From majortom@muc.deSat Apr 15 13:28:10 1995 Date: Sat, 15 Apr 1995 19:12:56 +0200 From: mw To: analogue@hyperreal.com Subject: Re: Baby You're a Rich Man Don Tillman writes: >Okay historians, I got one for you... >Lewisohn (in _The Beatles Recording Sessions_) says that it's Lennon >playing a "Clavioline", but I've never heard of such a beast. In the book "Synthesizer von Gestern Vol. II" it says (translated): The Clavioline was designed in the forties by the frenchman M. Constant Martin. Improvements were added in the sixties by Rene Seybold and Harald Bode. It is very simular to Laurens Hammonds's Solovox which also appeared in the forties. The Solovox is a monophonic instrument with a Tube oscillator as sound source. The Tube oscillator has a frequency band of one octave. Higher and lower octaves were derived via (Tube-) frequency deviders. On the front of the instrument there were controls for osc. range, attack time and timbre. The Clavioline - like the Solovox - consisted of two units: the keyboard with the actual sound producing unit and controls and a box with amplifier and speaker. The keyboard unit had 18 switches for controlling timbre, octave range and percussion plus two pots for vibrato speed and intensity. Later models had a frequency shifter designed by Bode. The timbre was varied with HPF + LPF. The Clavioline made brass and string sounds which were considered very natural at the time and it can do some interesting sawtooth-like sounds as well. In 1965 it reappeared manufacutered by a company called "Jorgensen". Hope that helps. (mw) From atomic@netcom.comSat Apr 15 13:29:02 1995 Date: Sat, 15 Apr 1995 10:42:43 -0700 (PDT) From: atomic city To: mw Cc: analogue@hyperreal.com Subject: Re: Baby You're a Rich Man mw writes-- > >The Solovox is a monophonic instrument with a Tube oscillator as sound source. >The Tube oscillator has a frequency band of one octave. Higher and lower >octaves were derived via (Tube-) frequency deviders. On the front of the >instrument there were controls for osc. range, attack time and timbre. What was left out here was the marvelous design of the UI; the Solovox was literally that, a solo voice to do leads over organ comping. It was designed to bolt under the lowest manual of a Hammond organ and project toward the player as an extra manual. The keys were short and slightly narrow, had a two-to-three-octave range (can't remember), and the relevant controls were huge, easy to use switches that were mounted UNDER the keys and pressed with the thumbs, i.e. thumb pistons. I found a Solovox in the basement of the husband of one of my wife's fellow _Santa Barbara_ aficionados. The guy was a HAM radio and homebuilt electronics nut, and had found it in a junk yard. He gave it to me for a very low price, and after contemplating whether I had the money or resources to fix it and decidin I didn't, I sold it to Eirikur Hallgrimsson for what I paid for it. I wonder if he ever got it up and running? The keyboard connected to the guts/amp/speaker box via a long multipin cable that was rotted away; getting it replaced would be a real chore. mike -- Dave Olson and Chris Sattinger on mixer preamp overload: DO: do those little red lights mean that satan is coming to fry my channels? CS: That depends what drove you to distort your sound in the first place. :) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- mike metlay * atomic city * p. o. box 81175 * pittsburgh, pa 15217-0675 usa atomic@netcom.com * atomic-city@netcom.com * http://pd.net/atomic-city