In this paper, I review some of the claims about electronic sound synthesis and human subjectivity that were made in the name of RCA’s first electroacoustic sound synthesiser, as it was understood by its various sponsors in the American military-industrial-academic-cultural complex. As described by Harry Olson, head of the corporation’s acoustics research division, RCA’s Mark I synthesiser was intended to be ‘a musical instrument with no limitations whatsoever.’ I argue that the promise of RCA’s limitless musical instrument began at the University of Iowa, with an embryonic effort to define and quantify musical talent. When it emerged fully-formed from RCA’s Princeton-based acoustics laboratory, the synthesiser represented Cold War cultural and economic supremacy by channelling wartime innovations in signal processing, information theory, and cybernetics into the service of a booming American entertainment industry. As centrepiece of the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Studio, the synthesiser was conscripted by the composer Milton Babbitt to realise an ongoing experiment in art and psychoacoustics, linking twelve-tone composition, information theory, positivist epistemology, and psychoacoustics. Babbitt’s ideas about composition as experimentation, I will suggest, supported a vision of human rather than mechanical potential—and of the autonomous artist as a Cold War liberal, a heroic figure more enduring than RCA’s celebrated machine.

在本文中，我回顾了以RCA的第一台电声声音合成器的名义提出的关于电子声音合成和人类主观性的一些主张，正如美国军事，工业，学术，文化综合体的各种赞助者所理解的那样。正如该公司声学研究部门负责人哈里·奥尔森（Harry Olson）所描述的那样，RCA的Mark I合成器旨在成为“一种没有任何限制的乐器”。我认为，RCA无限的乐器的许诺始于爱荷华大学，其最初的尝试是定义和量化音乐才能。当它从RCA位于普林斯顿的声学实验室完全形成时，该合成器通过引导战时在信号处理，信息理论，和控制论为蓬勃发展的美国娱乐业服务。作为哥伦比亚普林斯顿电子音乐工作室的核心，该合成器由作曲家米尔顿·巴比特（Milton Babbitt）委托，以实现正在进行的艺术和心理声学实验，将十二音成分，信息论，实证主义认识论和心理声学联系起来。我会建议，巴比特关于构图作为实验的想法支持了人类而不是机械潜能的构想，也支持了作为冷战自由主义者的自主艺术家的构想，这是比RCA著名的机器更持久的英雄形象。该合成器是由作曲家Milton Babbitt委托进行的，旨在实现正在进行的艺术和心理声学实验，将十二音成分，信息论，实证主义认识论和心理声学联系起来。我将提出，巴比特关于构图作为实验的想法支持了人类而不是机械潜能的构想，也支持了作为冷战自由主义者的自主艺术家的构想，这是比RCA著名的机器更经久不衰的英雄人物。该合成器是由作曲家Milton Babbitt委托进行的，旨在实现正在进行的艺术和心理声学实验，将十二音成分，信息论，实证主义认识论和心理声学联系起来。我将提出，巴比特关于构图作为实验的想法支持了人类而不是机械潜能的构想，也支持了作为冷战自由主义者的自主艺术家的构想，这是比RCA著名的机器更经久不衰的英雄人物。