video upload by ElvaLives
"French inventor Georges Jenny demonstrates his early electronic music instrument, the Ondioline. Taken from a rare German newsreel from 1948."
via eBay
"First-Generation Ondioline, one of only two known to exist. A historic instrument—the jewel of any collection—that is also completely playable.
Georges Jenny designed the Ondioline, the world's first portable synth, in 1941. The Ondioline was truly revolutionary: it was designed to mimic a wealth of instrument sounds—violin, cello, saxophone, trumpet, even guitar and mandolin. It did this with breathtaking accuracy, not only given the time period, but also when judged with modern ears.
The few similar instruments that preceded the Ondioline, like the Trautonium and Novachord, weighed hundreds of pounds, incorporated thousands of parts, and produced primarily futuristic tones. But the Ondioline was slim, lightweight and portable, and could produce scores of sound variations that included incredibly accurate imitations of a wide range of instruments.The second version of the Ondioline is the most well-known: It features a keyboard sitting on top of a companion amplifier, both housed in handsome wooden cabinets. These began production in 1950 and are incredibly rare themselves (knowledgeable estimates have 700 of these keyboards having been produced, most of which stayed in Europe).
