clavioline

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 had a number of switches to alter the tone of the sound produced, add vibrato (a defining feature of the instrument), and provide other effects. The Clavioline used a vacuum tube oscillator to produce a buzzy waveform, almost a square wave, which could then be altered using high-pass and low-pass filtering, as well as the vibrato. The amplifier also aided in creating the instrument's signature tones, by deliberately providing a large amount of distortion.