via
this VEMIA auction"As new, scarcely used at all (used just once for a project) - a hand-made controller, made in France. Ribbon controller with midi/cv and nice internal synth. A whole lot easier than playing the Theremin, French Connection or Ondes Martenot, but producing equally interesting playing modes. This particular model seems to be the deluxe version, with 'crocodile-skin' covering to its suit-case style casing. Really rare, unusual, and out of the ordinary. The serial number implies it is the eight ever made. Here's the blurb from the Eowave website (where it is still available at 1090 euros plus VAT: about 1025 GBP):- 'At the first sight, the Persephone reminds of the first electronic fingerboard instruments developed in the 1920s. But beyond this vintage look, the Persephone allies sensors technology and digital controls to a pure analogue generation of sound. The Persephone musicality will be determined by the way it is played. The Persephone respects the traditional play of the first non-keyboard electronic instruments with the right hand controlling the pitch and the left hand controlling the velocity. The ribbon zone can allow all kinds of play. When scaled, the Persephone can be played like a regular keyboard. Though there are no fixed preset notes with the ribbon, keyboard players will easily find their way. Guitars and bass players will certainly play it like a chord instrument and get sounds that are closed to cello or violin, especially when using vibratos. Jazz players will enjoy slapping the Persephone’s ribbon to get wonderful sonorities. Movie music writers and fans of sci-fi effects will enjoy its bi-dimensional structure, which allows creating eerie sounds very easily. A new fingerboard synthesizer Just like any synthesizer, the Persephone offers a classical synthesis architecture with an oscillator section, a filter section, a modulation section and a LFO section. With its 100% analogue oscillator, the Persephone can generate notes with a range of 10 octaves. Its lower frequencies go from a deep and resonant cello tone to a nearly human voice. On the highest pitches, it can reach very high frequencies. The oscillator waveform can be set between triangle and sawtooth for a more or less brilliant sound. The filter is a 12dB low-pass filter. Its ribbon control surface is pressure and position sensitive. While it requires the most advanced sensor technology and allows all kind of glissando a Theremin or les Ondes Martenot would allow. A scaling potentiometer allows scaling the Persephone’s ribbon from 1, 2, 5 to 10 octaves. The expression key, controlled by an optic sensor, can transmit the slightest vibrations on the key with an accuracy the mechanical systems never had. All the controls are digital. The four play modes - A, B, C and D - offer different hierarchy of control between the pitch, the velocity, a filter modulation and a LFO. Connections are located on the rear side of the front panel and are protected from dust and other source of deterioration by the Persephone suitcase top when not used. The Persephone like a CV/MIDI controller The Persephone has a CV out and a MIDI in/out. With its CV out, it can control any other analogue synthesizers and modular systems. With its MIDI in/out, it can also be used as a MIDI controller, what turns it into a powerful new kind of instrument.'"
via this VEMIA auction
