Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Dubreq Pianomate

images via this auction
"vintage Dubreq Pianomate. Made in the 1970s in England, it's an odd add-on sound expander for a piano or several other types of keyboard instruments. The system consists of a small amplifier with built-in tone generators, a swell / volume pedal, and two "plunger bars" that attach to the keyboard of a piano or similar instrument. When the piano key is struck, the plunger touching that key drops down and the tone generator is triggered. It's nutty but kind of neat - Dubreq also made the Stylophone, so they knew all about wacky musical instruments.

This setup is complete, down to the original manuals and sheet music, and everything works. It sounds a lot like a Farfisa organ, and the amp gets pretty loud but you probably can't gig with it. This is more of a curiosity than a real professional instrument, but it is very cool if you're into kitschy and funky keyboard gear."

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