The Lyricon is an electronic

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 pitch ...

, 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) of Shadowfax, 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 The soprano saxophone is a small, high-pitched member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented in the 1840s by Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax. Built in B♭ an octave above the tenor saxophone (or rarely, slightly small ...

and the latter, black and resembling an

alto clarinet The alto clarinet is a woodwind instrument of the clarinet family. It is a transposing instrument pitched in the key of E, though instruments in F have been made. In size it lies between the soprano clarinet and the bass clarinet. It bears a gr ...

. Using a form of

additive synthesis Additive synthesis is a sound synthesis technique that creates timbre by adding sine waves together. The timbre of musical instruments can be considered in the light of Fourier series, Fourier theory to consist of multiple harmonic or inharmoni ...

, 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 In music, a glissando (; plural: ''glissandi'', abbreviated ''gliss.'') is a wikt:glide, glide from one pitch (music), pitch to another (). It is an Italianized Musical terminology, musical term derived from the French ''glisser'', "to glide". In ...

portamento In music, portamento (: ''portamenti''; from old , meaning 'carriage' or 'carrying'), also known by its French name glissade, is a pitch sliding from one Musical note, note to another. The term originated from the Italian language, Italian exp ...

, 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 clarinet, 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 no ...

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 * Re ...

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 devices that detect light or other forms of electromagnetic radiation and convert it into an electrical signal. They are essential in a wide range of applications, from digital imaging and optical c ...

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 Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

(which was invented after Computone went out of business in 1980 when Yamaha 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 has greatly reduced as 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. Prominent examples of a Lyricon's sound can be heard in Tom Scott’s intros to

Steely Dan Steely Dan is an American rock band formed in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, in 1971 by Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals). Originally having a traditional band lineup, Becker and Fagen cho ...

’s 1977 song " Peg" and

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 Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

's song "

Billie Jean "Billie Jean" is a song by the American singer Michael Jackson, released by Epic Records on January 3, 1983, as the second single from his sixth studio album, ''Thriller (album), Thriller'' (1982). It was written and composed by Jackson, produ ...

". Additionally,

Gerry Rafferty Gerald Rafferty (16 April 1947– 4 January 2011) was a Scottish singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. He was a founding member of Stealers Wheel, whose biggest hit was "Stuck in the Middle with You" in 1973. His solo hits in the ...

's song " Night Owl", features Raphael Ravenscroft using the instrument.

Prominent Lyriconists

Ian Anderson Ian Scott Anderson (born 10 August 1947) is a British musician best known for being the chief vocalist, Flute, flautist, and acoustic guitarist of the British rock band Jethro Tull (band), Jethro Tull. He is a multi-instrumentalist who also p ...

* Jay Beckenstein *

Richard Elliot Richard Elliot (born January 16, 1960) is an American saxophonist. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards for '' Summer Horns''. Biography Early life Elliot was born in the Scot ...

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

* Chuck Greenberg *

Steve Jolliffe Steve Jolliffe (born 28 April 1949) is an English musician. After meeting Rick Davies (Supertramp) in the late 1960s Jolliffe played with him in a band called the Joint. He left the Joint to study music at the Berlin Konservatorium. There he me ...

Roland Kirk Roland (; ; or ''Rotholandus''; 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 Matter of France. The historical Roland was mil ...

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 music, hip hop, and symphonic music. History He was born in War ...

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 the United States. Although Lateef's main i ...

Andy Mackay Andrew Mackay (born 23 July 1946) is an English musician, best known as a founding member (playing oboe and saxophone) of the art rock group Roxy Music. In addition, he has taught music and provided scores for television, while his work as a se ...

Bennie Maupin Bennie Maupin (born August 29, 1940) is an American jazz multireedist who performs on various saxophones, flute, and bass clarinet. Biography Maupin was born in Detroit, Michigan. He is known for his participation in Herbie Hancock's Mwandish ...

* Dan Michaels * Lenny Pickett * Jonas Kullhammar *

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 * David Roach * Tom Scott * James Senese *

Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (August 25, 1933 – March 2, 2023) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Shorter came to mainstream prominence in 1959 upon joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for whom he eventually became the primary comp ...

* Bruno Spoerri * Pedro Eustache * John L. Walters * Dallas Smith * Charles "Prince Charles" Alexander * Chris Wood *

Takeshi Itoh Takeshi Itō (伊東毅 or 伊東たけし, ''Itō 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 (band), T-Square. Biography Early life and ca ...

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