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Erkki Kurenniemi (born July 10, 1941 in Hämeenlinna, Finland) is a Finnish designer, philosopher and artist, best known for his electronic music compositions and the electronic instruments he has designed. He is considered one of the leading early pioneers of electronic music in Finland. Kurenniemi is also a science populariser, a futurologist, a pioneer of media culture, and an experimental film-maker. Kurenniemi completed the majority of his instruments, electronic compositions and experimental films in the 1960s and 1970s. Between 1962 and 1974, he designed and constructed ten electronic instruments and studio devices when he was working as a volunteer assistant at the Department of Musicology at the University of Helsinki, and as designer at Digelius Electronics Finland Oy, founded in 1970. In addition to the Musicology Department, Kurenniemi also worked as assistant and senior designer at the Department of Theoretical Physics from 1962 to 1973. Kurenniemi earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1968. He subsequently worked as a designer of control systems for industrial robots at Oy W. Rosenlew Ab (1976–1978), and as a designer of industrial automation and robotic systems at Nokia’s cable machinery division (1980–1986). He also worked as a specialist consultant and Head of Planning at the Science Centre Heureka in Vantaa, Finland (1987–1998). Kurenniemi received the Finland Prize of the Ministry of Education and Culture in 2003.〔 In 2004, he was elected honorary fellow of the University of Art and Design Helsinki.〔 2011 Kurenniemi received Order of the Lion of Finland medal from The President of Finland Mrs. Tarja Halonen. ==Instrument design== Kurenniemi began his career in instrument design at the Department of Musicology in the University of Helsinki during the academic year 1961–1962. At the suggestion of musicology students Erkki Salmenhaara, Ilkka Oramo and Ilpo Saunio, Professor Erik Tawaststjerna invited Kurenniemi to design an electronic music studio for the university. Kurenniemi was also employed by the department as an unpaid voluntary assistant.〔〔〔〔〔 Kurenniemi’s concept for the studio represented a departure from the then prevalent tape editing studios in that it employed digital control technology and automation. The key unit for control, production and editing in 1964–1967 was the so-called integrated synthesizer, the design of which bore a closer resemblance to the 1950s' digital RCA synthesizer than to the voltage-controlled synthesizers of Robert Moog, for instance. In parallel with his work on designing the studio, Kurenniemi also built electronic instruments for customers, including the Finnish avant-garde artist M. A. Numminen, the composer Osmo Lindeman and the Swedish composer Ralph Lundsten. The most famous of his instruments is probably Sähkökvartetti (Electric Quartet), which is heard on a piece by M.A. Numminen, "Kaukaa väijyy ystäviä" ("Far away lurk friends", 1968). The most ambitious of Kurenniemi’s projects was the series of DIMI synthesizers (from DIgital Music Instrument). In 1970, a company called Digelius Electronics Finland Oy was set up to manufacture DIMIs.〔〔〔〔〔 Kurenniemi’s instruments were characterised by the early use of digital control and also the combination of sequencers with synthesizers. Kurenniemi was also the first to use a completely digital design based on calculator circuits to determine the pitch of the synthesised sound. Kurenniemi also explored the use of digital memory in his instruments – his first digital memory was installed in the Dico instrument commissioned by Osmo Lindeman (1969).〔 In addition to developing new applications, Kurenniemi studied the use of different control systems in his instruments. For instance, Dimi-O (1971) is based on an optical interface, the original purpose of which was to read sheet music graphically. The instrument could also be played with a conventional keyboard or via a video camera. Dimi-O was also used in tandem with a dancer, whose movements were transformed into music (see Section 2.2 Film, media and video works). Dimi-O is an early example of an interactive instrument. Inspired by the bio-music of the American composer Manford L. Eaton, Kurenniemi designed instruments based on bio-feedback. These included Dimi-S (also known as Sexophone, 1972), where sound generation is based on the electric conductivity of the skin, and Dimi-T (aka Electroencephalophone, 1973), where the sound control is based on a signal generated by the electric activity of the brain.〔〔〔〔〔 Having worked for years in other fields, Kurenniemi resumed the construction of digital instruments in the mid-2000s (decade), when his pioneering work was attracting increasing interest internationally. Together with Thomas Carlsson, a UK-based designer of electronic systems, in 2005, Kurenniemi designed and constructed a new version of the Dimi instrument in which sound generation is based on the theory of mathematical harmonies developed by Kurenniemi since the 1980s (see Section 3. Scientific activity). Dimi-H is a program-based instrument that allows the player to pick out "notes out of the air" in a camera-generated 3D space.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Erkki Kurenniemi」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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