120 Years of Electronic Music

The Monochord (1948)

The Electronic Music studio of North West German Radio, Köln (1952)

The Monochord was commissioned from Dr Freidrich Trautwein, the inventor of the Trautonium, by the Electronic Music studio of North West German Radio studios, Köln to upgrade its synthesis module which consisted at the time of one sine wave generator and filter system.

The Monochord was basically a modified concert Trautonium, a monophonic variable pitch interval keyboard controlling a valve based tone generator. The keyboard was pressure sensitive and allowed dynamic variations of the envelope shape. A foot pedal controlled the overall volume output from the machine.

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