The ‘Multimonica I & II’, Siegfried Mager, Germany, 1951.

1953 Multimonica II. Image: Reverb Music Auction 2019. www.reverb.com
The Multimonica I, originally named the Mager-Straube-Kleinorgel (or sometimes Multimonica System Mager) designed in Germany the late 1940s and commercially available sometime around 1951, was one of the first mass-produced portable electronic musical instruments. The Multimonica was designed by Siegfried Mager, the son of the famous self styled ‘Father of German Electronic Music’, Jörg Mager and manufactured by the Straube Harmonium Company in Lich, Germany. 1Heyde, Herbert.(1994) Musical instrument making in Prussia. Hans Schneider, 221.
The factory of the Straube Harmonium Company, Lich, Germany circa 1950 where the Multimonica I ( Mager-Straube-Kleinorgel) was manufactured. Image: Wirtualnym Muzeum Zabytkowych Instrumentów Muzycznych – https://zabytkoweinstrumenty.wordpress.com/
The Multimonica II, based on Mager’s original design was later (1952?) licensed and manufactured by the German company Matthias Hohner AG in Trossingen, Germany, well known at the time for their acoustic harmoniums and mouth-organs.
1953 Multimonica II. Image: Reverb Music Auction 2019. www.reverb.com

The Multimonica was a portable hybrid electronic/acoustic instrument with two keyboards; the lower one a 41 note wind-blown reed harmonium instrument,  and the upper, an electronic monophonic sawtooth synthesiser. Housed in a modernist, streamlined black and white Bakelite casing, the instrument features a loudspeaker, tube-generated electromechanical vibrato, (The circuits were based on the Philips 13204 X, Philips EL41, Telefunken EF41 tubes in the Multimonica I, and EL41; ECC40; EF40 tubes for the Multimonica II ) 6 pre-set synth sounds, 2 switches for harmonic filtering, and 3 switches for the vibrato speed and amplitude, as well as a knee lever for volume control. Some versions of the Multimonica I had a medium wave radio built in to allow the owner to play along to broadcast music. The Multimonica II released in 1953 featured one loudspeaker and provided more types of harmonics filtering than the earlier Multimonica I, and the electro-mechanical vibrato was changed to a more sophisticated neon-gas-tube-based design.2 Davies, Hugh.(2014) The Multimonica, The Grove dictionary of musical instruments, New York : Oxford University Press, 529.

Neue elektronische Musikinstrumente. Funkschau Magazine 1953. 3Neue elektronische Musikinstrumente, FUNKSCHAU
1953/Heft, 18.

The Multimonica System Mager is a portable instrument that is placed on the table while playing. It has two manuals with 41 keys each. The lower one is operated, similar to an accordion i.e. vibrating tines excited by wind pressure for full-fledged polyphonic playing. The air is supplied by an electric operated fan. With a register arrangement you can set seven different tones.

The second manual above is used for purely electronic sound generation. By pressing the buttons, capacitors are connected in parallel to a constantly oscillating feedback tube generator, so that the individual tone frequencies are created. They are played back by speakers in the device. This manual enables unison playing. The sound colour can be changed electrically using conveniently arranged tilt registers and by switching the built-in speakers on and off. Vibrato tones can also be generated through frequency modulation. Each manual has a knee lever as a volume control. — In addition to these two playing options, the device contains a built-in radio receiver for the local or district station, with the electronic registers being used as sound panels..

The demonstration [that we saw] showed that a very versatile style of playing is possible on this instrument, whose particular strength comes into its own through harmonious and organ-like handling. The instrument can therefore be used on its own or as an orchestral instrument, whereby the reed manual can serve as an accompanying and filling instrument, while the electronic arrangement takes over solo parts. Price of the Multimonica: 1080 DM,

TV Newsreel of the Multimonica II at the Frankfurt Spring Fair 1952

Images of the Multimonica II


References:

  • 1
    Heyde, Herbert.(1994) Musical instrument making in Prussia. Hans Schneider, 221.
  • 2
    Davies, Hugh.(2014) The Multimonica, The Grove dictionary of musical instruments, New York : Oxford University Press, 529.
  • 3
    Neue elektronische Musikinstrumente, FUNKSCHAU
    1953/Heft, 18.

3 thoughts on “The ‘Multimonica I & II’, Siegfried Mager, Germany, 1951.”

  1. It is very exciting to read about the Mager-Straube here, as my father assembled the amplifiers for this instrument and we still have some original prospectus of it somewhere. Just for information, this instrument wasn’t developed by Hohner, but by Straube in Lich. Hohner later built an instrument based on that. And inventor Harald Bode wasn’t connected with the invention at all.
    My greatgrandfather, called Otto Pappe, worked for Straube in Berlin as production manager and became manager after Straube senior retired. The Straube factory in Berlin did not survive the second worldwar, but my grandfather founded the Straube Harmonium manufacture in Lich after 1947. He was known to Siegfried Mager (I wasn’t aware yet that he was the son of famous Jörg Mager), my father recalls him personally, too. So Mager developed the instrument with my grandfather Reinhard Pappe. Later, my father was apprentice at Lipp in Stuttgart, where he witnessed the early Wurlitzer Sideman bought by Lipp. We still have a lot of old papers and glass negatives from that era, but sadly no complete instrument.

  2. Thanks for an interesting post!
    I just purchased a Multimonica II. It would need some maintenance. Do you by any chance have a picture of the schematics with high resolution that you could send me? Or if you know of anyone that might know how to tune the instrument, etc. The vibrato seems to not work either. Any help highly appreciated! Thanks / Johannes, Studio Epidemin, Gothenburg

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