Wonder's Synthesizer Arrangement and this Video popped up. An amazing arrangement indeed. I'm a multi- Instrumentalist.

[derekrevell]

Wow! didn't expect to see an EMS KS keyboard as part of TONTO

[jimmy_jamesjams_a_lot]

THIS tendency towards favoring a system that is as completely flexible as is possible, within the realm of the time when it was used. It’s a contagious endeavor. We’ve all been to the club or seen films with the DJ, holding up his headphones to hear the queued up channel that isn’t playing through the PA, so he can hear the channel that he’s going to bring in without disappointing the audience by forcing them the agony of listening to the parts they don’t want to hear. This system takes that to a whole other level. Super easy to isolate channels, and to let the performers hear the stuff that they don’t want the audience to hear. Pretty neat to think of that wire coming from the Apollo missions and NASA. That should be some extra robust wire. I wish I could get my hands on some of that wire. THANKS FOR SHARING THIS! This is a great glimpse of the reasons behind the madness!!