CORTLI
Composing and Outputting Real Time Lighting Information
Computer controlled lighting systems
Opus 22
70’s
Mimi Garrard Dance Company
In the 1970’s James Seawright in collaboration with Emmanuel Ghent, Mimi Garrard, William Hemsath, and others, pioneered novel computer composed and controlled theatrical lighting systems. Phosphones (1970 illustrated) was choreographed by Mimi Garrard with music and lighting composed by Emmanuel Ghent showcased the system. Three systems were developed and employed the Mimi Garrard Dance Company.
First system 1970
Emmanuel Ghent, James Seawright, and Mimi Garrard
In the first system, composition was done at Bell Labs using the GROOVE system. The lighting data was written onto paper tape. Playback was on custom paper tape reader and dimmer controller synchronized to audio from a four track tape unit. The details of this system are described in: A High-Speed Digital Control System for Theatrical Lighting .
Second system 1976-1978
Mimi Garrard, Emmanuel Ghent, William Hemsath, and James Seawright
With a grant from the National Endowment from the Arts and assistance from Princeton University, a second system was developed allowing both composition, editing, and playback using a custom (S-100 bus 8080 based) microcomputer. The system allowed for more channels of light and improved lighting resolution. The details of this system are described in the report: CORTLI: Computer-Assisted Composition and Performance of Theatrical Lighting and other Visual Effects.
Third system 1984
William Hemsath, Dana Batali, James Seawright, and Mimi Garrard
The third system used a IBM PC system with a custom ISA card for dimmer control designed by William Hemsath. Dana Batali rewrote the CORTLI software in C.
References
Phosphones video on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6R7TGj0Xvw
E. Ghent, J. Seawright, M. Garrard. A High-Speed Digital Control System for Theatrical Lighting.
"A High-Speed Digital Control System," Lighting Design and Applications, IV, March 1974, p. 14-21
Timeline of Early Computer Music at Bell Telephone Laboratories Inc
Web page https://ethw.org/Timeline_of_Early_Computer_Music_at_Bell_Telephone_Laboratories,_Incorporated
CORTLI-Composing and Outputting Real-Time Lighting Information (with M. Garrard, E. Ghent and W. Hemsath). January 1978, Mimi Garrard Dance Co., New York
"A Theatrical Lighting Graphics Package" BYTE, III, 6 June 1978, pp. 153-156 (with Garrard, Ghent and Hemsath)
