The Lyricon is an

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

wind instrument A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube) in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at or near the end of the resonator. The pitc ...

, the first

wind controller A wind controller, sometimes referred to as a wind synthesizer, is an electronic wind instrument. It is usually a MIDI controller associated with one or more music synthesizers. Wind controllers are most commonly played and fingered like a wood ...

to be constructed. Computone Wind Synthesizer

Invented by Bill Bernardi (and co-engineered by Roger Noble and with the late Lyricon performer Chuck GreenbergIngham (1998) p.184), filed for patent on October 5, 1971, by Computone Inc., patented under #US3767833 October 23, 1973 and then manufactured by Computone Inc. in Massachusetts in the early 1970s. The first lyricon was completed in 1974 with Tom Scott being the first customer for the instrument. The Lyricon was available in two designs, the first being somewhat silver and resembling a soprano saxophone and the latter, black and resembling an alto clarinet. Using a form of additive synthesis, the player was allowed to change between types of overtones with a key switchable between fundamentals of G, Bb, C, Eb, and F (allowing the instrument to be used to play transposed parts written for saxophones, trumpets, etc.) and an octave range that could be switched between low, medium, or high. The instrument also had controls for glissando,

portamento In music, portamento (plural: ''portamenti'', from old it, portamento, meaning "carriage" or "carrying") is a pitch sliding from one note to another. The term originated from the Italian expression "''portamento della voce''" ("carriage of the ...

, and "timbre attack" (a type of chorusing). The Lyricon used a

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...

mouthpiece, with a sprung metal sensor on the (non-vibrating)

reed Reed or Reeds may refer to: Science, technology, biology, and medicine * Reed bird (disambiguation) * Reed pen, writing implement in use since ancient times * Reed (plant), one of several tall, grass-like wetland plants of the order Poales * ...

that detected lip pressure. Wind pressure was detected by a diaphragm, which moved and changed the light output from an LED, which was in turn sensed by a

photocell Photodetectors, also called photosensors, are sensors of light or other electromagnetic radiation. There is a wide variety of photodetectors which may be classified by mechanism of detection, such as photoelectric or photochemical effects, or b ...

to give dynamic control. The lyricon I was originally priced at $3,295 which was quite expensive for the time, also probably one of the reasons why the instrument was sold only in small numbers. Two additional re-modelled Lyricons were engineered later. First the "Wind Synthesizer Driver", which had

control voltage CV/gate (an abbreviation of ''control voltage/gate'') is an analog method of controlling synthesizers, drum machines, and similar equipment with external sequencers. The control voltage typically controls pitch and the gate signal controls note ...

outputs for lip pressure, wind pressure and pitch, to control the VCA and VCF and pitch of an external analog synthesizer. Then the "Lyricon II" was engineered, which included a two-oscillator synthesizer. All the Lyricons used the same saxophone style fingering system, with two octave keys above the left-hand thumb rest. The Wind Synthesizer Driver and the Lyricon II also had a transposition footswitch feature, where a foot pedal could be used to transpose the entire range up or down one octave. None of the Lyricons were engineered to use

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...

(which was invented after Computone went out of business in 1980 when

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

started to develop their WX7

wind instrument), although external MIDIfication modules were produced by JL Cooper and STEIM. Approximately 200 units of the lyricon I were handmade and approximately 2000 units of the driver and Lyricon II were manufactured. However, since Computone went out of Business and due to the death of the instruments' inventor in 2014 the number of functioning instruments reduces more and more as only few people have the know-how to repair them and spare parts are hard to obtain. The design of the Lyricon controller was later borrowed to form the basis for Yamaha's WX-series MIDI wind controllers. A prominent example of what a lyricon sounds like can be heard in

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

's song

Billie Jean "Billie Jean" is a song by American singer Michael Jackson, released by Epic Records on January 2, 1983, as the second single from his sixth studio album, '' Thriller'' (1982). It was written and composed by Jackson and produced by Jackson and ...

, where Tom Scott used the instrument.

Prominent lyriconists

* Ian Anderson *

Jay Beckenstein Jay Barnet Beckenstein (born May 14, 1951) is an American saxophonist, composer, producer, and the co-founder of the band Spyro Gyra. He owned BearTracks Studios in Suffern, New York. Music career Beckenstein was born in Long Island, New Yor ...

Richard Elliot Richard Elliot (born January 16, 1960) is a Scottish-born American saxophonist. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards for '' Summer Horns''. Career Elliot started out as a member ...

Kenny G Kenneth Bruce Gorelick (born June 5, 1956), known professionally as Kenny G, is an American smooth jazz saxophonist, composer, and producer. His 1986 album ''Duotones'' brought him commercial success. Kenny G is one of the best-selling artis ...

* Chuck Greenberg * Steve Jolliffe *

Roland Kirk Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

Michał Urbaniak Michał Urbaniak (born January 22, 1943) is a Polish jazz musician who plays violin, lyricon, and saxophone. His music includes elements of folk music, rhythm and blues, hip hop, and symphonic music. History He was born in Warsaw, Poland. U ...

Yusef Lateef Yusef Abdul Lateef (born William Emanuel Huddleston; October 9, 1920 – December 23, 2013) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and prominent figure among the Ahmadiyya Community in America. Although Lateef's main instruments ...

* Andy Mackay * Bennie Maupin *

Dan Michaels The Choir is an atmospheric Christian alternative rock band currently comprising Derri Daugherty on guitar and vocals, Steve Hindalong on drums, and Dan Michaels on saxophone and lyricon. Long-time bassist Tim Chandler died in 2018, and guit ...

Lenny Pickett Lenny Pickett (born April 10, 1954) is an American saxophonist and musical director of the ''Saturday Night Live'' band. From 1973 to 1981 he was a member of Tower of Power. He is known for his skill in the altissimo register (executed by using ...

Jonas Kullhammar Jonas Kullhammar (2 September 1978 in Nacka, Sweden) is a Swedish jazz composer, saxophonist and is one of Sweden's most established jazz musicians. Career Since 1998 his main group has been Jonas Kullhammar Quartet, and he has participated o ...

Courtney Pine Courtney Pine, (born 18 March 1964), is a British jazz musician, who was the principal founder in the 1980s of the black British band the Jazz Warriors. Although known primarily for his saxophone playing, Pine is a multi-instrumentalist, also ...

Raphael Ravenscroft Raphael Ravenscroft (4 June 1954 – 19 October 2014) was a British musician, composer and author. He is best known for playing the saxophone on Gerry Rafferty's song " Baker Street". Early life While his place of birth is disputed, the E ...

David Roach David Roach may refer to: *David Roach (American football) (born 1985), American football safety *David Roach (saxophonist) (born 1955), British classical saxophonist *David Roach (comics), British comics artist * David Roach (athletic director) (b ...

* Tom Scott * James Senese *

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles Dav ...

Bruno Spoerri Bruno Alexander Spoerri (born 16 August 1935) is a Swiss jazz and electronics musician. Born in Zurich, he studied applied psychology in Basel and Zurich. He played the saxophone as a student, and toured with the Modern Jazz Group Freiburg ...

Pedro Eustache Pedro Eustache (born August 18, 1959) is a Venezuelan-born flautist, reed player, world woodwind player, composer, and instrument maker. He has more than seven years of symphonic experience and a collection of around 600 instruments from all ...

* John L. Walters * Charles "Prince Charles" Alexander * Chris Wood *

Takeshi Itoh Takeshi Itoh (伊東毅 or 伊東たけし, ''Itoh Takeshi''; born March 15, 1954) is a Japanese jazz fusion saxophonist and flute player. He is currently a part of the jazz fusion band T-Square. Biography Early life and career Itoh had ...

References

Notes

* Greenberg, Joy (2006) "A Pause in the Rain" * Ingham, Richard (1998) '' The Cambridge Companion to the Saxophone''
Search For Expression’
by John L. Walters ''Sound on Sound'' magazine, September 1987

Prominent lyriconists

See also

References

Notes

External links