Electronic overacheiving: The Hammond Novachord
The Hammond Novachord is a very early early synthesizer, one of those things that was overly ambitious and so impractical as to make it far beyond the reach of most of us, but way cool to those of us who enjoy the esoteric. Hm, what your synth can only play one note at a time, or only eight? This one, made from 1939-1942 could play 72 notes at once, and if I had one, that’s all I’d do with it, well maybe. It featured 163 vacuum tubes and over 1,000 custom capacitors and was about the size of two spinet pianos. The unique divide down oscillator architecture permitted all 72 notes to be played in unison. This was achieved through the use of vacuum tube

ElectroHarmonix Micro Pog
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Fulltone CT-1 Catalyst
Amazon.com Widgets Gearsecure. Stolen Musical equipment listings. Retail and personal loss prevention. The Catalyst is a new pedal by Fulltone with a lot to prove.

The Wurlitzer Sideman – First Drum Machine
Synthgear.com had an article on The Wurlitzer Sideman, the first drum machine. The sideman had a circuit board with a series of contacts that would play a sample. Unions feared it would be the end of the drummer, but really, could this ever replace a drummer? I would think it was useful as a practice tool, and that was about it. On the other hand it was a big step forward in thinking and design. Read the full article at the link.

Review: ZVex Mastotron
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