This week Ben Steinberg took us on a strange and magical trip through the world of synthesizers.

Ben wasn’t talking about those Casio keyboards we all had as kids:

No, he was talking about this kind of thing … a self-built modular synthesizer:

Before showing off the hardware, Ben first asked us to ponder: what is sound? For Ben, it’s the neurological, psychological, cultural, social phenomenon that occurs when waves of compression and attenuation hit the insides of your ears.

And then the sounds began, starting with a simple sine wave. Ben showed us what happens as you adjust the frequency on the sine wave, and explained that humans can hear frequencies ranging from 20 to 20,000 Hz.

(Did you know? There’s a device businesses (like malls) can use to emit “a high-pitched sound that drives teens crazy but can’t be heard by most adults over 25.” It’s called “The Mosquito.”)

Ben then introduced us to control voltage, envelopes, voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs), voltage-controlled amplifiers (VCAs), and low frequency oscillators (LFOs). Look them up if you want to know more, but here’s the kind of sounds they make:

All of these effects conspire to produce the “timbre,” which is the quality of the sound produced by the distribution of frequencies within it. And you can add filters – like “low-pass,” “high-pass,” “bandpass,” and “notch” filters – to create even more interesting sound effects, like the effect created by a wah-wah pedal. And if that’s not enough, Ben showed us a cool, minimalistic interface called a monome grid, which you can use to trigger different sound patterns and effects:

Ben wrapped up with a discussion of the “most interesting” sounds. To him, these are the ones that aren’t simulating other sounds and don’t sound like anything else. They sound like “machines playing themselves.”

For a sample, visit Ben’s own sound machine on the web: http://partytronic.com/.

Thanks Ben!

(This is a guest post by John Bowers, a student at Harvard College who is collaborating with us on the Entropy Project. John will be a Berktern here this Summer.)

In last week’s LIL talk, team member and graduating senior Yunhan Xu shared some key findings from her prize-winning thesis “A Small Study of Epic Proportions: Toward a Statistical Reading of the Aeneid.” As an impressive entry into the evolving “digital humanities” literature, Yunhan’s thesis blended the empirical rigor of statistical analysis with storytelling and interpretive methods drawn from the study of classics.

The presentation dealt with four analytical methodologies applied in the thesis. For each, Yunhan offered a detailed overview of tools and key findings.

1. 1. Syntactic Analysis. Yunhan analyzed the relative frequencies with which different verb tenses and parts of speech occur across the Aeneid’s 12 books. Her results lent insight into the “shape” of the epic’s narrative, as well as its stylistic character in relation to other works.
2. 2. Sentiment Analysis. Yunhan used sentiment analysis tools to examine the Aeneid’s emotional arc, analyze the normative descriptive treatment of its heroes and villains, and differentiate—following more conventional classics scholarship—the tonality of its books.
3. 3. Topic Modeling. Here, Yunhan subjected existing bipartite and tripartite “partitionings” of the Aeneid to statistical inquiry. By applying sophisticated topic modelling techniques including Latent Dirichlet Allocation and Non-Negative Matrix Factorization, she made a compelling case for the tripartite interpretation. In doing so, she added a novel voice to a noteworthy debate in the classics community.
4. 4. Network Analysis. By leveraging statistical tools to analyze the coincidence of and interactions between the Aeneid’s many characters, Yunhan generated a number of compelling visualizations mapping narrative progression between books in terms of relationships.

In the closing minutes of her presentation, Yunhan reflected on the broader implications of the digital humanities for the study of classics. While some scholars remain skeptical of the digital humanities, Yunhan sees enormous potential for collaboration and coevolution between the new way and the old.

On May 5th, 2017 Caitlin went in depth on the intricacies of the 1924 Democratic Convention (also known as the ‘Klanbake’).

In the 20s the democratic primary had a significantly different process than it does today. Back then only 12 state had primaries, the rest of the delegates were selected through state-level caucuses and conventions that were tightly controlled by political machines.

Going into the Primary, the ecosystem of the United States was divided and often heated. At a glance:

• Prohibition had been in effect since 1920 and there were 20,000+ violation cases. Coincidentally grape juice sales skyrocketed during this time.
  
  Unknown. (October 1931). Labor union members in Newark, New Jersey march against Prohibition. [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://khooll.com/post/35407667831/ready-for-the-saturday-night
  John Binder Collection. (date unknown). <span”>Anti-Saloon League rally. [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/popup/S0964/
• Coolidge signed the immigration act of 1924 which limited the number of immigrants admitted into the US to 2% of people from that country that were living in the US as of the 1870 census. This was primarily aimed at southern & eastern europeans ( ie: Italians and Jews ). Immigrants from Africa and Asia were outright banned.
• The Ku Klux Klan was at its peak with an estimated 3 – 8 million members. The Klan’s platform at that time was to have a country that was white, Protestant and immigrant-free.

There were two front-runners of the Primary.

William McAdoo

Harris & Ewing. (Between 1905 and 1945). William G. McAdoo, half-length portrait, facing slightly left. [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/00652553/

He was the former treasury secretary in Wilson’s administration and Wilson’s son-in-law. He had the popular vote, was favored by the labor unions and formally accepted the Klan’s support. His supporters were generally: southern, western, rural, Protestant & dry (pro-prohibition)

Governor Al Smith

Harris & Ewing. (Between 1905 and 1945). Smith, Alfred. Honorable. [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/hec2009008185/

He was the NY Governor at the time and had entered the race primarily block McAdoo for the western & urban political base. He was backed by the NY political machine Tammany Hall, and his supporters were generally: northern, urban, Catholic & wet ( anti-prohibition)

The convention was held at Madison Sq Garden on June 24th, 1924. A ⅔ vote was needed to select a candidate and in order to accomplish that the convention lasted for 16 days and 103 ballots until a consensus was reached. The convention was PACKED and the Washington Post described it as full of “Tammany shouters, Yiddish chanters, vaudeville performers, saga Indians, hulu dancers, street cleaners, firemen, policemen, movie actors & actresses, bootleggers, 1,098 delegates and 15 presidential candidates.”

Underwood & Underwood. (June 20, 1924). Transfigured Interior of Madison Square Garden Ready for Biggest Convention in History!. [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.paragonauctionsite.com/lot-2251.aspx

There were fist flights on the floor between pro- and anti-Klan delegates. The Tammany Machine stacked the crowd with paid protestors filling the are with the sounds  of thousands of people with drums, tubas, trumpets and electric fire sirens in support of Smith after FDR gave his nominating speech.

Apic/Getty Images. (June 1924). Convention nationale democrate. [Photograph]. Retrieved from http://www.gettyimages.ca/license/112077749

After 16 days neither McAdoo or Smith won. John W. Davis, a candidate from West Virginia, was the eventual compromise.

However in the end it was all for nothing; Calvin Coolidge won the 1924 presidential election and Davis only captured about 26% of the total vote.