Hohner Multimonica I - Vacuum tube synthesizer of the 1950s

YouTube Published on May 11, 2012 by MonoThyratron

English abstract (German below):

"The "Hohner Multimonica" is a combined double-manual keyboard instrument consisting of a monophonic synthesizer (sawtooth oscillator, vacuum tube technology) and a polyphonic harmonium with fan-driven reeds. This electro-acoustic musical instrument comes from the German postwar era. It was produced in two main variants ("Multimonica I" later "Multimonica II"). The "Multimonica I" even had a built-in AM radio for local station reception. But there was also a version available without radio.

The first appearance of the Multimonica is falsely dated to 1940. Some may even date it back to the prewar era. But its tube technology suggests that this musical instrument came into trade in the early 1950s. The short newsreel report from 1952 in this video supports this fact.

Hohner modeled its musical instrument after an electro-acoustic instrument by the German company "Siegfried Mager & Co." and the harmonium manufacturer Johannes Straube ("Mager-Straube-Kleinorgel"). German engineer Harald Bode (*1909 †1987) was incorrectly assigned to the construction of this musical instrument."

[German]

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