The Forgotten Synth That Launched a Ground-Breaking Technology
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- Опубліковано 9 лип 2024
- Franklin Eventoff, an American tinkerer and musician invented the force sensing resistor in 1977. This allowed for touch control of voltage, which he used to create instruments. It found first commercial musical use in the Mattel Musical Thing, a cheap toy synth. Frustrated with the experience, Eventoff went on to create the much more refined Sonica. The Sonica is a lovingly crafted boutique instrument with an oscillator by famed Serge Tcherepnin, the creator of the Serge synthesizer. Only about 650 where made, and they are collector's items. The technology of the force sensing resistor proved hugely successful and lives on in cars, robotics and instruments like the AKAI MPC and the Otamatone.
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My father found a Sonica in a small 2nd hand pawn shop in the late 90's and gave it to me as a gift. In the last 30 years, I have never met another person that has heard of Frank Eventoff, or the Sonica. It is so great to have Hainbach show off its history and to show how unique the technology really was for the time. To overcome the tone limitations, I like to mute the speaker with my palm for volume swells. Sounds great!
Fantastic video! And thank you for sharing the Sonica with me :)
Of course my friend! Heading to the academy again, our jams sound lovely
A kid on my block had a “Magical Musical Thing”, and I borrowed it from her all the time. I recorded a Kraftwerk-y kind of song with an early Boss “rhythm machine”, which was really just a very fancy metronome on my Teac 144 4-track cassette. Circa 1983, lol
That “Thing” was actually quite cool. My gear collection was bare minimal then; one Radio Shack mic which was like an SM58, a small xylophone with very high-pitched metal bars, a Univox bass, an Epiphone electric and a Peavey Pacer amp. I only had them bcos of ppl I encountered who were willing to let me pay only small amounts. I used cardboard boxes and a metal space heater which had a very bizarre sound which sustained for half a minute when bashed with a drumstick, as a “drumkit”. lol this is boorishly longer than I intended, but I got seized with a “reminisce attack”, lol. Cheers from Texas. 👍
I used to have a Sonica, and called Frank Eventoff - maybe 25 years ago. He told me all about it and the development that lead to the Cash register switches. He said he developed it for his daughter, so her peanut butter-covered fingers wouldn't mess up the switches. At one point, Donna Summer's orchestra was fully equipped with over 20 Sonicas, and they played them all one a piece or two in her live shows, besides their normal instruments. I played mine multitracked in harmony on the Moog Cookbook records and when we appeared live on MTV Europe/Uk. At one, point, David Abell Piano store in Los Angeles here had about 7 of them still in the storage room - now gone...
Commenting in the first 10 seconds to say: THANK YOU for using an Otamatone alongside its grandfather :)
Lol. i'm developing a very simmilar idea. When i saw the thumbnail i thought i was cooked. But still safe haha.
That improvisation with David Hilowitz is superb. It's kind of appropriate that I discovered his channel when he posted a video about a çifteli that he found in a thrift store, as the Sonica has a very similar shape and size.
When it's accompanying other instruments, it's got a strange "synthetic Duduk" sound that is very appealing.
Ah yes Serges beer money synth. Even serge did the toy synth .The thing is its super power is being more of an instrument so it still holds up. Very nice wood work and ergonomic design too . 👽
You and David make wonderful Sound , Thank you :) QC
So nice to see you and Dave Hillowitz together, and on each other's channels. 👍👍
What a cute opening number that actually turns really sweet and emotional as it goes. I really love the Sonica - its tone reminds me of the erhu in some circumstances.
You should do an episode about the Steim Cracklebox (kraak) and/or Michel Waisvisz and what he meant for the Synthesizer business
Yeah on my to do - I have had one for a decade now.
You so crazy Hainbach, my favorite.
I love this thing. The oddities and pitfalls of the design are so charming and it feels like with practice it could hold an audience for a good few bars. A solo perhaps?
lets ask magpie or no computer to mix this idea with the omnichord to make the world's weirdest rival to the accordion
Those bleeps and bloops....
Heavenly music to my ears.
You've got me hooked.
Awesome video my friend.
Now I want to make a custom wooden instrument to mount my Automaton guts in 😊
Hehe, I had a Magical Musical Thing when I was a kid. I loved it, so harsh.
I loved the one I had access to. You could make sequences with it. A great gear bit to have on hand.
Very cool to see Jamie Lidell and you working together!
Respectfully, I believe that this type of gear is like dreams. They are meant to be forgotton otherwise we'd lose our wits. But they're great dreams in the right hands, like yours.
Hi Hainbach. I'd love to hear a whole album (or EP) of chamber music with you on piano and Dave Hilowitz on the sonica. So beautiful. Just sayin'!
Hainbach and Dave Hilowitz in the same room at the same time?! The high point of my week, for sure!
I’m pretty sure the Continuum is still king for these types of touch instruments.
Cool! I have Sonica #493 here in my own collection. Had to repair the Serge oscillator 😊❤
You can pull CV/gate out of it with a little fiddling around, so it might make a good performance instrument. It’s on my bucket list.
ua-cam.com/users/shortsmEwa6VXNnr8
@@AlisonCassidydid you repair yourself or send it out? I have one that needs a little help, and I’m wondering who can do it (in the US)
@@apossibleworld I repaired it myself. But TBH, I’ve a 6-8 month backlog here.
Coincidentally.. today I received an Otamatone from Thomann and will be using it live next month, after I have learned to play it and maybe even modded it too ( to allow it to be processed by a Zoom MS-70CDR )!
Instruments such as these are a great introduction to electronic music making!
That old Serge logo needs to be on some blotter acid
Love it. BTW, if you're still indulging a taste for test equipment, the Thandar TG-101 and TG-105 seem like some good bang-for-the-buck generators 😊
I dunno what this is yet but I'm bloody excited
Dave Hilowitz!
Mr Hainbach this comment will come like an uppercut in a boxing match: You are so freaking cool and how you find all those strange ”instruments” ? I rate you as number one influencer in strange synth music and also I love how you can sync your eyes to be perfectly in the middle of the glasses😂 how is it even possible?
I studied musicology so I read a lot about rare instruments. Then I always searched for cheap and odd stuff because I could not afford the big tools like Jupiters, 303 etc. When the channel took off I started searching for the missing links in music production, basically continuing my studies.
Just amazing like all time ❤❤😂😊😊
I had a Magical Music thing! I loved that thing. I’m sure my mom did not. 😂
I think wintergatan used the improved sensor in the modulin 'instrument'
I wonder how closely related is Martin Möller's Modulin to the Sonica. I will probably have to go back to his Wintergatan video about it
Such lovely toys! Though they remind me that I've got these two ribbon potentiometers - 30 and 50cm long - that I've been meaning to make into CV/gate outputs for my modular. Too many projects...
If I had a Sonica, after exploring the instrument, my next step would be to send the output into a chain of sound modifiers, both hardware and software. OFC an anathema to all purists, I imagine.
Missoni should sponsor you. Ask them!
At time 2:32, I realized that I live vicariously through you, Hainbach…
That first tune reminded me of Raymond Scott's In The Hall Of The Mountain Queen ❤
And Dave and yours jam reminded me of Gattobus excellent Syntrx tune Mind Loop!
very rare
It doesn’t need anything!!! Go ahead and make something that meets your needs!
I have already done that.
@@Hainbach I’m you have improved upon somebody else’s ideas. If you’d be so kindly to and educate me on what technology you invented for said product? Good day and thanks for sharing. ✌️
Very cool thing! :D
I also sense a link to Leon Theremin's theremin-cello, could that have been the first instrument with a kind of ribbon controller?
One time, at band camp...
I'd love watch ur review of a modern shruti-box.
I really want an otamatone!
What wizardry is this
Reminds me of Machinarium computer game soundtrack.
Is this fsr the same as used by KAT for the jamKAT? Alternate Mode Inc.
If you mean the FSR, very likely
What is the name of the music at 4:42? Is it out? Sounds so good!
Thanks! Will be out end of year as part of an album
cant be too hard to DIY one tbh.. Simple electronics.
When you say "you got nice toys" and you're actually referring to toys...
Vlad Kreimer, are you listening?