Rudolf Pfenninger
1899 – 1976

Pfenninger, an engineer and animator, arrived at a system of synthetic sound before Fischinger, one that held different ramifications for the understanding of film sound. After many years of radio and sound experimentation, Pfenninger developed a system of what he called “sounding handwriting” in 1929. Using an oscilloscope, Pfenninger was able to assign a unique graphic representation on a twelve-by-one-inch strip of paper to any tone that was produced. Each paper strip (again, one for each note) was then photographed …

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Sounding Handwriting (c. 1930)