Computer Music Center

The center's flagship piece of equipment, the RCA Mark II Sound Synthesizer, was delivered in 1957 after it was developed to Ussachevsky and Babbitt's specifications.

The RCA (and the center) were re-housed in Prentis Hall, a building off the main Columbia campus on 125th Street.

In 1964 Columbia Records released an album titled simply Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, which was produced principally on the RCA synthesizer.

Most of the luminaries in the field of electronic music (and avant-garde music in general) visited, worked, or studied at the Electronic Music Center, including Edgard Varèse, Chou Wen-chung, Halim El-Dabh, Michiko Toyama, Bülent Arel, Mario Davidovsky, Charles Dodge, Pril Smiley, Alice Shields, Wendy Carlos, Dariush Dolat-Shahi, Kenjiro Ezaki and Luciano Berio.

These include early prototypes of tape delay machines, quadraphonic mixing consoles, and analog triggers designed to facilitate interoperability between other (often custom-made) synthesizer equipment.

RCA Mark II Sound Synthesizer, Computer Music Center at Columbia University
The "Victor" (nickname of RCA Mark II Sound Synthesizer) at the CMC was one of the first synthesizers. Exponents thought it would replace the orchestra, but it turned out to be difficult to keep consistent. Instead it was given to Columbia which used it to teach avant-garde electronic musicians.