[Coco] The MultiSensory Sound Laboratory, Part 1

[Jim Brain (GCCC President)]

Best viewed on our web page:

https://www.glensideccc.com/the-multisensory-sound-laboratory-part-1/

Rewind back to the original days of the Tandy Color Computer 1, the 
early 1980’s. Now, imagine yourself as an adult wanting to help young 
people who struggle with sensory inputs. Some have hearing loss, others 
can react poorly to loud noises or bright lights. In a magazine or via a 
trip to your local Radio Shack, you witness the CoCo Audio Spectrum 
Analyzer cartridge in use, and it gives you an idea. You can use the 
CoCo, along with the cartridge, to help folks visualize sound. You flesh 
the idea out a bit more, to reach as many as possible:

  * Source some musical instruments that can connect to an amplifier and
    are easy for someone to quickly use, like a guitar,. microphone, and
    a piano keyboard
  * Bring those sounds into an amplifier
  * Send the output to the CoCo1 (with the Audio Spectrum Analyzer
    cartridge), general full range speakers, some bass woofers connected
    to a set of low floor risers, an induction loop assistive hearing
    system (with some induction loop receivers for students to wear),
    and a 3 channel Ramsey Electronics “Music Lights” color organ.

If you can imagine that, you and Norman of Oval Window Audio 
<http://www.ovalwindowaudio.com/> (http://www.ovalwindowaudio.com/) 
shared the same idea. Norman started playing around with the idea of 
using the CoCo1 and the Spectrum Analyzer to provide a safe space for 
sensory connections in the early 1980’s, eventually receiving a grant 
from the Department of Education to commercialize and start offering the 
solution in 1984 for sale to educational facilities and other 
environments. Called the MultiSensory Sound Laboratory 
<http://www.ovalwindowaudio.com/soundlab1.html> 
(http://www.ovalwindowaudio.com/soundlab1.html), the system noted: 
“Sound should be felt and seen… as well as heard”.

Jim

-- 
Jim Brain, President
Glenside Color Computer Club (GCCC)
president at glensideccc.com
www.glensideccc.com