Vox Ex Machina

Vox Ex Machina

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter.

In 1939, an astonishing new machine debuted at the New York World’s Fair. It was called the “Voder,” short for “Voice Operating Demonstrator.” It looked sort of like a futuristic church organ.

An operator — known as a “Voderette” — sat at the Voder’s curved wooden console with a giant speaker towering behind her. She faced an expectant audience, placed her hands on a keyboard in front of her, and then played something the world had never really heard before.

A synthesized voice.

Vox Ex Machina