Audion piano

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Audion by Lee De Forest (1906)

The audion piano was one of the first electronic instruments. Developed in 1915 by Lee De Forest , the instrument used his invention of the audion , a forerunner of the vacuum tube , and a keyboard to produce sound. According to de Forest's description, it produced sounds reminiscent of the violin, cello, woodwinds, muted brass instruments and other things never before heard in an orchestra. The instrument itself remained an idea; his designs never got out of an experimental stage.

In terms of sound generation, it differed little from the theremin , which was invented a little later , both used two overlapping resonant circuits , of which the frequency of one can be changed, the difference between the two frequencies is output as a sound. De Forest discovered in his laboratory in 1915 the possibility of generating sounds with the help of circuitry and in the same year had Eletrical Means for Producing a Musical Note patented. He built a rudimentary instrument with which he could produce up to eight different tones on each audion. He discovered that the tones changed easily with a change in the electrical capacitance within the circuit, which in turn could easily be changed with a moving contact or capacitor.

He discovered the later functional principle of the theremin, that the pitch could also be changed if you brought a hand near the circuit or touched it. Like the Theremin, the Audion Piano could only play one note at a time. However, it used another input option. With the help of the hand, vibrato and a glissando approach could be achieved if one held the finger in the right places on the circuit. De Forest also planned a polyphonic version of the instrument, but since even the monophonic audion piano never got beyond the laboratory stage at De Forest, he did not get to the polyphonic instrument.

Remarks

  1. ^ A b Thom Holmes: Electronic and experimental music. Technology, music, and culture. 3rd edition. Routledge, New York NY 2008, ISBN 978-0-415-95781-6 , p. 19.
  2. ↑ a b c d Albert Glinsky: Theremin. Ether music and espionage. University of Illinois Press, Urbana IL et al. 2000, ISBN 0-252-02582-2 , p. 80.
  3. ^ A b Thom Holmes: Electronic and experimental music. Technology, music, and culture. 3rd edition. Routledge, New York NY 2008, ISBN 978-0-415-95781-6 , p. 241.

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