Electronic Music: Systems, Techniques, and Controls

From Foreword by Gordon Mumma: "When in 1972 the first edition of Allen Strange's Electronic Music: Systems, Techniques and Controls was published, the magenta, blue and white covered book rapidly became ubiquitous. It was the first comprehensive and useful guide to the subject, and was relatively easy to obtain. It had occasional errors of detail, and was involved in the technological tumult before general standards were agreed upon, so that some of the illustrative graphic symbols became relics. Nonetheless, that edition proved quite robust....This second edition, as the author notes in his preface, is in many respects a new book. But it repeats that most important achievement of the earlier edition: it is a comprehensive, detailed, and clearly organized guide to working with the instruments and technical procedures of electronic music. Besides, the expected updating which includes many devices and procedures developed during the 1970s, the author continues his method of explaining details within the context of general operating principles. This makes the book applicable to virtually any analog electronic music apparatus...."