'PIANOmate' electronic keyboard enhancer, made by Dubreq Studios, c.1975

Made:
1975 in London
Electronic keyboard enhancer 'PianoMate'

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Electronic keyboard enhancer 'PianoMate'
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum

PIANOmate, made by Dubreq Studios, London. The PIANOmate was a four-octave, keyless electronic organ or analogue synthesizer. The PIANOmate consists of a control unit with plunger switches placed along the back of the keys of a piano, activated when the piano is played. The unit is attached to an amplifier and loudspeaker, and has a volume control pedal. Three timbres and vibrato can be selected. The mechanism resembles that of the earlier Organo.

PIANOmate was an ingenious synthesiser attachment for a piano which boasted a teaching role and was advertised as "PIANOmate will transform your piano into four octaves of powerful electronic voices and back again - as you play." The PIANOmate was manufactured briefly from about 1970 by Dubreq Studios Ltd in London and marked the period immediately before the market impact of Japanese digital music devices, when much ingenuity was shown in the development of affordable electronic instruments. This model dates from the mid-1970s and, although PIANOmates were still available in the early 2000s, earlier models like this from the mid-1970s demonstrating the state of the art at that time are relatively rare.

Details

Category:
Sound Reproduction
Object Number:
2005-54
type:
electronic keyboard enhancer
credit:
McGuiness, Rose