Electronic music pioneer Tristram Cary's last beat

The father of electronic music wore tweed jackets, had a refined English accent and smoked a pipe.

Tristram Cary, who died last week in Adelaide aged 82, came up with the idea of electronic and tape music during World War II.

Cary composed music for the sci-fi series Doctor Who and co-designed a synthesiser used by Pink Floyd and The Who.

He founded an electronic music studio at London's Royal College of Music before migrating to Australia to establish a similar studio at the University of Adelaide's Elder Conservatorium of Music.

The conservatorium's Stephen Whittington said Cary's contribution to music was "impossible to quantify".

"Without him, we wouldn't have techno, hip-hop or any kind of music which is sustained by technology," he said.