I love this instrument since its one of the first recorded pieces of electronic music ever. I also wonder if there is still a variophone out in the world.
sadly destroyed by a bomb at the end of the 2nd world war . At the end of 1941 Siege of Leningrad, the Variophone was destroyed when the last missile exploded. They recovered and restored recordings of the variophone and that's what you're listening to - an extinct electronic instrument - just like the Dodo bird.
The fourth and final version of Variophone was never finished, despite promising experiments in musical intonation and the temporal characteristics of live musical performance. The laboratory was moved to Moscow and Sholpo was removed from his position as director. In 1951, after a long illness, Evgeny Sholpo died and his laboratory was closed. Archive material from the Variophone was recently transferred in 2007 to the Theremin Center.
@@Neo.Altair Yes, this is what I find fascinating. If you look at the diagram that has been shared a thousand times on the internet (64.media.tumblr.com/0c0d9d81da3d2f2670e0bbc807d9a315/tumblr_myrsqq9QDp1t2pizeo1_1280.jpg) you can actually see a mechanism in the upper left with two dials on them. Setting these two dials changes the tension of the drive belt repeatedly, thus creating a quick change in tone, what we know as vibrato. It is very cleverly designed. The upper dial sets the depth (so how aggressively the tone varies) and the lower sets the speed. There is a similar construction in the lower left, that does a similar thing, but instead of changing the tone pitch, it changes the volume, by changing the size of the window that the light shines through with the triangular cutout. The dial facing right sets the depth, the one facing up sets the speed. The long cones in the middle of the image sets the tone, with a variable speed transmission. The two cones acts as gears, and depending on where the ball is placed, it transfers the speed of the upper cone to the lower cone at different ratios. The ball is connected to a scale, seen below the lower cone, upon which are the words "do, re, mi, fa, so" etc., allowing the user to set a tone precisely. Connected to the upper cone is also a set of traditional teethed cogs, that, I believe, set the octave, or at least range that the do re mi fa so scale can reach. In the middle is a piece of sheet music arranged on spools with dials below them, but since these are not connected to the rest of the machine in the diagram, I don't know what they are supposed to do.
@@Neo.Altair Thank you to you too! I wasn't exactly sure about the story of the variophone, or what happened to it since, I had just studied the plans.
Such music & recordings tend to go unnoticed by most people nowadays, fortunately, I encountered this interesting piece of Soviet technology via a video on the evolution of electronic music in general.
I'm currently trying to transcribe La Suite Carburateur from this video, and make sheet music based off of it, since I love the tune, but can't find any other appearance of it.
sadly destroyed by a bomb at the end of the 2nd world war . At the end of 1941 Siege of Leningrad, the Variophon was destroyed when the last missile exploded. They recovered and restored recordings of the variophone and that's what you'r listening to - an extinct electronic instrument - just like the Dodo bird.
@@Stibly - I didn't realise it vanished???? 'Stibly' - could this be the work of your dreaded cousins the Gremlins? strange. Seeing it was invented the the Russians and they are the outsiders - maybe the ex KGB or the music is a code for the nuclear asenal??? It does sound seriously crazy but after Donald Trump won only a first term election - I believe anything can happen and also the tooth fairy
Really ahead of its time.
I love this instrument since its one of the first recorded pieces of electronic music ever. I also wonder if there is still a variophone out in the world.
sadly destroyed by a bomb at the end of the 2nd world war .
At the end of 1941 Siege of Leningrad, the Variophone was destroyed when the last missile exploded. They recovered and restored recordings of the variophone and that's what you're listening to - an extinct electronic instrument - just like the Dodo bird.
The fourth and final version of Variophone was never finished, despite promising experiments in musical intonation and the temporal characteristics of live musical performance. The laboratory was moved to Moscow and Sholpo was removed from his position as director. In 1951, after a long illness, Evgeny Sholpo died and his laboratory was closed. Archive material from the Variophone was recently transferred in 2007 to the Theremin Center.
@@Neo.Altair Yes, this is what I find fascinating. If you look at the diagram that has been shared a thousand times on the internet (64.media.tumblr.com/0c0d9d81da3d2f2670e0bbc807d9a315/tumblr_myrsqq9QDp1t2pizeo1_1280.jpg) you can actually see a mechanism in the upper left with two dials on them. Setting these two dials changes the tension of the drive belt repeatedly, thus creating a quick change in tone, what we know as vibrato. It is very cleverly designed. The upper dial sets the depth (so how aggressively the tone varies) and the lower sets the speed.
There is a similar construction in the lower left, that does a similar thing, but instead of changing the tone pitch, it changes the volume, by changing the size of the window that the light shines through with the triangular cutout. The dial facing right sets the depth, the one facing up sets the speed. The long cones in the middle of the image sets the tone, with a variable speed transmission. The two cones acts as gears, and depending on where the ball is placed, it transfers the speed of the upper cone to the lower cone at different ratios. The ball is connected to a scale, seen below the lower cone, upon which are the words "do, re, mi, fa, so" etc., allowing the user to set a tone precisely. Connected to the upper cone is also a set of traditional teethed cogs, that, I believe, set the octave, or at least range that the do re mi fa so scale can reach.
In the middle is a piece of sheet music arranged on spools with dials below them, but since these are not connected to the rest of the machine in the diagram, I don't know what they are supposed to do.
@@srenhaandbk7904 Fascinating stuff - you have a lot of knowledge, impressive and thank you so much for sharing - I learned something today 🤯👍
@@Neo.Altair Thank you to you too! I wasn't exactly sure about the story of the variophone, or what happened to it since, I had just studied the plans.
Such music & recordings tend to go unnoticed by most people nowadays, fortunately, I encountered this interesting piece of Soviet technology via a video on the evolution of electronic music in general.
Sure wish the full version of that Ride of the Valkyries cover was out there somewhere.
If you watch this closely right to the end, you get an unerring sense of headache.
I become hypnotised by the end of the piece - Zombied. 🧟♂
The second track sounds like a C64 tune
Watch out Mario! A barrel is rolling your way!
the first oscilloscope view
Say, do you know what song is being played at 2:16 ? Also thanks for posting this, found it from a hoi4 superevents video, imagine that😅
rodina went crazy ⚡⚡
Kinda reminds me of Tim Follin's works on the ZX Spectrum in its harshness, especially the (terrifying) attempt at orchestral music at 0:37
Vacuuming nails
Soviet musics are based asf
It sounds like early 80s arcade.
This goes hard
I'm currently trying to transcribe La Suite Carburateur from this video, and make sheet music based off of it, since I love the tune, but can't find any other appearance of it.
Hi - here is an orchestra symphony of "Ride of the Valkyries"
ruclips.net/video/s2RiOhYpRFc/видео.html
Cheers
2:20
Is it possible to recreate the Variophone?
3:17
Renkichi gaming
2:16
CITYCITYCITYCITYCITYCITYCITYCITYCITYCITYCITYCITY
CITY CITY CITY CITY CITY
*CITY CITY CITY CITY CITY*
city city city city city city city city city
@@darqdail *city city city city city*
0:37 Why does this remind me of the Commodore 64?
Chip tune 🗿🍷
What the song name of the second track?
The whole track is called Ride Of The Valkyries (Variophone Version 1930)
Soviet Airman march or something like thta.
What happened to the original?
sadly destroyed by a bomb at the end of the 2nd world war .
At the end of 1941 Siege of Leningrad, the Variophon was destroyed when the last missile exploded. They recovered and restored recordings of the variophone and that's what you'r listening to - an extinct electronic instrument - just like the Dodo bird.
@@Neo.Altair Oh, I meant the original video that had thousands of views. But that's still really interesting, thank you!
@@Stibly - I didn't realise it vanished???? 'Stibly' - could this be the work of your dreaded cousins the Gremlins? strange.
Seeing it was invented the the Russians and they are the outsiders - maybe the ex KGB or the music is a code for the nuclear asenal???
It does sound seriously crazy but after Donald Trump won only a first term election - I believe anything can happen and also the tooth fairy
@@Neo.Altair I just had an epiphany
@@Stibly share?
0:37 4:16 song name?
It's called 'Ride of the Valkyries' here is a link to a modern orchestra performing it. enjoy.
ruclips.net/video/GGU1P6lBW6Q/видео.html
The other one I believe is the Soviet airmen march.
Chiptunes before chiptunes