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Rare Atari Video Music (Model C240) electronic music visualizer, 14.25˝ x 3,75˝ x 8.25˝, housed in a simulated walnut-grain cabinet with brushed aluminum control panel and amber pushbutton controls, the faceplate marked “ATARI Video Music,” with controls for gain, color, contour, horizontal and vertical display, and multiple visual-effect modes including Solid, Hole, Shape, and Ring. The underside bears the original Atari manufacturing label, identifying the model number, “C-240,” and serial number: “S/N 61046E.” Includes its original unopened cardboard Atari shipping box with its original owner's manual (Model C-240), unused Atari warranty registration card, and original TV/Game switch box (Part No. CA010112), retaining the accessories supplied for television connection and operation. In very fine, never-used condition.
Created by Pong designer Robert Brown under the pseudonym Project Mood, the Atari Video Music was released in 1977 for $169.95 as the world’s first commercial electronic music visualizer. The instructions were simple: connect your Hi-Fi audio system to the RCA ports on the back of the Video Music, then connect it to your television where an ‘Audio-activated video display’ would appear. The concept was ‘sound’ and the hope was to showcase Video Music in the psychedelically infused Sears catalog of the 1970s.
According to Atari design engineer Allan Alcorn, when a Sears salesperson wryly asked what the engineers had been ‘smoking’ to come up with such a product, a member of the Atari development team strolled up with the answer—a lit joint—a move very much in keeping with the California firm's liberal attitude regarding employee behavior. Although Video Music was a commercial failure and manufacturing was halted after only a year in the marketplace, the unit gained popularity as a tool for creating music videos and video art.
Now, some 45 years since its inception, Video Music has reached cult status among early tech collectors as a primitive, short-lived forerunner to the contemporary graphical features now seen across an array of media player platforms.
