Triadex Muse

The Triadex Muse is an early sequencer-based digital synthesizer designed by Edward Fredkin and Marvin Minsky at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1969.

[1] Up to four of the clock divisions or shift register bits are then used to raise the pitch of the synthesizer by one of four pre-determined diatonic intervals via a resistor ladder-based digital-to-analog converter.

[1] Triadex also manufactured a matching amplifier for the instrument and a "light show" box that flashed lamps in time with the four bits controlling the Muse's pitch.

Users included Charles Cohen, Lenny Seidman, Jeff Caine, George Kuetemeyer, Eddie Jobson, Rex X Ray and Stephan Spera, Paul Wozniki, and the groups Heavenside Layer, Ghostwriters, Watersports, and The Orchestra of Philadelphia Electronic Musicians.

During her time as a fellow at the MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies, Maryanne Amacher famously composed much of her "eartone" music using a Muse given to her by Marvin Minsky.