One of the great pioneers of electronic music, Delia Derbyshire, part of the equally pioneering BBC Radiophonic Workshop, hacked reel audio tapes and machines in the way you describe and much more, to create her sounds. She was so OCD in doing so that it was a bit damaging, and may have viewed the later digital synths as a godsend or with disdain. She created the Dr. Who theme.

https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/100-voices/pioneering-wo...