General Information

Serial #

A2S3-002917

Part Number

1

Total Parts

6

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

synthetic casing and parts/ metal parts

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

45.5 cm

Width

38.7 cm

Height

11.5 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Communications

Category

Music

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Apple

Country

United States of America

State/Province

California

City

Cupertino

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Unknown

Period

circa 1979 +

Canada

Part of a collection of electronic equipment for musical composition, performance and recording owned and used by Canadian Paul Hoffert, composer, musician, author, researcher, entrepreneur and arts administrator. American born, he came to Canada as a child and his career has encompassed many areas of the Canadian music business, including working as a jazz pianist, CBC music director and performer, educator, manufacturer of stereo equipment, music producer, and film composer. In the late 1960s he worked for a short time as a researcher in Hugh LeCaine's electronic music lab at NRC, where he wrote a computer program for music analysis and developed a solid-body electric violin. In 1968 Hoffert and rock drummer Skip Prokop, formed the very successful jazz-rock band Lighthouse (1969-1974, 1982, 1993-present), which earned one platinum record and four gold records and received three Juno awards between 1971 and 1973 In 1977 Hoffert received a Canadian Film Award (later known as a Genie) for best original musical score for the movie "Outrageous!". He also headed the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, the Guild of Canadian Film and Television Composers,and the Ontario Council for the Art. In 1995 he was inducted into the Canadian Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2009 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.

Function

An owner-customized computing device used to perform a variety of computing functions, including digitization of analogue audio signals and storage and reproduction of digital sound samples.

Technical

The Hoffert collection consists of approximately 25 pieces of electronic equipment for musical composition, performance and recording. These range from iconic keyboard instruments of the 1970s, to a variety of digital devices from the 1980s, to computer software from the early 1990s. These were used either for stage performances, especially during his years in the jazz rock band Lighthouse, or for work in his home studio. This Apple II was customized by Paul Hoffert for research and music production. For this purpose he added several audio cards: one that converts audio signals to digital, another that captures music keyboard keystrokes and uses them to trigger sound samples, and a third that stores these sound samples. In 1977 Hoffert added a disk drive and in the 1980s also acquired a MIDI interface card (included but not currently installed). He used this Apple II in one of the first television commercials to feature "synthetic music" For an advertisement for Agree Shampoo he composed a tune using very fast arpeggios that were performed by the computer faster than a musician could play them. The original Apple II appeared in 1977 and was the first major product of Apple Computer. It was very successful because it was affordable, easy to use, and had an integral keyboard, high resolution colour graphics via colour television, and a BASIC interpreter. Introduced in 1979, the 48k Apple II plus was an enhanced version of the original Apple II, with Applesoft BASIC.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

label on underside reads 'apple computer inc./ CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA/ MADE IN U.S.A.' and 'MODEL NO. A2S1048B/ SERIAL A2S3-002917'

Missing

unknown

Finish

textured buff casing/ grey and white keys/ multicoloured synthetic and metallic working parts

Decoration

raised multicoloured logo on cover reads 'apple II/ plus'