via this auction
"Electronic Musical Instrument Handbook, 1st Ed.
by Norman H. Crowhurst
Here in one concise volume is everything you ever wanted to know about vintage electronic musical instruments, including the famous RCA Mark II Synthesizer and that ethereal favorite, the theremin. Photos, diagrams, and vacuum tube schematics galore. VERY scarce title. Overall, the 47 year-old book is in excellent condition. Paperback, 128 pages. First edition, first printing. Copyright 1962.
Contents Include:
1. Introduction to Musical Instruments
2. Sound Reinforcement by Microphone
3. Sound Reproduction by Pickups
4. Introducing Electronics into the Design
5. Purely Electronic Musical Instruments (tone generators, analysis & synthesis)
6. Transducers for Musical Instruments (microphones, pickups, speakers, effects)
7. Electronic Circuit Elements (incl. tremolo & vibrato)
8. Installation and Servicing Details (matching, hum, acoustic feedback, servicing)"
Also on Amazon,
and added to the Synth Books section on the right.
Lovely stuff. Howver - every time I see one of these old books, it triggers a frustrating partial memory.
ReplyDeleteI had a book that described various vintage tube (valve) synthesizers. One of them had a continous strip controller made of a metal mesh tube that could be pressed down onto a resistive strip. I can never find or remember the name of that instrument. None of the usual suspects like the Ondes, Tannerin, or Trautonium fits the description. Google's no help either. What was that mystery synth?
I also remember, from a book by Alan Douglas, a description of a touch senstive organ keyboard that used wires dipping into ethyline glycol as the contact mechanism. Marvellously inventive.
The king of weird valve/tube instruments was the great Fred Judd who published a whole series in Practical Electronics (UK) in the mid-late 1960s. It included a great pyschedelic light display repurposed from a black & white TV with a synchronised rotating colour wheel in front.
Apologies for my senile ramblings...