# All hail the mighty Variophone...

- Site: Analog Industries
- Author: Chris Randall
- Date: 2005-12-20
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2005/12/all-hail-the-mighty-variophone/

![All hail the mighty Variophone...](https://analogindustries.com/images/blog/variophon.jpg)

Check this shit out. The Variophone was an early-80s analog synth masquerading as a wind instrument rather than a keyboard. The synthesis method was a rudimentary physical modelling, using what I assume is a Schmitt Trigger kind of oscillator. The main unit could have several modules, and each one was optimized for a particular kind of windy synthesis (viz. fagott, klein klarinette, panflötte, etc.). Check the [Variophone & Martinetta Enthusiasts Page](http://www.variophon.de/index_e.htm) for samples, descriptions and photos, and best of all, a Virtual Variophone flash presentation.

This is not to be confused with the optical-based Variophone invented by Yevgeny Alexandrovitch Sholpo in Russia in 1932, which lives on in the audio waveforms you see striped on the side of a piece of 35mm movie film.