Tech-savvy producers pay attention. You could be the owner of the first synthesizer ever made. The Helmholtz Apparatus was created in the first years of the 20th century, basically laying the groundwork of sound synthesis as we would come to understand it in the future. It isn’t cheap, by the way, as the guide price lies around $20.000-$30.000. And it doesn’t even come with a warranty.

The wood and brass device is the creation of Max Kohl, who finished it around 1905. It is based on a design by a then already passed-away physicist Hermann Von Helmoltz. What was groundbreaking in its construction is that it could make complex ‘sound waves’ by combining the ideas of fundamental and harmonic sounds.

How does it work?

“Suppose I sing the word ‘car’ and then on the same note sing ‘we’. The two vowel sounds will be similar in so far as they have the same pitch G , yet they have a clearly distinct sound quality, or timbre G . What is it that accounts for this difference, and the timbres G of musical sounds in general? Helmholtz set out to answer this very question in the mid 19th century, building on the work of the Dutch scientist Franz Donders (1818-1889).” [source]

The Helmholtz Appartus uses tuning forks that are known for their pure tone, to create a fundamental frequency and its six overtones which can be combined in various degrees by the user. These tuning forks are vibrated by means of electromagnets and the sound of each fork can be amplified individually, operated by, yes, a keyboard.

By varying the relative intensities of the overtones, simulation of various timbres is made possible. This created possibilities of actual sound engineering, something never seen before this technology. Unfortunately there is no public video available that shows the machine in action.

The Helmholtz’s apparatus will be auctioned in NY on the 22nd of October to the highest bidder.

Source: Synthopia