The Multimonica I is a vacuum tube synthesiser from the 1950s built and sold by Hohner after the Second World War, and was one of the few synths manufactured on a large scale. The design dates back to 1940 and was the work of Siegfried Mager, the son of German electronic music pioneer Jörg Mager. Known initially as the “Mager-Straube-Kleinorgel”, the electronic switches were designed by Harald Bode, a significant name in the development of electronic music in the latter part of the 20th century.
After the war, the Multimonica II became successful. It offered a range of sound possibilities including imitation of the timber of many string and wind instruments, and was equally suited for ensemble or solo play.
Perhaps not as interesting as some other emerging “true” synthesisers of the time, as the sound palette, though impressive, was rather limited and less able to create new sounds.
The multimonica has two keyboards. The lower one is a polyphonic reed organ while the upper is a monophonic sawtooth wave synth. There are two knee pads under the keyboards which allow the volume of both keyboards to be separately adjusted.
Control wise on the first version, there are five rotary knobs and nine switches. The knobs are used to search for frequencies on the built-in radio, to adjust the radio volume, to select radio/instruments, to switch organ function, and to tune the synth. The switches adjust the timbre of the synth, adjust the amplifiers, and adjust vibrato.
In the second version of the multimonica, there is no radio. Instead we have six switches with programmed synth sounds, a synth tuning knob, two switches for filtering, three for vibrato adjustment and one for amplitude, plus a switch for the organ bellows.
This is an interesting instrument from an emerging time of synthesisers, hardly known to many in the present day, but versatile in its own way and of its time, and a forerunner to further developments.
Transcript
Hohner Multimonica I (according to plans by Siegfried Mager)
Presented at the Frankfurt Spring Fair in March of 1952
Electronic keyboard instrument in unity with an electro-acoustic reed organ, built and marketed by Matthias Hohner AG Trossingen [Germany] in the early 1950s.
Upper keyboard [41 keys] = monophonic
Lower keyboard [41 keys] = polyphonic
Range:
– reed organ: almost 5½ octaves
3 registers [1] F-a” [2] f-a”‘ [3] f’-a””
– synthesizer: almost 3½ octaves
1 register: F-a”
4 different tone colours [synthesizer section]
4 switchable loudspeakers to manipulate the sound
13 push switches for 7 tone colours [reed organ section]
Synthesizer section:
– electronic vibrato [on/off]
– fine pitch control [tuning knob]
2 knee levers to control volume on each keyboard
Built-in radio receiver [medium wave] for regional station
Weight instrument: 26kg
Weight carrying case: 7kg
All in a portable monophonic synthesizer in vacuum tube technology combined with a fan-driven polyphonic reed organ and an AM-radio.
Short snippet of a German newsreel from 1952 with original sound presenting the Hohner “Multimonica I” at the Frankfurt Spring Fair [repeated once for easier appreciation]
From Royal Museums of Art and History
