The Jowiphon. Hans Joachim Winckelmann. Germany 1935

One of several optical synthesis devices that emerged in Germany during the 1920’s and 30’s, the ‘Jowiphon’ was a simple monophonic radio-tube based instruments that was operated by playing a hand held light beam across a selenium photocall that in turn triggered an audible voltage pulse generated by a vacuum tube. The Jowiphon was very similar to a design of Wolja Saraga developed at the Heinrich-Hertz-Institut für Schwingungsforschung, Berlin around 1930.

“How amazed, however, was when I was recently with a radioing-meur who was my friend, and he showed me something similar, which at first seemed almost more startling than that Theremin device. He led me into a darkened room with a flashlight in the air – and lo and behold, from a loudspeaker set up somewhere, a music sounded very similar to that of the Theremin apparatus. Here, too, it was only a miracle until Mirmein’s friend explained the technical process.

By exposing a photocell to the flashlamp, an electric current is generated; this is converted into sound vibrations by a certain method, but another, as in the case of the Theremin appliance. The more the flashlight approaches the photocell, the greater the exposure, the electric current becomes stronger and the tones become higher. It all sounds very simple, but it requires a shaken-up amount of knowledge to weld these theoretically remote things into something practical and practical. The inventor has christened his “Jowiphon” sound, which is said to be similar to the Theremin device, but tends toward the string instruments like the violin or cello. But you can also easily create the deepest bass tones like the highest notes of a piccolo. As with the Theremin instrument the tone color and the volume can be changed arbitrarily.

Playing on these devices is no harder to learn than that of other instruments. Their only drawback may be that producing faster results makes some more trouble. As the inventor explained, the Jowiphon, which, like most musical instruments, is unanimous, can also be made into a polyphonic instrument like the organ. The fact that these instruments have not become so popular is largely due to the fact that in Germany two other electric musical instruments have been constructed to a very high degree of perfection, the Vierling Electrochord and the Trautonium.

The Vierling Electrochord is played like a grand piano and allows you to tune to six different tones. The Trautonium is a unanimous instrument that is played by pressing a metal string down on a metal rail. In this instrument, the change of timbre is up to the highest perfection. You can just as well create the sounds of a bass as a clarinet or piccolo. With four instruments you could play a complete string quartet. But it can also produce quite new sounds of surprising effect. The fantastic magic that I felt when I heard the first ether wave music was gone. But I do not feel poorer about it. Despite all knowledge of the technical processes, there is always a remnant of the mystery that one feels again and again when one hears these instruments, which has given us the restraining technique of our century. W. W.’ “[efn_note]Uhu illustrated Magazine edition 11.1934/35, May pp 94-95[/efn_note]

_________________________________________________
Sources:

Uhu illustrated Magazine edition 11.1934/35, May pp 94-95

Joachim Winckelmann. Das “Jowiphon” : [sein Bau u. s. Spielweise] (=Radio-Bau-Sammlung ; Bd. 5). Deutsch-Technischer Buchverlag. Berlin-Lichterfelde 1935

The ‘Baldwin Organ’ Winston E. Kock & J.F. Jordan, USA, 1946

Early Model of Winston Kock's Baldwin organ
Winston Kock’s Baldwin Organ Model Five 1947

The Baldwin organ was an electronic organ, many models of which have been manufactured by the Baldwin Piano & Organ Co. since 1946. The original models were designed by Dr Winston E. Kock who became the company’s director of electronic research after his return from his studies at the Heinrich-Hertz-Institute, Berlin, in 1936. The organ was a development of Kock’s Berlin research with the GrosstonOrgel using the same neon-gas discharge tubes to create a stable, affordable polyphonic instrument. The Baldwin Organ were based on an early type of subtractive synthesis; the neon discharge tubes generating a rough sawtooth wave rich in harmonics which was then modified by formant filters to the desired tone.

Tone modifying circuits of the Baldwin organ
Tone modifying circuits of the Baldwin organ

Another innovative aspect of the Baldwin Organ was the touch sensitive keyboard designed to create a realistic variable note attack similar to a pipe organ. As the key was depressed, a curved metal strip progressively shorted out a carbon resistance element to provide a gradual rather than sudden attack (and decay) to the sound.  This feature was unique at that time, and it endowed the Baldwin instrument with an unusually elegant sound which captivated many musicians of the day.

“How did it sound? I have played Baldwin organs at a time when they were still marketed and in my opinion, for what it is worth, they were pretty good in relative terms.  That is to say, they sounded significantly better on the whole than the general run of analogue organs by other manufacturers, and they were only beaten by a few custom built instruments in which cost was not a factor.  It would not be true to say they sounded as good as a good digital organ today, but they compared favourably with the early Allen digitals in the 1970’s.  Nor, of course, did they sound indistinguishable from a pipe organ, but that is true for all pipeless organs.  To my ears they also sounded much better and more natural than the cloying tone of the more expensive Compton Electrone which, like the Hammond, also relied on attempts at additive synthesis with insufficient numbers of harmonics.”

From ‘Winston Kock and the Baldwin Organ; by Colin Pykett

Electronic Generator of the earlt model Baldwin Organ
Electronic Tone Generator of the early model Baldwin Organ showing neon gas-discharge tube oscillators.

Kock’s 1938 Patent of the Baldwin organ

Winston Kock playing an early experimental design for an electric instrument
Winston Kock playing his early experimental electronic instrument 1932

Winston E. Kock Biographical Details:

Winston Kock was born into a German-American family in 1909 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Despite being a gifted musician he decided to study electrical engineering at Cincinnati university and in his 20’s designed a highly innovative, fully electronic organ for his master’s degree.

The major problem of instrument design during the 1920’s and 30’s was the stability and cost of analogue oscillators. Most commercial organ ventures had failed for this reason; a good example being  Givelet & Coupleux’s  huge valve Organ in 1930. it was this reason that Laurens Hammond (and many others) decided on Tone-Wheel technology for his Hammond Organs despite the inferior audio fidelity.

Kock had decided early on to investigate the possibility of producing a commercially viable instrument that was able to produce the complexity of tone possible from vacuum tubes. With this in mind, Kock hit upon the idea of using much cheaper neon ‘gas discharge’ tubes as oscillators stabilised with resonant circuits. This allowed him to design an affordable, stable and versatile organ.

Kock's Sonar device during WW2
Kock’s Sonar device during WW2

In the 1930’s Kock, fluent in German, went to Berlin to study On an exchange fellowship (curiously, the exchange was with Sigismund von Braun, Wernher von Braun’s eldest brother –Kock was to collaborate with Wernher twenty five years later at NASA) at the Heinrich Hertz Institute conducting research for a doctorate under Professor K W Wagner. At the time Berlin, and specifically the Heinrich Hertz Institute, was the global centre of electronic music research. Fellow students and professors included; Jörg Mager, Oskar Vierling, Fritz Sennheiser, Bruno Helberger, Harald Bode, Friedrich Trautwein, Oskar Sala and Wolja Saraga amongst others. Kock’s study was based around two areas: – improving the understanding of glow discharge (neon) oscillators, and developing realistic organ tones using specially designed filter circuits. 

Kock worked closely with Oskar Vierling for his Phd and co-designed the GrosstonOrgel in 1934 but disillusioned by the appropriation of his work by the newly ascendant Nazi party he decided to leave for India, sponsored by the Baldwin Organ Company arriving at the Indian Institute of Music in Bangalore in 1935.

Returning from India in 1936, Dr Kock became Baldwin’s Director of Research while still in his mid-twenties, and with J F Jordan designed many aspects of their first electronic organ system which was patented in 1941.

NASA
Winston E Kock (L) as the first Director of Engineering Research at NASA

When the USA entered the second world war Kock moved to Bell Telephone Laboratories where he was involved on radar research and specifically microwave antennas. In the mid-1950’s he took a senior position in the Bendix Corporation which was active in underwater defence technology. He moved again to become NASA’s first Director of Engineering Research, returning to Bendix in 1966 where he remained until 1971 when he became Acting Director of the Hermann Schneider Laboratory of the University of Cincinatti. Kock Died in Cincinatti in 1982.

 Winston Kock was a prolific writer of scientific books but he also wrote fiction novels under the pen name of Wayne Kirk.

Acoustic lenses developed by Winston Kock at the Bell Labs in the 1950's
Acoustic lenses developed by Winston Kock at the Bell Labs in the 1950’s
Acoustic lenses developed by Winston Kock at the Bell Labs in the 1950's
Acoustic lenses developed by Winston Kock at the Bell Labs in the 1950’s
lenses
Acoustic lenses developed by Winston Kock at the Bell Labs in the 1950’s

Sources:

Hugh Davies. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians

http://www.pykett.org.uk/drkock.htm

The ‘Saraga-Generator’, Wolja Saraga, Germany,1931.

The Saraga Generator
One of the sound generating devices built by Wolja Saraga at the HHI. Photo; Saraga family archives

Wolja Saraga was a research doctoral student and then lecturer from around 1929 until 1936 at the newly formed (1928) Heinrich-Hertz Institut Für Schwingungsforschung (Heinrich hertz Institute for Frequency Research or HHI for short) based on Franklin Str 1, Charlottenburg, Berlin, Germany. The HHI was tasked with research into all forms of frequency research – communications, radio, physics, acoustics and electronic musical instruments. Under the direction of Prof Gustav Leithäuser the HHI became the international center for the development of electronic musical instruments through the work of figures such as Fritz Sennheiser,  Oskar Vierling Harald Bode , Winston KockFriedrich Trautwein and Wolja Saraga.

The Heinrich-Hertz-Institut für Schwingungsforschung, Charlottenburg, Berlin. Image: Architekturmuseum der Technischen Universität Berlin Inv. Nr. F 8108.

In 1932 Saraga began to investigate the opportunities and practicalities of musical sound production via three main approaches: optical sound synthesis, direct sound generation through ‘direct discharge’ and by using a voltage controlled tungsten arc-lamp.1Saraga, Wolja, (1932), Technischer Bericht Nr. 55,99, 100, Heinrich-Hertz-Institut für Schwingungsforschung, HHI Archives. The name Saraga-Generator has has become used for his more well-known photo-electrical instrument but probably applies better to his ‘direct discharge’ instrument that used a high voltage power generator to create spark-gap transmissions of sound waves. In this text it applies to all of his electronic musical experiments.

Saraga’s experiments with direct sound generation at the HHI  circa1930. Image: Funkbastler, H24, 1930, 409-10.

The Direkte elektrische Schallerzeugung or Direct Electrical Generator created a musical tone through direct stimulation of the air without loudspeakers – a method similar to Simon and Duddel’s early Singing Arc experiments of 1899. The result would have been at quite a high volume or, as Saraga put it “The desired kinetic effect is not negligible”. 2Saraga, Wolja, (1932), Technischer Bericht Nr. 55, 25 Jan 1932, Heinrich-Hertz-Institut für Schwingungsforschung, HHI Archives. The technique is explained in Saturday Review (1952): “The effect takes advantage of several physical principles:[5] First, ionization of a gas creates a highly conductive plasma, which responds to alternating electric and magnetic fields. Second, this low-density plasma has a negligibly small mass. Thus, the air remains mechanically coupled with the essentially massless plasma, allowing it to radiate a nearly ideal reproduction of the sound source when the electric or magnetic field is modulated with the audio signal.” 3 Villchur, Edgar, (1952) A New Speaker Principle, Saturday Review, 1952 Sep 27, 60-61.

Writing in Funkbastler Magazine, Saraga describes the sound of the instrument:

“The high-frequency glow arc also works with low background noise. Sometimes the presence of the counter electrode is also the cause of disturbing side effects. The air between the plates can oscillate itself and the acoustic change circumstances. Special forms of the counter electrode will probably prove to be particularly favourable. If you listen to the performances of the peak discharge, you will particularly notice the good reproduction of the high frequencies; the hissing sounds are very natural. The favourable acoustic radiation of the lower frequencies seems to be much more difficult, as the reproduction generally sounds a bit thin.4Saraga, Wolja, (1930) Schallerzeugung durch Hochfrequenzentladungen, Funkbastler, Heft 24, 409-10.

Saraga probably abandoned research in direct transmission for this reason – the low frequency reproduction was poor and because of the impracticalities of the approach: the amount of energy required and potentially hazardous by products produced by the ionisation process. 

The second approach Musikinstrument mit Wolframbogenlampe or Music Instrument with Wolfram Bow Lamp used used a tungsten arc-lamp connected to a loudspeaker without an amplifier which produced “very high volumes”. The tone of the lamp was modulated using a resistance manual; probably a metal strip touched by the player. 5Saraga, Wolja, (1932), Technischer Bericht Nr. 100, 13th September 1932, Heinrich-Hertz-Institut für Schwingungsforschung, HHI Archives.

Saraga’s photo-electrically controlled instrument the Elektrisches Photozellenmusikinstrument described in his 1932 HHI report, was a monophonic device that consisted of an audio oscillator controlled by movements of the performer’s hand between a low voltage neon lamp and a narrow V-shaped slit in the lid of a box. The white painted interior of the box had a photocell mounted on it positioned so that direct light would not reach it. The range of the instrument was about four octaves. Articulation and loudness were controlled by a switch, held in the performer’s other hand, and a volume pedal. 6Davies, Hugh (1984), Saraga-Generator, Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, Oxford University Press, 383. Saraga’s photo-cell instrument was patented in 1932 and demonstrated at the Berlin Radio Exhibition (IFA – Internationale Funkaustellung, Berlin) alongside the Orchester der Zukunft (the all-electric Orchestra of the Future) in the same year. Saraga described the timbral quality of the basic instrument as poor but one that could be easily rectified using the same type of format filters as Trautwein’s Trautonium7Saraga, Wolja, (1932) Ein Neues Elektrisches MusikInstrument, Funkbastler, Heft 10, 433-5.

"Electric Concerts" with the electroacoustic "orchestra of the future", 1932/1933 On the occasion of the 9th and 10th IFA in Berlin 1932 and 1933 for the first time found concerts with "Electric Music" instead. They played by the so-called "Orchestra of the future" all electroacoustic musical instruments then available. The "Elektischen concerts" made at the time an exceptional level of interest and broad support in the public, as the cooperating with private Theremingerät Erich Zitzmann-Zerini [second right] the engineer Gerhard Steinke told while gave him this original image. The orchestra consisted of two theremin instruments Trautonium [by Trautwein], Heller desk [of B. and P. Helberger Lertes], a neo-Bechstein grand piano [for suggestions of O. Vierling, S. Franco, W. Nernst and H . Driescher], Vierling piano [electro Acoustic piano by O. Vierling], electric violin, electric cello and Saraga generator [a light-electric device by W. Saraga, in principle, similar to the Theremingerät]. Photo: archive Gerhard Steinke
A concert by the electroacoustic “Orchestra of the Future” at the 9th and 10th IFA in Berlin 1932. Consisting of: (L-R) Bruno Hellberger playing his Hellertion, unknown playing the Electric Cello, Oskar Sala playing the Volkstruatonium, unknown playing the Neo Bechstein Electric Piano, Oskar Vierling playing the Electrochord, unknown playing the ‘Electric Violin’, unknown playing the ‘unknown instrument’,  Erich Zitzmann-Zerini with the Theremin, Unknown playing the Volkstrautonium. Saraga (not in the photograph) gave lectures on electronic music and demonstrations of his photo-electric instrument after each performance. Photo: archive Gerhard Steinke.
Saraga escaped Germany in 1936 (Bringing with him a Volkstrautonium purchased as a promotional model from Telefunken – which was confiscated by German authorities at the border) and eventually found employment in Orpington, Kent, UK. 8Interview with Esther Saraga, London 2015 In May 1946, Saraga founded the Electronic Music Group at the Northern Polytechnic (Holloway Rd, London) and tried to renew interest in his photo-electric instrument with public demonstrations of its capabilities and searched for commercial applications for the instrument including film soundtrack music and musical therapy for blind war veterans.

Saraga describes his instrument in an article in the Electronic Engineering journal, July 1945:

Basic diagram showing the box light-receiving device. Image: Electronic Engineering, July1945, 601

“A photo-electric cell is used as playing manual for controlling the pitch, the amount of light falling on this cell determining the frequency of the oscillation produced.* Thus the player can play on this instrument by varying the amount of light falling on the cell by moving his hand be- tween the cell and a source of light. This playing technique is in some aspects similar to that employed in Theremin’s instrument ; but there are some important differences which will be discussed, and it is hoped that the new playing technique will provide players and composers with new, hitherto unknown or technically im- possible, methods of expression.

The loudness of the tone produced can be controlled by means of a pedal which actuates a variable resistance or potentiometer. In a more elaborate form of the instrument it is intended to control the loudness by varying the amount of light falling on a second photo -electric cell. It is expected that this method of loudness control will be useful also in connection with other electronic musical instruments. For starting and stopping the tone the player uses a switch held in one hand which opens or closes the loud- speaker circuit. This switch is necessary because the loudness control by means of a pedal is rather slow. Instead of using a switch the player can close the- loudspeaker circuit by touching two metal contacts with his hand as a conducting link.” 9Saraga, W, (1945), An Electronic .Musical Instrument With a Photo -Electric Cell as Playing Manual, Electronic Engineering, 601.

Saraga argued that his instrument was superior to Termen’s Thereminvox in that it was easier and more natural to play:

“practical experience with Theremin’s instrument shows that its playing technique, while relieving the player from the resistance and inertia of the instrument, increases the resistance and inertia of his own hand because the hand has to be moved freely in the air for long periods with- out any physical support and without any visible indication of the correct positioning of the hand. Moreover, the pitch produced depends not only on the position of the hand but, to a smaller degree, also on the position of the whole body. Furthermore, the character of the electrostatic field of the rod in which the player moves his hand is such that it is very difficult to produce a linear pitch scale, i.e., to make the pitch proportional to the distance of the hand from the rod. The object of the new instrument […] is to eliminate these disadvantages of Theremin’s instrument. For this purpose the use of a photoelectric cell as -playing manual for determining the pitch or the loudness of the musical tones seems to be particularly convenient, because the geometrical relations of light beams’ and light and shadow which determine the amount of light falling on the cell when the hand of the player is in a certain position are much simpler, and much easier to control, than the geometrical relations of electrostatic fields which determine the hand capacitance in a certain position of the hand.10Saraga, W, (1945), An Electronic .Musical Instrument With a Photo -Electric Cell as Playing Manual, Electronic Engineering, 601.

Wolja Saraga working on the 'Saraga Generator' at the HHI, Berlin in 1932
Wolja Saraga working with a tungsten arc lamp for sound generation at the HHI, Berlin in 1932. Image: Saraga family archives.
Wolja Saraga. Berlin, 1930s
Wolja Saraga. Berlin, 1930s. Image: Saraga family archives.
Wolja Saraga working at the HHI, Berlin 1932. (Photo; TU Archives, Berlin)
Wolja Saraga working at the HHI, Berlin 1932. (Photo; TU Archives, Berlin)

Wolja Saraga: Biographical Notes

Wolja Saraga was a German Jewish Physicist, born in Berlin, Germany on 03-09-1908  to a Romanian father and a Russian mother. He studied telecommunications at the Heinrich Hertz Institute (Heinrich-Hertz Institut Für Schwingungsforschung or ‘HHI’) at the Technical University, Berlin under Prof Gustav Leithäuser. Saraga became a research assistant at the HHI and later  a lecturer from 1929-1933. He also studied physics and mathematics at the Humboldt University of Berlin, where he was awarded a Dr. phil. in physics in 1935.

saraga_presse_kart
Wolja Saraga’s ticket for the 1936 ‘Great-German Radio Exhibition’ (image; Saraga Family Archive 2016)

During his time in Berlin, Saraga was very energetic in promoting the potential of electronic music; He wrote numerous articles for journals and magazines on the subject of acoustics and audio technology and made several public presentations and demonstrations of electronic instruments including Theremins, Trautoniums and his own Saraga Generator. Saraga was also present playing the Saraga Generator at the 1932/3 International Funkaustellung (IFA) where the first ever electronic musical orchestra performed  – Das Orchester der Zukunft.

It became clear to Saraga in 1935-6 that as a Jewish scientist he would have no future in the new National Socialist German Reich and began to apply to leave the country, first of all to Switzerland and then to the UK. Saraga finally left Berlin in 1938 at the age of 29. he was initially held for six months on the Isle Of Man Hutchinson Camp as a German internee but was given a position working for the Telephone Manufacturing Company (or ‘TMC’) in St Mary’s Cray, Kent where, despite his unhappiness at his employers lack of interest in research, he remained until 1958.

A press card for a presentation by W.Saraga entitled 'Electronic Music'
A press card for a presentation by W.Saraga entitled ‘Electric Music – a presentation and musical demonstration of the Trautonium’. Berlin 1933. (Photo; Saraga Family Archive 2016)

Saraga then joined The Associated Electrical Industries Research Laboratory in Blackheath, London as a Research Scientist and Group Leader where he specialised in telephony filter design. In 1962, Saraga’s key contributions were recognised by the award of the Fellowship of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, ‘for contributions to network theory and its application in communications’. In 1972, Saraga moved full time to Imperial College, London where he became a postgraduate lecturer and researcher in network theory and mathematics and wrote a number of books and filed several patents on network theory and telephony. Wolja Saraga died in London on Feb 15 1980.11Scanla, J,O,(1980) Obituary of Wolja Saraga, CIRCUIT THEORY AND APPLICATIONS, VOL. 8, 341.   , 12 (1980) Obituary of Wolja Saraga,  IEEPROC, Vol. 128, Pt. G, No. 4, AUGUST 1981. 13 Crab, Simon, (2015) Interview with Esther Saraga, london 2015.


References:

  • 1
    Saraga, Wolja, (1932), Technischer Bericht Nr. 55,99, 100, Heinrich-Hertz-Institut für Schwingungsforschung, HHI Archives.
  • 2
    Saraga, Wolja, (1932), Technischer Bericht Nr. 55, 25 Jan 1932, Heinrich-Hertz-Institut für Schwingungsforschung, HHI Archives.
  • 3
    Villchur, Edgar, (1952) A New Speaker Principle, Saturday Review, 1952 Sep 27, 60-61.
  • 4
    Saraga, Wolja, (1930) Schallerzeugung durch Hochfrequenzentladungen, Funkbastler, Heft 24, 409-10.
  • 5
    Saraga, Wolja, (1932), Technischer Bericht Nr. 100, 13th September 1932, Heinrich-Hertz-Institut für Schwingungsforschung, HHI Archives.
  • 6
    Davies, Hugh (1984), Saraga-Generator, Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, Oxford University Press, 383.
  • 7
    Saraga, Wolja, (1932) Ein Neues Elektrisches MusikInstrument, Funkbastler, Heft 10, 433-5.
  • 8
    Interview with Esther Saraga, London 2015
  • 9
    Saraga, W, (1945), An Electronic .Musical Instrument With a Photo -Electric Cell as Playing Manual, Electronic Engineering, 601.
  • 10
    Saraga, W, (1945), An Electronic .Musical Instrument With a Photo -Electric Cell as Playing Manual, Electronic Engineering, 601.
  • 11
    Scanla, J,O,(1980) Obituary of Wolja Saraga, CIRCUIT THEORY AND APPLICATIONS, VOL. 8, 341.   
  • 12
    (1980) Obituary of Wolja Saraga,  IEEPROC, Vol. 128, Pt. G, No. 4, AUGUST 1981.
  • 13
    Crab, Simon, (2015) Interview with Esther Saraga, london 2015.