Thank you for doing this for posterity. One question. Do you sometimes think you have too many instruments, too many to devote as much time as each deserves? Life is too short!😊
@@pepinillosazucarados6743 bet your ass they know about it. nobody said it doesn't exist, everybody is saying it should be more common and less exclusive premium feature, stop misunderstanding on purpose.
Look for keyboards with MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) rather than regular MIDI. Basically it's an extension to MIDI that gives each note its own bending and other expressive values. (To remain backwards compatible enough to get passed along as valid MIDI, each note gets its own MIDI channel.)
That vibrato! It sounds so great. And where I expected per-key movement it was genius to have the whole keybed move. What a solution! Thank you for doing this story and for the people who restored and maintained this. So much of history is lost and I just LOVE seeing relics of long ago being repurposed in new modern contexts. I feel think that kind of “synthesis” of old and new is a great well of creativity.
Pink Floyd owned one but were ready to throw it in the garbage when Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh asked, “Do mind if I have it?”. Also was used by Del Shannon on “Runaway”.
I’m not only amazed by how versatile it is for an instrument that old, but in what good shape it is. You can tell Daniel is a master of his craft that it looks like it just rolled off the assembly and not nearly 90 years old.
Always been fascinated by these after coming it across it about 15 years ago when going down a JJP rabbit hole. Really great to see and hear it in your hands. Btw - Synthesizer Patel claimed that we haven't been able to synthesize the bassoon, but at 5:31 you proved him wrong. :)
I haven't intentionally tried my 200e to get a bassoon timbre, but it may be possible. Some combination of the 261e/259e and the 291's am, bw, fm modulations. I definitely have gotten reed timbres from the 200e, as well as Forbidden Planet timbres.
Probably a selection of borderline unobtainable valve types, and a tight point to point, tag board or turret based layout that would be difficult to build… A work/sound alike with a larger chassis to make for a more friendly build might be possible though.
@@Jonathan_Doe_ There is at least one person making Ondes Martenot based on solid-state technology (a friend of mine owns one). The same could be done with the Ondioline - but, yes, it would be really expensive and niche (lord knows the new Ondes is!). Incidentally, the production of the Ondes Martenot (originally) was roughly contemporaneous to the Ondioline - indeed, it was invented a decade earlier.
@@SamT987 transistorized ondiolines do exist.... The original tube circuitry was eventually changed to transistors. Ondiolines where made until the late 60's , so the later ones are actually the transistorized version.
If it weren’t for the Ondioline, Jean-Jacques Perrey wouldn’t have created *Baroque Hoedown*, which later became the iconic theme for Don Dorsey’s arrangement of the Main Street Electrical Parade. As a kid at Disneyland, hearing that distinctive "bwaaahhhh" sound fill the air triggered an emotional response that sparked my lifelong love of synthesizers.
Baroque Hoedown is such a great name. Also, it reminds me of a joke I used to say as a kid, which doesn't really make sense anymore now that I know my musical and art history, but it goes like this: Baroque is when you are out of Monet E: it would actually make more sense to say: You are no longer Baroque when you have Monet I thought I was hilarious as a little boy. Apologies for this random tangent
También es el tema del programa de Chespirito. Además, "the elephant never forgets" también de jj perrey se uso en la intro del Chavo del ocho. Toda Latinoamérica ha escuchado el jenny ondioline!
The French were so advanced in designing and building synthesizers. Just look at the PolyKobol. It was able to morph between OSC signals and it is the warmest sounding synth.
The ondes Martenot had the vibrato-capable keyboard prior to 1939! ;-) I would love to see the Ondioline's tone generation combined with the ondes Martenot's interface. I love the sound of the Ondioline, and in your hands it is given a delightful new spin!
@@Hainbachthe ring gives complete control over the pitch, allowing for the glissando and vibrato we know and love. The keyboard can move from left to right (and elliptically in some versions of the instrument) to introduce vibrato, too. It’s a low-note priority monophonic keyboard, with keys slightly smaller than typical keys. Versions of the ondes do sort of blur together, as features creep from one to the next, but the Mk. 5 featured the vibrato keyboard and was famously used at the 1937 Paris Exposition. The Mk. 4 before this was almost identical (apart from less attractive woodwork), and was the first model to have the vibrato keyboard. I think it’s generally accepted that this model was first seen around 1930.
Thank you for sharing about this instrument & its' history! I've been enjoying your new album and wondered what THAT sound was . . . now I know. Your buoyant curiosity is infectious in the best kind of way! As an educator, this is the disposition I hope and pray that all students cultivate.
Although electronic keyboards like this one were available earlier, the acknowledged first *voltage* controlled synth was the Electronic Sackbut, invented and developed by Canadian physicist and inventor Hugh LeCaine, between 1945 and 1949. You can find plenty of videos about it on UA-cam. I had the pleasure and privilege of briefly working on a functional reproduction of it, using the original (which is in the permanent collection of the museum in Ottawa) as a reference. We have photos, audio recordings, and LeCaine's notes (in the national Library & Archives) to work from, but sadly, there is no film or video of LeCaine playing it, for us to see him working the controls to produce the sounds heard. The Sackbut was a monophonic instrument, with a tube-based oscillator, and some rudimentary control over envelope, octave, formant/timbre, and modulation. The keyboard used a traditional resistor ladder to produce the volt/s-per-octave output used, although there seemed to be a trimpot for each octave to achieve ideal tuning (I guess 1% resistors were hard to come by in the post-war years). Like the Ondioline demoed here, it had a form of aftertouch to introduce more volume, and lateral sensitivity for producing notewise vibrato. Unlike the Ondioline the vibrato was not produced by moving the *entire* keybed, but by wiggling an individual key. As near as I could tell by perusing his notes, as well as getting on my hands and knees with a flashlight and peering at the underside of the Sackbut keyboard, each key had a wire stapled to its underside, that we believe could be used to introduce variable capacitance that produced the pitch wobble. The sides of all 49 keys were bevelled such that a player could dig their finger in to push the key sideways more effectively. I had the pleasure of inspecting the original (on display behind glass in dim museum lighting) close up, once the archivist gave us permission to take it out of the glass case and move it to much better lighting. The user plays the keyboard with their right hand, and uses their left hand to control three different real-time sources of modulation, each operated by an individual finger. Apparently the oscillator was very finicky and took some time to stabilize. Though the wiring is hard to follow, there are plenty of trimmers all over to assist in producing a well-intonated VCO and keyboard. Sadly, because it was cobbled together from spare parts lying around, it is no longer in playable shape. Indeed, the wood frame of the keybed has warped with time so we can't tell what sort of pressure yielded what sort of change. A rack-and-pinion mechanism attached to a pot at the side, is controlled by a foot-operated mechanism. There was apparently a spring reverb as part of the unit. While inspecting the Sackbut with Ed Eagan (designer of the Eaganmatrix used in the Osmose Expressive E, and a local fellow), he speculated that, since the Sackbut had an attack control, but no decay. the foot control may have introduced reverb-on-demand, to let notes linger a bit longer and substitute for a decay control. Reading through LeCaine's notes, as well as interviews with him, it was clear that he was frustrated with the static sound of electric keyboards of the time, and sought something that allowed for more real-time expressive control, like an acoustic instrument, rather than a push-this-button-to-get-this-timbre. The foresight of people like George Jenny and Hugh LeCaine was remarkable, and laid the groundwork for what was to follow...often only decades later.
I knew of the existence of this electronic instrument, but this was the first time I had actually heard the sound. Thank you for this valuable experience.
If anyone in the UK was around in the 70's, you'll remember Kenny Everett's radio shows. He would often play tracks by Jean-Jacques Perrey. Great fun and "All in the best all in the possible taste".
Whoa I can’t even imagine them playing some WW2 era bebop/swing on this thing or even incorporating into the big band sound of that time... still it could’ve been, seriously that would have sounded absolutely otherworldly in those days (and it still sounds incredible now!)
It is not bebop/swing but here it is used on a track by Kai Winding, the jazz trombonist. Pretty schlocky, pop muzak of the 60s. ua-cam.com/video/yBj9KMQ2BNs/v-deo.htmlsi=HDuONPyiVVhwHhA3
What an exceptional opportunity! It's truly ingenuitive and fascinating how it may have been a victim of its own success: I don't doubt it sold poorly because it came out before people were used to even hearing distorted guitar much, much less the highly electronic sounds it could produce!
It seems there was considerable interest in the Ondioline throughout its existence, otherwise there would be no demand for M. Perrey to travel all around the world doing demonstrations, "concerts" of it! Perhaps only 1200 units were sold commercially simply because M. Perrey only wanted to build them himself, instead of selling licenses to larger WHOREpoRATions & then sitting back & living off the royalties. Can't blame him, since the history of musical instrument & amplifier designers is littered with famous names like Jim Marshall, Leo Fender, & myriad others whose reputations were ruined whilst their lives were destroyed as they were ripped off & often driven to bankruptcy by unscrupulous GREEEEDHEADS who drew up shady legal contracts for them to sign so that they could basically just steal their ideas & all the money they promised them at the same time! Instead, M. Perrey happily shared his Ondioline design with all those who could neither afford it or perhaps, get onto his presumably long waiting list for the delivery of a finished unit. There was a "famous" electronics hobbyist magazine in France for several decades by the name of "Toute La Radio" who devoted about a half a year, from Fall of 1955 to Winter of 1956, printing a series of installments covering the theory, FULL SCHEMATICS & construction details of the Ondioline BY M. JEAN-JACQUES PERREY HIMSELF! So popular was the series that "Toute La Radio" published the entire series in one article (It might even have been a separate booklet available to the public) AGAIN, in 1957! Toute La Radio Magazine is long gone. But fortunately for us, those articles were republished & meticulously translated to English by someone in Great Britain in 2022 for "Forgotten Futures", whose web store will sell them to you in print form along with further servicing information & various tips for $23USD...RIGHT NOW in 2024! Alternately, if you are a starving musician who needs that $23 for bread & resistors instead, the articles themselves translated into English by Forgotten Futures are available courtesy of the Internet Archive for free. Although the Internet Archive, like Wikipedia, is a public donation supported website that would gratefully appreciate you donating $5-15USD to them out of the goodness of your heart.🤗 The Internet Archive does invaluable work, perhaps even more important than Wikipedia does. Check it out, & support them if you can!😎
@@OFR It seems to be doing a lot more. It has filters, different envelope settings etc. Things that organs doesn't have! And organs doesn't not have that sawtooth like oscillators. LIke it's on the way to become a Synth but much more than an organ! And definitely much more "playable" with the MPE-like vibrato and volume thing going on.
I understand. But it's organ technology, most organs have filters, waveform generation, even envelope controls. But they are fixed architecture with limited range. As with the Novachord, also an organ with great pre-synth features and sound. I'm capable hands, the Ondioline can do a lot but pitch, envelopes, or vibrato speed are extremely limited like an organ.
@@OFR The point is this was in 1947. At that time organs could not do any of this. What you are describing is more modern organs (from the 1970:s and on) that over time gained some of the functionality of the synths that was evolving before them... Thus the newer organs were hybrids between synths and organs. The Yamaha GX-1 is one example of a Synth/organ combo. The Eminent 310 is another. Both in 73/74 and way more advanced than the standard organ of 1947,
@@OFR as I already say previously in this comment section, Ondioline is NOT an organ Organ technology is a wind instrument with tuned pipes and air flow remote. Later electromechanical "organ" you refer to use metallic toneweel and teeth cycle counter as oscillators (like Hamond) Ondioline is an early full electronic (tubes) synthesizer, like Martenot or Theremin. The limitation is only a mater of choices, not design capabilities, for example resonant filter-envelope- use 3 self and 5 capacitors selectors which as binary logic offer 256 combinations. Why Jenny don't use variable setting ?!? who knows, but as is the design is coherent especially for it's time. Also the vibrato/tremolo LFO oscillator have 3 speed and two depth activated on front lever, pre-tuned by pots accessible on the back, changing the settings could be done in 5 sec for large variations
This is so cool, I can't believe how ahead of its time it was. It got so much better with the line out, no longer chained to the old speaker, i wonder how many people got to hear it sound *good* before vs after this video?
Probably all of them did use the internal amp and speaker. The triode in the amp does distort with the knee lever, so this gives so much complex tone to the oscillators - like playing an electric guitar thru a clean amp or a dirty one; it's a great tonal range added. And the speaker cone is thin paper and actually adds more compression and distortion - dynamic changes that follow your playing. Wonderful expression when played by a skilled player such as JJP - still the best! His videos are on UA-cam.
I had a delightful time attending Wally’s concert/presentation at Moogfest back when that was a thing. I’m so glad it’s something the team has kept up with.
Dang, I miss Moogfest. Just several days of completely opening up your mind to all kinds of fascinating stuff. Still a Theremin sitting in my house initiated from conversations with Dorit Chrysler. By happenstance running into Keith Emerson in a hotel lobby. Or getting to meet Brian Eno on the street! In the Asheville heyday.
this is a great revelation to me, I have never heard of this keyboard. I a fan of early Moogs, ARPs, Mellotrons, and Solinas. This is way ahead of any of those instruments, so cool.
Mind blowing. I just adore this instrument for many a reason. The directness of it, the sheer tonal range. All the innovations. Truly a marvel. Thank you for bringing the tones to us patrons. Looking forward to delving into the samples.
Such a beautiful machine. I love its retro sound. It's so warm and plucky. Through the effects it's magical. Excellent demonstration of this beautiful and nostalgic machine. It reminds me of some of the sounds of the Factory pocket operator.
Great video! Decades ago I heard the music of Olivier Messiaen performed on an Ondes Martenot. I've been fascinated by early vacuum-tube synthesizers ever since. BREVE sounds wonderful as well!
Although the Ondioline is a wonderful instrumnent, it simply is not a synthesizer. It is a mono tube organ with several clever methods of real time expression.
Agreed. We hear sounds LIKE a synthesizer, but it's dedicated flow and function, not variable like a true synthesizer of later years. Like the Clavioline, Hammond Solovox and Novachord, Telharmonium, and Ondes Martenot - the same technologies are available in organs. There are a LOT of effects used to make the Ondioline here sound more modern and like a synthesizer, but the raw sound (thick, distorted, and raw) is wonderful, and very much like a Hammond S6, for example.
What makes the difference? I always thought "synthesizer" was a pretty fuzzy term for machines that create sound through (mainly) electrical means. But there are synthesizers with mechanical components so it's not always purely electrical. Wouldn't it be better to say that electric organs are one family of synthesizers, and this is close to those, but all exist within the broader category of synthesizers?
"Synthesizer " or "synthesis" are not fuzzy terms. By definition, it means to combine parts or elements to form a whole. So, when applied to sound generation it would mean to build the sound out of its component elements. In a proper synthesizer system, you build the sound by addressing things like pitch, modulation, timbre, volume envelope, etc. as separate components of the assembled sound. And you can modify these elements over time with voltage control, an incredibly important part of synthesis. So, by this definition, instruments such as combo organs, Hammond tone wheel organs, string machines, theremins, etc. are simply not synthesizers as these are essentially fixed architecture machines with only limited volume or tonal changes. Not everything with a keyboard and an oscillator is a synthesizer. You simply can't address the different elements that make up the final sound separately. I guess, by a stretch, you could consider the Novachord as a "proto synth" because you can address the envelope to a primitive degree. But even then, it's really just a huge divider organ with some clever passive fixed filtering. Instruments like the Moog modular allow you to directly address and control all the separate elements of sound generation with a high degree of precision (you literally "synthesize" the sound).
I have seen this instrument on a UA-cam channel previously, although I cant remember where, it may have been an organ channel I watch. It is such a versatile instrument, I love the knee operated modulation and the articulated keyboard, he truly was a pioneer!
I grabbed the digital download of BREVE from Bandcamp the other day, and it's GREAT! Your Ondioline sounds amazing and fits into your sonic palette perfectly. What a find. What an interesting history this thing has. This is one of those antique instruments that will be WORTH fixing when it breaks (e.g., when a vacuum tube filament burns out). I hope there always will be sources for replacement parts. I trust we'll hear Ondioline's unique sounds in some of your future tracks, hopefully over many years. Bravo!
@@Hainbach - I hope that miracle happens! This is the closest I'll ever get to playing an Ondioline, and it won't have that intimate touch: ua-cam.com/video/wWFzZvaUF5I/v-deo.html
This is fascinating! I've been interested in analog synths for over a decade and playing/experimenting with them for a few years now, but I've never heard of this one. It's amazing something like this existed in the 40s!
Thanks so much for doing this vid! Excellently explained in lots of different ways, great close-ups and captions. 😁 I recently set this up on my Model-12 to be able to route anything to my FMR RNC1773 compressor. Using sticky-notes and writing out why what goes out/in where helped so much haha. - Sub OUT goes to the x2 balanced INs on the RNC. - RNC OUT goes to channel 1 and 2 IN - Aux OUT goes to Sidechain IN on the RNC. This way I can send any audio for compressing to the SUB and any signal I want to trigger the Sidechain for some good ol' pump/ducking can be sent to Aux 1 (EQ and more on that soon hopefully).
Al Kooper had a brief infatuation with the instrument in the sixties - it can be heard on a few Blues Project and Blood Sweat & Tears songs ("No Time Like The Right Time", "Steve's Song", etc.).
I am very fond of the Ondioline. I own lots of Perrey's records and I love the sounds he can make with it. I do prefer the sound that comes out of the built-in speaker over the line out, as I think the specific speaker adds a lot to the distinct tone of the Ondioline. Also, I trust that Daniel Kitzig knows about it and fixed the problem, but some models of Ondioline contain an asbestos padding under the percussive strip O_o
This is the channel that keeps inspiring, keeps giving, and delivers fascinating enjoyable electronic music content. Seriously considering becoming a Patreon.
Daniel should think about crowd-sourcing funding (and the relevant estate blessings) to build new Ondiolines. With all the juicy tube circuitry and the current distortion of the market for tubes, thanks to wealthy but stupid "audiophiles", new builds might be pricy. But finding the right deal with the right tube manufacturer could ease the process and moderate the cost of manufacturing the instrument. Given the personal and historical context of its development, this instrument has a built-in story. More to the point, this is an actual instrument, with all the expressiveness and range of tone we look for in musical instruments - elements we still miss too often in contemporary electronics-based musical devices. The Ondioline was always a niche instrument, but its status as a small-business, handmade, not-quite-portable (portable in principle, but better left in the studio) object limited its exposure. With today's miniaturized electronics components and power tools and design/build aids, it would be easier to build these instruments than it once was, up to the point of the fine hand adjustments of the performance elements. I know, I'm off on a flight of fancy, but that is where the video took me. Anyway, you are lucky indeed to have these people lend you a restored example of an Ondioline. I did not know about this organization you mention. I thought this instrument was just a bit of history, though each time I have read about it I have hoped there might be a working example out there somewhere. Here I find a video of you playing one. Who else would be posting on it, I guess? Daniel and friends chose well. Thanks for a sweet demonstration.
I first heard about the Ondioline in an interview with Jean-Jacques Perrey on the TV at least 20 years ago. I've been intrigued ever since... so it's great that you've got one to show us.
I'd heard of the Ondioline through the work of Al Kooper, who used it with The Blues Project, Blood Sweat & Tears (first album only), the Super Session album, and on several of his solo albums. He does a particularly stunning Ondioline solo on the Blues Project track I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes.
Analog Baldwin organs had a similar resistive contact setup not as defined as this instrument, but it was used to suppress the mechanical contact noise and give a feeling a little bit like a tracker. As opposed to a Hammond (the instrument I prefer) what are the mechanical noise to the keys is quite obvious unless you use Buslube Grease (which I don't, EQ can moderate Hammond contact noise). But in doing a modern digital instrument I would prefer to have key pressure to do volume change on Nonpercussive voices like your instrument here can do. Velocity sensitive keying on strings brass woodwinds and other unnatural. I'd rather have no velocity and have the signal under us will be like on an organ, though the Key pressure method shown here. Tibetan we can build a midi controller keyboard that has the same keyboard capabilities as this unit. Yamaha have a similar "Touch Vibrato" feature on some of their organs and synthesizers. They also had the Portamento strip.
Who'd have known Bob Moog didn't invent synthesizers..? Check out Herman von Helmholz's brass resonators. Provided the theory and implementation for additive synhesizers waaaay back! :)
Usually I don't understand when people tell "I've listened to that 1000 times" even as an exaggeration, but that melody takes me to those undescriable magical planes that exist only in the realm of music. I'm sending it to all of my friends as I cannot hold it inside, it blooms intensely.
I wonder if Raymond Scott was aware of Georges Jenny or had heard this instrument before. It is interesting how the creators of synthesis often worked on their own developing what they would present to the world. Later we would find that someone else had created something similar but different earlier. I know that there is a story of Robert Moog delivering papers to Raymond Scott and saw his handiwork in the basement of the house which later inspired him to create the Moog Synthesizer. Was this the case with Georges Jenny and Raymond Scott? Thanks for presenting the history of this amazing instrument. Fascinated about the history of analog synthesis. The theremin also must have been part of the inspiration path for this amazing device.
It's always pretty crazy when you do some actual digging how far ahead they were in the past. I've restored quite some obscure synths and organs from the 40s and 50s. Exclusively small productions from small companies selling their instruments regionally. The craziest thing I've ever worked on I remember to be this incredibly heavy electronic church organ. It had a double triode and an output transformer per oscillator. It could do 12 voices per key, it sounded very very similar to a Hammond/acoustic church organ hybrid but with an incredible filter bank rather than drawbars. That one was a quite late model from the early 50s, it didn't have a brand anywhere though looking at the components it was for sure made in West Germany. The biggest issue with it was that it had been sitting outside in a shed of s farm for decades. Every surface was rusted out, contacts in the tube sockets were far disintegrated. Almost all carbon resistors moved in value due to moisture, paper in oil caps. I got it playing again, but it was the really poor moisture damaged keybed that made it permanently be out of service for longer than it was actually playable. Parts were rotten out, also key contacts were in bad shape, no replacement parts etc. It was an expensive endeavour to keep it going. Nobody wanted it, I needed space, it was stripped for parts in the end and disposed of. I regret it a bit, but at the time I had no other choice. There wasn't documentation or schematics, it discouraged a lot of people to get their hands dirty to keep it going :-/
The expressiveness from the controls is stunning but that bass tone puts this on another level. I’d love to see a modern controller capable of even half of these alphabetical options. Great music as usual!
Great video about a wonderfully interesting instrument. I recently came to know about the Jenny Ondioline by way of the Stereolab song, "Jenny Ondioline", which ironically doesn't make reference to, or contain any recorded music of a Jenny Ondioline
Wow!Just Wow!As a kid growing up in the 70s,I was Fascinated,by the Early Synth Sound Scaping,tones,an so forth!For Me,PopCorn,Lucky Man,by ELP and other songs,of the Time!Wendy Carlos!My dad told me about her work,like at 6 years old!😊❤,This!Thanks!😊
Great video, thanks. Note though that the (also French) Ondes Martenot also had a keyboard that could move laterally for vibrato, but I couldn't find on which version that was introduced (the first version from 1929 had a dummy keyboard and the pitch was controlled by sliding a wire left to right).
So amazing! I wonder - is anyone attempting to make reproductions of these instruments? Thank you for taking the time to share your music and enthusiasm and knowledge.
Wow! It's incredible what can be done with vacuum tubes. I'd love to see a schematic of this. One thing I saw in the video was the Buchla synth. We had one in the electronic music studio at the University of Pittsburgh when I was a student there between 1975-1978. I used it quite a bit. It was also a fascinating instrument and the capacitive touchpads steered you away from the concept of white and black keys and the pitches they represent. It freed you from the mindset of traditional thinking in keys/sharps/flats which unleashed endless creativity in microtonality!
Great video, thanks for demonstrating such a visionary piece of gear. I wonder - was this used in the Jean Jacques Perrey track 'Passport to the Future'? The sound reminds me of one of the synth lines in that song.
Get my album BREVE on digital/tape/vinyl: hainbach.bandcamp.com/album/breve
In the UK: bleep.com/release/470674-hainbach-breve
@@Hainbach I like ur new album!
Gotta try the Novachord soon Hainbach : )
Thank you for doing this for posterity.
One question. Do you sometimes think you have too many instruments, too many to devote as much time as each deserves?
Life is too short!😊
All modern keyboards should have this vibrato.
i guess you never heard of the osmose ...
I have a 30 year old Yamaha synth that has aftertouch vibrato.
@@pepinillosazucarados6743 that’s like the only new keyboard to feature wiggle vibrato though, the thing is more synths need to have it
@@pepinillosazucarados6743 bet your ass they know about it. nobody said it doesn't exist, everybody is saying it should be more common and less exclusive premium feature, stop misunderstanding on purpose.
Look for keyboards with MPE (MIDI Polyphonic Expression) rather than regular MIDI. Basically it's an extension to MIDI that gives each note its own bending and other expressive values. (To remain backwards compatible enough to get passed along as valid MIDI, each note gets its own MIDI channel.)
That vibrato! It sounds so great. And where I expected per-key movement it was genius to have the whole keybed move. What a solution! Thank you for doing this story and for the people who restored and maintained this. So much of history is lost and I just LOVE seeing relics of long ago being repurposed in new modern contexts. I feel think that kind of “synthesis” of old and new is a great well of creativity.
It's monophonic so no need for per key vibrato which would be much harder to implement.
Pink Floyd owned one but were ready to throw it in the garbage when Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh asked, “Do mind if I have it?”. Also was used by Del Shannon on “Runaway”.
I think Del Shannon used something different…
The keyboard used on Runaway was a Clavioline.
@@bentfabricator Clavioline was an Ondioline manufactured by Selmer.
@@nicktamer4969 That is incorrect. Have you looked at the Clavioline? It is a very basic instrument in comparison to the Ondioline.
Really? Wow, I never knew that! The Beatles used a Melotron.
I appreciate your tone in all of your videos! It's not like a sensationalistic video, you remove the fluff and let us hear true reflections!
Yeah and he waves his hands around less maniacally than other YT clowns too. That gets so annoying
I totally agree!
The title is still pretty sensational, but you're basically forced to do that to stand out.
I can't stand most youtubers in general tbh, most of them come off as narcissists. Hainbach definitely isn't one of those youtubers though
imagine röyksopp in 1939, what beatiful world we could have today ^_^
I’m not only amazed by how versatile it is for an instrument that old, but in what good shape it is. You can tell Daniel is a master of his craft that it looks like it just rolled off the assembly and not nearly 90 years old.
Always been fascinated by these after coming it across it about 15 years ago when going down a JJP rabbit hole. Really great to see and hear it in your hands.
Btw - Synthesizer Patel claimed that we haven't been able to synthesize the bassoon, but at 5:31 you proved him wrong. :)
I haven't intentionally tried my 200e to get a bassoon timbre, but it may be possible. Some combination of the 261e/259e and the 291's am, bw, fm modulations.
I definitely have gotten reed timbres from the 200e, as well as Forbidden Planet timbres.
And a dash o' vactrol.
@AlexBallMusic Also, these don't have alarms on, so presumably synthesiser theft wasn't as bad back then :)
I have a Guelph harmonium from 1911 that does a pretty good bassoon, but I suppose that's not a synthesiser!
Kickstarter for a remake, now!
Would that not be a dream?
Probably a selection of borderline unobtainable valve types, and a tight point to point, tag board or turret based layout that would be difficult to build… A work/sound alike with a larger chassis to make for a more friendly build might be possible though.
@@Hainbach Are the full schematics, and mechanical drawings available, especially for the keyboard itself?
@@Jonathan_Doe_ There is at least one person making Ondes Martenot based on solid-state technology (a friend of mine owns one). The same could be done with the Ondioline - but, yes, it would be really expensive and niche (lord knows the new Ondes is!). Incidentally, the production of the Ondes Martenot (originally) was roughly contemporaneous to the Ondioline - indeed, it was invented a decade earlier.
@@SamT987 transistorized ondiolines do exist.... The original tube circuitry was eventually changed to transistors. Ondiolines where made until the late 60's , so the later ones are actually the transistorized version.
That thing is mind-blowing. And, the whole-keyboard-moves vibrato is just genius.
If it weren’t for the Ondioline, Jean-Jacques Perrey wouldn’t have created *Baroque Hoedown*, which later became the iconic theme for Don Dorsey’s arrangement of the Main Street Electrical Parade. As a kid at Disneyland, hearing that distinctive "bwaaahhhh" sound fill the air triggered an emotional response that sparked my lifelong love of synthesizers.
Baroque Hoedown is such a great name. Also, it reminds me of a joke I used to say as a kid, which doesn't really make sense anymore now that I know my musical and art history, but it goes like this:
Baroque is when you are out of Monet
E: it would actually make more sense to say:
You are no longer Baroque when you have Monet
I thought I was hilarious as a little boy. Apologies for this random tangent
También es el tema del programa de Chespirito. Además, "the elephant never forgets" también de jj perrey se uso en la intro del Chavo del ocho. Toda Latinoamérica ha escuchado el jenny ondioline!
I saw Perrey demonstrate an Ondioline at a show in San Francisco in the 90s. I got to talk to him a bit too. He was such a nice person.
The French were so advanced in designing and building synthesizers. Just look at the PolyKobol. It was able to morph between OSC signals and it is the warmest sounding synth.
The ondes Martenot had the vibrato-capable keyboard prior to 1939! ;-) I would love to see the Ondioline's tone generation combined with the ondes Martenot's interface. I love the sound of the Ondioline, and in your hands it is given a delightful new spin!
Josh, I thought the ring does the vibrato, not the keyboard?
@@Hainbachthe ring gives complete control over the pitch, allowing for the glissando and vibrato we know and love. The keyboard can move from left to right (and elliptically in some versions of the instrument) to introduce vibrato, too. It’s a low-note priority monophonic keyboard, with keys slightly smaller than typical keys. Versions of the ondes do sort of blur together, as features creep from one to the next, but the Mk. 5 featured the vibrato keyboard and was famously used at the 1937 Paris Exposition. The Mk. 4 before this was almost identical (apart from less attractive woodwork), and was the first model to have the vibrato keyboard. I think it’s generally accepted that this model was first seen around 1930.
Thank you for sharing about this instrument & its' history! I've been enjoying your new album and wondered what THAT sound was . . . now I know. Your buoyant curiosity is infectious in the best kind of way! As an educator, this is the disposition I hope and pray that all students cultivate.
Although electronic keyboards like this one were available earlier, the acknowledged first *voltage* controlled synth was the Electronic Sackbut, invented and developed by Canadian physicist and inventor Hugh LeCaine, between 1945 and 1949. You can find plenty of videos about it on UA-cam. I had the pleasure and privilege of briefly working on a functional reproduction of it, using the original (which is in the permanent collection of the museum in Ottawa) as a reference. We have photos, audio recordings, and LeCaine's notes (in the national Library & Archives) to work from, but sadly, there is no film or video of LeCaine playing it, for us to see him working the controls to produce the sounds heard.
The Sackbut was a monophonic instrument, with a tube-based oscillator, and some rudimentary control over envelope, octave, formant/timbre, and modulation. The keyboard used a traditional resistor ladder to produce the volt/s-per-octave output used, although there seemed to be a trimpot for each octave to achieve ideal tuning (I guess 1% resistors were hard to come by in the post-war years). Like the Ondioline demoed here, it had a form of aftertouch to introduce more volume, and lateral sensitivity for producing notewise vibrato. Unlike the Ondioline the vibrato was not produced by moving the *entire* keybed, but by wiggling an individual key. As near as I could tell by perusing his notes, as well as getting on my hands and knees with a flashlight and peering at the underside of the Sackbut keyboard, each key had a wire stapled to its underside, that we believe could be used to introduce variable capacitance that produced the pitch wobble. The sides of all 49 keys were bevelled such that a player could dig their finger in to push the key sideways more effectively.
I had the pleasure of inspecting the original (on display behind glass in dim museum lighting) close up, once the archivist gave us permission to take it out of the glass case and move it to much better lighting. The user plays the keyboard with their right hand, and uses their left hand to control three different real-time sources of modulation, each operated by an individual finger. Apparently the oscillator was very finicky and took some time to stabilize. Though the wiring is hard to follow, there are plenty of trimmers all over to assist in producing a well-intonated VCO and keyboard. Sadly, because it was cobbled together from spare parts lying around, it is no longer in playable shape. Indeed, the wood frame of the keybed has warped with time so we can't tell what sort of pressure yielded what sort of change. A rack-and-pinion mechanism attached to a pot at the side, is controlled by a foot-operated mechanism. There was apparently a spring reverb as part of the unit. While inspecting the Sackbut with Ed Eagan (designer of the Eaganmatrix used in the Osmose Expressive E, and a local fellow), he speculated that, since the Sackbut had an attack control, but no decay. the foot control may have introduced reverb-on-demand, to let notes linger a bit longer and substitute for a decay control.
Reading through LeCaine's notes, as well as interviews with him, it was clear that he was frustrated with the static sound of electric keyboards of the time, and sought something that allowed for more real-time expressive control, like an acoustic instrument, rather than a push-this-button-to-get-this-timbre. The foresight of people like George Jenny and Hugh LeCaine was remarkable, and laid the groundwork for what was to follow...often only decades later.
That is wonderful info, especially about the wires. Thanks for sharing, comments like these are what I hope for when I make a video.
Wow, hearing the sound straight from the output is amazing! Sounds so unique
I knew of the existence of this electronic instrument, but this was the first time I had actually heard the sound. Thank you for this valuable experience.
If anyone in the UK was around in the 70's, you'll remember Kenny Everett's radio shows. He would often play tracks by Jean-Jacques Perrey. Great fun and "All in the best all in the possible taste".
Whoa I can’t even imagine them playing some WW2 era bebop/swing on this thing or even incorporating into the big band sound of that time... still it could’ve been, seriously that would have sounded absolutely otherworldly in those days (and it still sounds incredible now!)
It is not bebop/swing but here it is used on a track by Kai Winding, the jazz trombonist.
Pretty schlocky, pop muzak of the 60s. ua-cam.com/video/yBj9KMQ2BNs/v-deo.htmlsi=HDuONPyiVVhwHhA3
What an exceptional opportunity! It's truly ingenuitive and fascinating how it may have been a victim of its own success: I don't doubt it sold poorly because it came out before people were used to even hearing distorted guitar much, much less the highly electronic sounds it could produce!
It seems there was considerable interest in the Ondioline throughout its existence, otherwise there would be no demand for M. Perrey to travel all around the world doing demonstrations, "concerts" of it!
Perhaps only 1200 units were sold commercially simply because M. Perrey only wanted to build them himself, instead of selling licenses to larger WHOREpoRATions & then sitting back & living off the royalties.
Can't blame him, since the history of musical instrument & amplifier designers is littered with famous names like Jim Marshall, Leo Fender, & myriad others whose reputations were ruined whilst their lives were destroyed as they were ripped off & often driven to bankruptcy by unscrupulous GREEEEDHEADS who drew up shady legal contracts for them to sign so that they could basically just steal their ideas & all the money they promised them at the same time!
Instead, M. Perrey happily shared his Ondioline design with all those who could neither afford it or perhaps, get onto his presumably long waiting list for the delivery of a finished unit.
There was a "famous" electronics hobbyist magazine in France for several decades by the name of "Toute La Radio" who devoted about a half a year, from Fall of 1955 to Winter of 1956, printing a series of installments covering the theory, FULL SCHEMATICS & construction details of the Ondioline BY M. JEAN-JACQUES PERREY HIMSELF!
So popular was the series that "Toute La Radio" published the entire series in one article (It might even have been a separate booklet available to the public) AGAIN, in 1957!
Toute La Radio Magazine is long gone. But fortunately for us, those articles were republished & meticulously translated to English by someone in Great Britain in 2022 for "Forgotten Futures", whose web store will sell them to you in print form along with further servicing information & various tips for $23USD...RIGHT NOW in 2024!
Alternately, if you are a starving musician who needs that $23 for bread & resistors instead, the articles themselves translated into English by Forgotten Futures are available courtesy of the Internet Archive for free.
Although the Internet Archive, like Wikipedia, is a public donation supported website that would gratefully appreciate you donating $5-15USD to them out of the goodness of your heart.🤗
The Internet Archive does invaluable work, perhaps even more important than Wikipedia does. Check it out, & support them if you can!😎
beautiful instrument! and sounds!
That thing has such a distant haunting sound to it. It's just beautiful.
Wow, I had no idea synth goes back this far, incredible.
It's an organ, variable tones like a Hammond or Lowrey.
@@OFR It seems to be doing a lot more. It has filters, different envelope settings etc. Things that organs doesn't have! And organs doesn't not have that sawtooth like oscillators.
LIke it's on the way to become a Synth but much more than an organ!
And definitely much more "playable" with the MPE-like vibrato and volume thing going on.
I understand. But it's organ technology, most organs have filters, waveform generation, even envelope controls. But they are fixed architecture with limited range. As with the Novachord, also an organ with great pre-synth features and sound. I'm capable hands, the Ondioline can do a lot but pitch, envelopes, or vibrato speed are extremely limited like an organ.
@@OFR The point is this was in 1947. At that time organs could not do any of this.
What you are describing is more modern organs (from the 1970:s and on) that over time gained some of the functionality of the synths that was evolving before them...
Thus the newer organs were hybrids between synths and organs. The Yamaha GX-1 is one example of a Synth/organ combo. The Eminent 310 is another.
Both in 73/74 and way more advanced than the standard organ of 1947,
@@OFR as I already say previously in this comment section, Ondioline is NOT an organ
Organ technology is a wind instrument with tuned pipes and air flow remote.
Later electromechanical "organ" you refer to use metallic toneweel and teeth cycle counter as oscillators (like Hamond)
Ondioline is an early full electronic (tubes) synthesizer, like Martenot or Theremin.
The limitation is only a mater of choices, not design capabilities, for example resonant filter-envelope- use 3 self and 5 capacitors selectors which as binary logic offer 256 combinations. Why Jenny don't use variable setting ?!? who knows, but as is the design is coherent especially for it's time.
Also the vibrato/tremolo LFO oscillator have 3 speed and two depth activated on front lever, pre-tuned by pots accessible on the back, changing the settings could be done in 5 sec for large variations
just listening to your 'Breve' party now. Gorgeous. Beautiful instrument.
This is so cool, I can't believe how ahead of its time it was. It got so much better with the line out, no longer chained to the old speaker, i wonder how many people got to hear it sound *good* before vs after this video?
Probably all of them did use the internal amp and speaker. The triode in the amp does distort with the knee lever, so this gives so much complex tone to the oscillators - like playing an electric guitar thru a clean amp or a dirty one; it's a great tonal range added. And the speaker cone is thin paper and actually adds more compression and distortion - dynamic changes that follow your playing. Wonderful expression when played by a skilled player such as JJP - still the best! His videos are on UA-cam.
This is an amazing sound. Instument discovery is what makes your channel so amazing. Thank You.
Thanks a lot!
I had a delightful time attending Wally’s concert/presentation at Moogfest back when that was a thing. I’m so glad it’s something the team has kept up with.
Dang, I miss Moogfest. Just several days of completely opening up your mind to all kinds of fascinating stuff. Still a Theremin sitting in my house initiated from conversations with Dorit Chrysler. By happenstance running into Keith Emerson in a hotel lobby. Or getting to meet Brian Eno on the street! In the Asheville heyday.
this is a great revelation to me, I have never heard of this keyboard. I a fan of early Moogs, ARPs, Mellotrons, and Solinas. This is way ahead of any of those instruments, so cool.
As always, Thank you for another great video!
Thank you for treating this amazing instrument with the reverence it deserves. The entire video was a joy to watch.
Mind blowing. I just adore this instrument for many a reason. The directness of it, the sheer tonal range. All the innovations. Truly a marvel. Thank you for bringing the tones to us patrons. Looking forward to delving into the samples.
I really love the sound of the ondioline. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks. Sounds amazing. Fantastic presentation.
Amazing sound and features and starting back in 1939?! Great Video. Looking to watching more and hearing your album!
Such a beautiful machine. I love its retro sound. It's so warm and plucky. Through the effects it's magical. Excellent demonstration of this beautiful and nostalgic machine.
It reminds me of some of the sounds of the Factory pocket operator.
Like all the best synths, it somehow sounds so much richer in a mix than it does solo’d.
Great as always.
Thanks for taking the time to make the video and your music.
It's only a matter of time before Hainbach acquires a Telharmonium...
I think Sam has more space and the telephone technology for that.:-)
What a gorgeous machine...!
Wonderful! Thanks for showcasing this amazing instrument. I have been a fan of the music of J.J.P. for years.
Great video! Decades ago I heard the music of Olivier Messiaen performed on an Ondes Martenot. I've been fascinated by early vacuum-tube synthesizers ever since. BREVE sounds wonderful as well!
Was für ein Hammer-Teil! Wie kriegst du diese ganzen Schätzchen überhaupt alle untergebracht, ist ja der Wahnsinn was du so an Gear auftreibst. :)
Although the Ondioline is a wonderful instrumnent, it simply is not a synthesizer.
It is a mono tube organ with several clever methods of real time expression.
Agreed. We hear sounds LIKE a synthesizer, but it's dedicated flow and function, not variable like a true synthesizer of later years. Like the Clavioline, Hammond Solovox and Novachord, Telharmonium, and Ondes Martenot - the same technologies are available in organs. There are a LOT of effects used to make the Ondioline here sound more modern and like a synthesizer, but the raw sound (thick, distorted, and raw) is wonderful, and very much like a Hammond S6, for example.
why not?
What makes the difference? I always thought "synthesizer" was a pretty fuzzy term for machines that create sound through (mainly) electrical means. But there are synthesizers with mechanical components so it's not always purely electrical. Wouldn't it be better to say that electric organs are one family of synthesizers, and this is close to those, but all exist within the broader category of synthesizers?
"Synthesizer " or "synthesis" are not fuzzy terms. By definition, it means to combine parts or elements to form a whole.
So, when applied to sound generation it would mean to build the sound out of its component elements. In a proper synthesizer system, you build the sound by addressing things like pitch, modulation, timbre, volume envelope, etc. as separate components of the assembled sound. And you can modify these elements over time with voltage control, an incredibly important part of synthesis. So, by this definition, instruments such as combo organs, Hammond tone wheel organs, string machines, theremins, etc. are simply not synthesizers as these are essentially fixed architecture machines with only limited volume or tonal changes. Not everything with a keyboard and an oscillator is a synthesizer. You simply can't address the different elements that make up the final sound separately.
I guess, by a stretch, you could consider the Novachord as a "proto synth" because you can address the envelope to a primitive degree. But even then, it's really just a huge divider organ with some clever passive fixed filtering.
Instruments like the Moog modular allow you to directly address and control all the separate elements of sound generation with a high degree of precision (you literally "synthesize" the sound).
I have seen this instrument on a UA-cam channel previously, although I cant remember where, it may have been an organ channel I watch.
It is such a versatile instrument, I love the knee operated modulation and the articulated keyboard, he truly was a pioneer!
I grabbed the digital download of BREVE from Bandcamp the other day, and it's GREAT! Your Ondioline sounds amazing and fits into your sonic palette perfectly. What a find. What an interesting history this thing has. This is one of those antique instruments that will be WORTH fixing when it breaks (e.g., when a vacuum tube filament burns out). I hope there always will be sources for replacement parts. I trust we'll hear Ondioline's unique sounds in some of your future tracks, hopefully over many years. Bravo!
Thank you Bob! This instrument will go away soon, but I might have the chance to pick up another if I can afford it (doubtful though)
@@Hainbach - I hope that miracle happens! This is the closest I'll ever get to playing an Ondioline, and it won't have that intimate touch: ua-cam.com/video/wWFzZvaUF5I/v-deo.html
Well, the Stereolab album name, Jenny Ondioline, took a long time to make sense!
And they fun thing is, they did not use it on the album AFAIK
@@Hainbach that's kind of genius!
Je ne Ondioline more like.
Absolutely beautiful! And thank you for sharing and being able to make a record with it.
Lovely sounding device. Great video bringing such magical synth exotica into the light.
This is fascinating! I've been interested in analog synths for over a decade and playing/experimenting with them for a few years now, but I've never heard of this one. It's amazing something like this existed in the 40s!
Thanks so much for doing this vid! Excellently explained in lots of different ways, great close-ups and captions. 😁 I recently set this up on my Model-12 to be able to route anything to my FMR RNC1773 compressor. Using sticky-notes and writing out why what goes out/in where helped so much haha.
- Sub OUT goes to the x2 balanced INs on the RNC.
- RNC OUT goes to channel 1 and 2 IN
- Aux OUT goes to Sidechain IN on the RNC.
This way I can send any audio for compressing to the SUB and any signal I want to trigger the Sidechain for some good ol' pump/ducking can be sent to Aux 1 (EQ and more on that soon hopefully).
Al Kooper had a brief infatuation with the instrument in the sixties - it can be heard on a few Blues Project and Blood Sweat & Tears songs ("No Time Like The Right Time", "Steve's Song", etc.).
I am very fond of the Ondioline. I own lots of Perrey's records and I love the sounds he can make with it. I do prefer the sound that comes out of the built-in speaker over the line out, as I think the specific speaker adds a lot to the distinct tone of the Ondioline.
Also, I trust that Daniel Kitzig knows about it and fixed the problem, but some models of Ondioline contain an asbestos padding under the percussive strip O_o
This is the channel that keeps inspiring, keeps giving, and delivers fascinating enjoyable electronic music content.
Seriously considering becoming a Patreon.
Thank you! Patreon is worth it, so much extra stuff there, and it gives me stability.
The patreon is the shizzle. Those soundpacks!
It's a very cool - vacuum tube synthesizer!❤
You always have the coolest, weirdest toys!! Great stuff.
Wow ... wow ... so amazing, wonderful video !!
Daniel should think about crowd-sourcing funding (and the relevant estate blessings) to build new Ondiolines. With all the juicy tube circuitry and the current distortion of the market for tubes, thanks to wealthy but stupid "audiophiles", new builds might be pricy. But finding the right deal with the right tube manufacturer could ease the process and moderate the cost of manufacturing the instrument. Given the personal and historical context of its development, this instrument has a built-in story. More to the point, this is an actual instrument, with all the expressiveness and range of tone we look for in musical instruments - elements we still miss too often in contemporary electronics-based musical devices. The Ondioline was always a niche instrument, but its status as a small-business, handmade, not-quite-portable (portable in principle, but better left in the studio) object limited its exposure. With today's miniaturized electronics components and power tools and design/build aids, it would be easier to build these instruments than it once was, up to the point of the fine hand adjustments of the performance elements. I know, I'm off on a flight of fancy, but that is where the video took me.
Anyway, you are lucky indeed to have these people lend you a restored example of an Ondioline. I did not know about this organization you mention. I thought this instrument was just a bit of history, though each time I have read about it I have hoped there might be a working example out there somewhere. Here I find a video of you playing one. Who else would be posting on it, I guess? Daniel and friends chose well. Thanks for a sweet demonstration.
Yeah it’s technically possible, using a range of subminiature vacuum tubes. It’ll be pretty microphonic though
Thanks so much for showing this wonderful machine, @hainbach! I think I know a bit about historic synths, but this one was new for me. Viele Grüße!
I first heard about the Ondioline in an interview with Jean-Jacques Perrey on the TV at least 20 years ago. I've been intrigued ever since... so it's great that you've got one to show us.
I'd heard of the Ondioline through the work of Al Kooper, who used it with The Blues Project, Blood Sweat & Tears (first album only), the Super Session album, and on several of his solo albums. He does a particularly stunning Ondioline solo on the Blues Project track I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes.
Very fun and enjoyable. I love the magical feeling of learning about another instrument I had no idea existed.
Analog Baldwin organs had a similar resistive contact setup not as defined as this instrument, but it was used to suppress the mechanical contact noise and give a feeling a little bit like a tracker.
As opposed to a Hammond (the instrument I prefer) what are the mechanical noise to the keys is quite obvious unless you use Buslube Grease (which I don't, EQ can moderate Hammond contact noise).
But in doing a modern digital instrument I would prefer to have key pressure to do volume change on Nonpercussive voices like your instrument here can do.
Velocity sensitive keying on strings brass woodwinds and other unnatural. I'd rather have no velocity and have the signal under us will be like on an organ, though the Key pressure method shown here.
Tibetan we can build a midi controller keyboard that has the same keyboard capabilities as this unit. Yamaha have a similar "Touch Vibrato" feature on some of their organs and synthesizers. They also had the Portamento strip.
Who'd have known Bob Moog didn't invent synthesizers..? Check out Herman von Helmholz's brass resonators. Provided the theory and implementation for additive synhesizers waaaay back! :)
Thank you for your efforts in French !
Great video.
merci! I had french only in3rd and 4th grade sadly, so I am stuck in Alouette.
That Paris-Berlin sound melts me away
Thank you, its one of my favourite tracks from the record.
Usually I don't understand when people tell "I've listened to that 1000 times" even as an exaggeration, but that melody takes me to those undescriable magical planes that exist only in the realm of music.
I'm sending it to all of my friends as I cannot hold it inside, it blooms intensely.
I mean, all of the album really channels a very beautiful feeling, but with that one you've connected to something transcendent
oh my goodness a hainbach video on the ondioline?!!!!
That was fascinating. Thank you
I wonder if Raymond Scott was aware of Georges Jenny or had heard this instrument before. It is interesting how the creators of synthesis often worked on their own developing what they would present to the world. Later we would find that someone else had created something similar but different earlier. I know that there is a story of Robert Moog delivering papers to Raymond Scott and saw his handiwork in the basement of the house which later inspired him to create the Moog Synthesizer. Was this the case with Georges Jenny and Raymond Scott? Thanks for presenting the history of this amazing instrument. Fascinated about the history of analog synthesis. The theremin also must have been part of the inspiration path for this amazing device.
Love that pre-MPE vibrato. The whole board moves, that brilliant.
Glad you’re shooting Polaroids bro! I just got into them this year!
It is such a nice memento (even thought they fade after a few years)
I wonder if theres schematics out there? Would love to take a crack at building a clone!
Se eu não tivesse visto, não acreditaria. O oai dos sintetizadores modernos.
I've only just started the video but that wiggly vibrato is absolutely amazing and I want it now.
It's always pretty crazy when you do some actual digging how far ahead they were in the past. I've restored quite some obscure synths and organs from the 40s and 50s. Exclusively small productions from small companies selling their instruments regionally.
The craziest thing I've ever worked on I remember to be this incredibly heavy electronic church organ. It had a double triode and an output transformer per oscillator. It could do 12 voices per key, it sounded very very similar to a Hammond/acoustic church organ hybrid but with an incredible filter bank rather than drawbars. That one was a quite late model from the early 50s, it didn't have a brand anywhere though looking at the components it was for sure made in West Germany.
The biggest issue with it was that it had been sitting outside in a shed of s farm for decades. Every surface was rusted out, contacts in the tube sockets were far disintegrated. Almost all carbon resistors moved in value due to moisture, paper in oil caps. I got it playing again, but it was the really poor moisture damaged keybed that made it permanently be out of service for longer than it was actually playable. Parts were rotten out, also key contacts were in bad shape, no replacement parts etc. It was an expensive endeavour to keep it going. Nobody wanted it, I needed space, it was stripped for parts in the end and disposed of.
I regret it a bit, but at the time I had no other choice. There wasn't documentation or schematics, it discouraged a lot of people to get their hands dirty to keep it going :-/
The expressiveness from the controls is stunning but that bass tone puts this on another level. I’d love to see a modern controller capable of even half of these alphabetical options. Great music as usual!
What a beautiful instrument this is. Love it
Damn, i loved the sounds this can make. It's beautiful.
Perry and Kingsley are the guys who really made some cool vintage records with these. If you've not heard of them, look it up!
Awesome demonstration of a very interesting piece 🦾
So Georges Jenny technically invented aftertouch?
You could say so probably
Great video about a wonderfully interesting instrument. I recently came to know about the Jenny Ondioline by way of the Stereolab song, "Jenny Ondioline", which ironically doesn't make reference to, or contain any recorded music of a Jenny Ondioline
Wow!Just Wow!As a kid growing up in the 70s,I was Fascinated,by the Early Synth Sound Scaping,tones,an so forth!For Me,PopCorn,Lucky Man,by ELP and other songs,of the Time!Wendy Carlos!My dad told me about her work,like at 6 years old!😊❤,This!Thanks!😊
something special about this one. I'd love one of these.
The vibrato solution/ tools are absolute genius.
Great video, thanks. Note though that the (also French) Ondes Martenot also had a keyboard that could move laterally for vibrato, but I couldn't find on which version that was introduced (the first version from 1929 had a dummy keyboard and the pitch was controlled by sliding a wire left to right).
I wonder if some of the sounds on rhe Yamaha DX7 are modeled after this...I hear a lot of similarities. :)
So amazing! I wonder - is anyone attempting to make reproductions of these instruments? Thank you for taking the time to share your music and enthusiasm and knowledge.
As far as I know no, sadly. The only modern Tube based synthesizer that is not a noise machine is the Knifonium.
This thing RIPS!!! And it took them 30 more years to come out with analog synths... what the heck?! Great vid, as always!
@7:00 major Disco Elysium vibes. Reminds me of the Ondes Meriot
Great video and demonstrations ❤ I knew about this instrument but finally understood what it really was and still is. thanks 🙏
Couldn't help but think on Jean Michel Jarre,the soynds are very much his vibe!
incredible instrument, so expressive!
Sven Grünberg used Klavioline durung his Mess days (1974 -- 79) and also later.
great video, thank you
Nice demo! And useful. Merci!
What an absolutely gorgeous sounding instrument! Beautiful!
🎶💖🎹💖🎶
I love it! This is the most Trent Reznoresque synth ever. Hope he got one!
Wow! It's incredible what can be done with vacuum tubes. I'd love to see a schematic of this. One thing I saw in the video was the Buchla synth. We had one in the electronic music studio at the University of Pittsburgh when I was a student there between 1975-1978. I used it quite a bit. It was also a fascinating instrument and the capacitive touchpads steered you away from the concept of white and black keys and the pitches they represent. It freed you from the mindset of traditional thinking in keys/sharps/flats which unleashed endless creativity in microtonality!
I’d love to see you on a Trautonium! Very much also a wonderful instrument from the 1930’s!
Yeah some day!
Great video, thanks for demonstrating such a visionary piece of gear. I wonder - was this used in the Jean Jacques Perrey track 'Passport to the Future'? The sound reminds me of one of the synth lines in that song.
Very likely, since it was his main instrument and he was the rep for it.