Lyricon

The Lyricon is an electronic wind instrument, the first Wind controller to be constructed.

Invented by Bill Bernardi (and co-engineered by Roger Noble and with former Lyricon performer Chuck Greenberg [Greenberg (2006) p.34-40] [Ingham (1998) p.184] ), it was manufactured by a company called Computone Inc in Massachusetts. The lyricon enabled instrumentalists to control a synthesizer by playing a type of electronic saxophone, the synthesizer being contained in a wooden case. Using a form of additive synthesis, the player was allowed to change between types of overtones with a key switchable between fundamentals of G, Bb, C, Eb, and F (which meant that the instrument could 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, portamento, and "timbre attack" (a type of chorusing). The lyricon used a bass clarinet mouthpiece, with a sprung metal sensor on the (non-vibrating) reed 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 to give dynamic control.

Two additional re-modelled lyricons were engineered later. First the "Wind Synthesizer Driver", which had Control Voltage 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 synthesiser. All of 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 was engineered to use MIDI (which was invented after Computone went out of business in 1980), although external MIDIfication modules were produced by JL Cooper and STEIM.

The design of the Lyricon controller was later borrowed to form the basis for Yamaha's Yamaha WX-series MIDI wind controllers.

Prominent lyriconists

* Raphael Ravenscroft plays a Lyricon solo in Gerry Rafferty's Night Owl
* Ian Anderson
* Jay Beckenstein of Spyro Gyra
* Jorrit Dijkstra
* Richard Elliot
* Kenny G [Ingham (1998) p.184]
* Sal Gallina
* Chuck Greenberg of Shadowfax
* Arranger and saxophonist Tom Scott played the lyricon [Ingham (1998) p.184] on Steely Dan's 1977 hit single Peg (later sampled by De La Soul in "Eye Know") from "Aja", and on My Rival, from "Gaucho". He has also released several solo albums where he plays the lyricon, and played it on many sessions, including albums by Quincy Jones, The Grateful Dead's 1977 LP "Terrapin Station" and on his theme for "Starsky and Hutch".
* Jack Lancaster was an early adopter, playing lyricon on several solo albums in the 1970s
* Roland Kirk
* Yusef Lateef
* Andy Mackay of Roxy Music
* Benny Maupin
* Dan Michaels of The Choir
* Lenny Pickett
* Courtney Pine
* David Roach
* Wayne Shorter of Weather Report plays lyricon on ‘Three Clowns’ from "Black Market". [Ingham (1998) p.184]
* Bruno Spoerri
* Michał Urbaniak
* John L. Walters of Landscape and Zyklus [Ingham (1998) p.184]

References

* Greenberg, Joy (2006) "A Pause in the Rain" ISBN 1-60145-018-4
* Ingham, Richard (1998) "The Cambridge Companion to the Saxophone" ISBN 0-52159-666-1
* ‘The Search For Expression’ by John L. Walters "Sound on Sound" magazine, September 1987

External links

* [http://www.patchmanmusic.com/lyriconrepair.html Lyricon Repair Info]
* [http://www.jorritdijkstra.com/thelyricon.html Jorrit Dijkstra on the lyricon]
* [http://www.obsolete.com/120_years/machines/lyricon/ The lyricon at obsolete.com]
* [http://www.patchmanmusic.com/WindControllerFAQ.html The Wind Controller FAQ]