Pressure-sensitive ribbon-controller subharmonic oscillator vacuum tube synthesizer dating back to 1929. “Tongues” can be used for fixed pitches.
The Trautonium is a monophonic electronic musical instrument invented about 1929 by Friedrich Trautwein in Berlin at the Musikhochschule's music and radio lab, the Rundfunkversuchstelle. Soon afterwards Oskar Sala joined him, continuing development until Sala's death in 2002.
Instead of a keyboard, its manual is made of a resistor wire over a metal plate, which is pressed to create a sound. Expressive playing was possible with this wire by gliding on it, creating vibrato with small movements. V...
I’ve read a lot about early electronic instruments but I think this was new to me. Heard about it from a link someone posted in a Facebook discussion about Hindemith:
Custom-built Trautoniums, including a CV/gate model for use with modular synths:
https://www.trautoniks.de/com/product.html
Detailed technical discussion:
http://www.doepfer.de/traut/traut_e.htm
Doepfer Eurorack A-113 subharmonic generator:
http://www.doepfer.de/a113.htm
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Cool! Particularly the acoustic-instrument like sounds in the Hindemeth piece are great!
Always goosebumps about that chord progression… (first video)
My last travel…This one is in Brussels - MIM
Staring… amazed
Berlin 05/2018
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What’s that first one? Its manual looks like separate metal pads rather than the usual long ribbon.
And don’t forget the wonderful performance at Superbooth last year:
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Rory
April 2, 2020, 3:45am
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Thanks for sharing this. Interesting controller design. And interesting that Telefunken manufactured a version for the consumer market.