MATRIXSYNTH: 1966 Johnson Intonation Trainer microtonal analog synthesizer


Wednesday, April 09, 2014

1966 Johnson Intonation Trainer microtonal analog synthesizer


Published on Apr 9, 2014 Golden Gate Estate Services·2 videos

"This is the 'Intonation Trainer', a specialized keyboard or synthesizer made in Waseca, Minnesota in 1966 by the E. F. Johnson Company. Better known for their high-quality amateur ("ham") radio equipment, Johnson made the Intonation Trainer for a few years in the '60s and marketed it to orchestra and choral conductors and, to a lesser degree, to musicians, for the purpose of training the ear to recognize when a note is correctly pitched.

Each of the 12 notes in the octave can be tuned to any pitch within about 5 steps of the given note, so microtonal music is possible. You can pitch the notes for just intonation, Pythagorean, well-temperament or any other form of the 12-tone scale. It also has four different oscillator waveforms (sine, square, triangle and sawtooth), it has tremolo, and is fully polyphonic. It has a reference tone generator (440-hz) for self-tuning and a separate tuning trim for each of the adjustable tones! Furthermore, it's fully self-contained with a built-in amplifier and speaker system, and the whole thing is enclosed in a fiberglass carrying case.

Intonation Trainers are quite rare; I only know of 3 other examples in existence. They were also hugely expensive when new -- $525 in 1966, which works out to about $4,000 in 2014 dollars.

This one is in excellent condition, both cosmetically and functionally."

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