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The clavioline is an electronic analog synthesizer. It was invented by French engineer Constant Martin in 1947 in Versailles.
The instrument consists of a keyboard and a separate amplifier and speaker unit. The keyboard usually covered three octaves, and Gibson in the United States in the 1950s. The six-octave model employing octave transposition was developed by Harald Bode and manufactured under license by Jörgensen Electronic in Germany. In England, the Jennings Organ Company's first successful product was the Univox, an early self-powered electronic keyboard inspired by the Selmer Clavioline.
In Japan, Ace Tone's first prototype, the Canary S-2 (1962), was based on the Clavioline.
Recordings
The Clavioline has been used on a number of recordings in popular music as well as in film. Along with the Mellotron, it was one of the keyboard instruments favoured by rock and pop musicians during the 1960s before the arrival of the Moog synthesizer.
- "Little Red Monkey" (1953) by Frank Chacksfield’s Tunesmiths features Jack Jordan on clavioline. An earlier recording of the tune by Jack Jordan himself was issued on the His Master's Voice label.
- In 1953–54, Van Phillips composed music for the clavioline for the science-fiction radio trilogy Journey into Space.
- In the Bollywood Hindi film Nagin (1954), Kalyanji Virji Shah plays the snake-charmer tune "Man dole mera, tan dole mere" on the clavioline, under the musical direction of Hemant Kumar.
- "Runaway" and "Hats Off to Larry" (1961) by Del Shannon each feature a bridge solo by Max Crook, performed on a heavily modified clavioline that he called the Musitron.
- Darren Allison plays clavioline on William Blake's "Eternity" by Daisy Bell, from their London album (2015).
- John Barry of the John Barry Seven made a recording called "Starfire" which featured the instrument. The clavioline was also used extensively on his Stringbeat LP and other recordings of the period, played by bandleader and future Benny Hill associate Ted Taylor.
- A clavioline appears on Mike Oldfield's 2017 album Return to Ommadawn.
See also
- Ondioline
- Ondes Martenot
- List of electronic instruments
- Synthesizer#Monophonic electronic keyboards