An Avant-Garde Synthesizer From 1960s East Germany

The Subharchord is a very rare electronic instrument from East Germany, made in the early sixties. At that time, the international music world was excited by the new electronic music coming from places like the WDR Studio in Cologne. As the GDR sought to lead over the West in all aspects, they established the „Labor für Akustisch-Musikalische Grenzprobleme“ (English: Laboratory for Problems at the Acoustics/Music Interface) to develop advanced electronic sound production. There the Subharchord was created by Ernst Schreiber as the lead engineer, while the striking look was designed by Gunter Wächtler. From the beginning it faced ideological concerns, which should later spell its doom. Thanks to the Elektro-Akustische Studio at ADK Berlin I got to explore it.
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SOURCES:
www.subharchord.com
mugo.hfmt-hamburg.de/de/topic...
www.keyboards.de/stories/die-...
www.adk.de/de/akademie/e-stud...
www.hoerspielundfeature.de/da...
120years.net/the-subharchord-...
artsandculture.google.com/ass...
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikita_...

[@Hainbach]

KZbin compression does not take kindly to some of the pure resonances of this instrument, so check out my "Subharchord Studien" EP: hainbach.bandcamp.com/album/subharchord-studien

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

Starsky Carr proved that KZbin competition does not effect most audio when uploaded.

[@TheHypafrag]

That’s rich. Sounds like multiple instruments are playing at the same time. Opposed to youtube version that sounds like my neighbor drilling walls again.

[@theimperfectionist1990]

Really interesting studies! I'll stole....ahem get inspired by your ideas :D

[@bmtctbdtct5933]

​@@theimperfectionist1990LMAOOOOO

[@bmtctbdtct5933]

​@@theimperfectionist1990I'll do this too, What do you mean by simpler in Ableton?

[@madacetv]

I love it. It’s like an organ but someone replaced all the stops with little pieces of a nightmare.

[@DERAILEDbeats]

thats such a cool way of describing it

[@flekkzo]

Definitely sounds like it can be used in a horror movie.

[@PutItAway101]

Seems about right for East Germany

[@rw31415]

Excellent comment (very funny)

[@mrkitty777]

It's not purring it ain't no kitty 😢

[@lmoore3rd]

Love the knobs, looks like a pipe organ with gas stove controls. Set the Diapason 8' to 350 F degrees for 15 minutes.

[@inthefade]

Or a gas stove with pipe organ controls. I'm not sure.

[@HunterShows]

"Under communism, we couldn't get organ knobs, so we went to an appliance factory..."

[@slowbro1337]

Look like some synth Love Hultén would make. It's gorgeous.

[@andrewiantorno6942]

As someone who loves industrial/industrial noise and ambient music. This old man of a machine...is something to behold..

[@confustled]

agreed! check out portal 2's soundtrack if you haven't, it's full of the same vibes, very underrated imo

[@vha42]

We have one in Norway, the Norwegian Broadcasting NRK (we just had one at that time) used it for radio play and sound effects. Someone there must have been DDR fans since we also had “Unser Sandmännchen” now and then in the 30 minutes of Children TV we had in the 70/80s, the grand amount theNational broadcaster thought where sufficient. Anyway the one in Norway have been restored and they co made a documentary about it. Must find the Biosphere performance again

[@alienmachine]

This definitely needs to be your next plugin, Hainbach 😁

[@bazdesh]

even just the filtering/external processing thing

[@Byron101_]

even with envelopes!!! would by it in a minute!!! Audiothing ??? ❤

[@blackrazorus]

+1 to this. Please do it, Hainbach!

[@DylancJones999]

Was just googling to see if anything like this exists? Anybody know of anything that has its own "MEL filter"?

[@rickk4990]

@@DylancJones999 With Eurorack, there are fixed filter banks and spectral processors (banks of band pass filters) which can do the same thing and more. The closest one might be the "Bark Filter Processor" by Verbos Electronics, whose filters are set at what they call the Bark scale which they describe similar to how the MEL is set up.

[@hundovir]

The sort of instrument to score the weird children's fairy tales from Eastern Europe that we used to get here in the UK in the 1960s. Would be great for "The Singing Ringing Tree".

[@verficationaccount]

My god. My father had a tiny role in that movie. I never would have guessed that someone beyond the german borders even knew about that film.

[@hundovir]

@@verficationaccount Oh! I didn't realise it was a film - it was broadcast on British TV as a series. Ah yes - just checked Wikipedia which mentions this. Indelibly on my memory from the 1960s!

[@hundovir]

And how about this? The name must be inspired by the film! kzbin.info/www/bejne/moO8nZWipr2Io80

[@hundovir]

@@verficationaccount A tiny part? Was he the dwarf? ;-)

[@verficationaccount]

@@hundovir no, of course not! My childhood would have been much more difficult then I imagine ;-) He held the horse of one of the royals. He was terrified of that animal but still proud of this role he had as a child.

[@svetlovska]

I was trying to explain Hainbach to a non musical friend when this dropped. Peak Hainbach! :)

[@RogerWarszawa]

I was enjoying this crazy instrument, but I wasn't totally blown away... and then the "rhythmitizer" was engaged and those pulses started. Oh yes please, more of that! 😍

[@simoncardie9371]

It sounds like a Tarkovsky soundtrack. I love it!

[@TheDigisystem]

Yes! My first association - sound just like russian ANS - synthesizer (built in 1958-59), and Tarkovsky was used it with his composers from time to time.

[@butterylabs]

It's almost like someone watched several HAINBACH videos .. travelled back in time ......and made an instrument just for you =) ..

[@Rr0gu3_5uture]

This is they type of synth I'd use if I was hired to score a Jan Švankmajer film!

[@massebassepearpung]

Looks like something from the 70s sci-fi serie "Space 1999". And sounds like it as well. Love it!!! 🙂

[@ChrisHopkinsBass]

Major mid 60s BBC Radiophonic Workshop vibes or even early 70s VCS3

[@doctorc-ton1099]

It sounds a bit like the Radiophonic Workshop in the 60s, with the strange atmospheric tones. Totally seems suited for dark outer space sounds/music. You really brought it to life to make something new and approaching familiar "Hainbachian" territory. Thanks for sharing!

[@bitegoatie]

You're just a magnet for all sorts of unwanted, forgotten, but fabulous gear, Hainbach, my man. Lucky thing you share this bounty with us. This one must have made quite an impression on the few tech-willing musicians to encounter it as a new instrument. Even with the clunky keyboard and some lapsed functionality, it still grabs one's attention. Thanks for the video.

[@ROESTIG_]

wow one of the most beautiful synths i've ever seen! looks like a piece of equipment from an old sci-fi movie

[@dav1dbone]

You could direct the trains at Helsinki Station with that machine.

[@AviPFine]

almost has modular or additive type sounds going on there. very interesting.

[@pawnotdaw4559]

Beautiful design and perfect synth for 50’s SciFi soundtracking

[@ChurchOfTheHolyMho]

Oh Wow did that thing make some fantastic sounds!

[@rp8564]

Man some of those cricket sounds it makes are lovely!

[@scouthanamura2380]

it's like the biggest most beautiful cricket there ever was

[@SPINNINGMYWHEELS777]

wow that's the ultimate ambient machine

[@xsm5525]

this synth is so futuristic, it travelled forward in time to mimic the 56k modem!

[@MichaelUhler]

SUBHARCHORD plugin! Make it happen Hainbach!

[@roxyamused]

The piano through the MEL was another level that I wish I could make without a ultra rare early 60's East German synth. It reminded me of when I composed for a John Cage style prepared piano. Some of the keys sound like that but not the whole keyboard! So pretty.

[@Bobbias]

I was thinking the same thing. It had a similar weird buzz that's oddly reminiscent of prepared piano.

[@Rompler_Rocco]

I thought this was a teeny-tiny, toy-like thing judging by the teaser pic! But what a beast!!😮

[@leihladenfulda2421]

Ein Labor für Akustische Grenzprobleme ... fantastisch, ich liebe diese Bezeichnung, auch wenn die DDR sicher noch ganz andere Grenzprobleme hatte. Danke wieder mal für ein kleines Stück Musikgeschichte ... mit dem durchaus liebevollen Blick auf die technischen Errungenschaften des Sozialismus. LG jt

[@rameka78]

This is like a torture synth, but sounds beautiful and eery

[@thewaldfe9763]

Maybe it's the origin of the Havana syndrome 😅

[@kennyblackbird5674]

Super brilliant proto synth!!!

[@AlexBallMusic]

"The Subharchord is a rare, Avant Garde synthesizer from East Germany, made in the early 60s" With that, I knew this was going to be great, and it was!

[@retrosound72]

Zu hören in den DEFA Filmen Spuk unterm Riesenrad

[@bricology]

This just might be my favorite, most covet-worthy instrument you have ever featured in a video. I love *_everything_* about it. Oh, to be rich and be able to commission a copy of this wonderful contraption!

[@PeranMe]

Absolutely fascinating! Thank you so much for showing off these fantastic machines! Keep being awesome!

[@2.7petabytes]

What an absolutely wonderful synthesizer! Thank you so much for demonstrating it for us Hainbach!

[@megaohmaudio5963]

Beautiful colors... Visual AND audio!

[@cosmosynthesizer]

Man! The design of the knobs and the colours. As a graphic designer I'm totally hooked. And the sound is really inspiring. Someone HAS to make a plugin from this piece. Great!

[@alexgrunde6682]

Absolutely love the design aesthetic. Obviously not the most ergonomic, but the form has a look and feel that’s downright artistic. Also fascinated by the MEL scale filter, are there modern instruments or plug ins that do that?

[@kimwjustice]

> Obviously not the most ergonomic Watching Hainbach play the instrument, I kept thinking he needed two more hands. :)

[@MrCrrispy]

Chernobyl synth 🙂

[@rickk4990]

With Eurorack, there are fixed filter banks and spectral processors. The closest one is probably the "Bark Filter Processor" by Verbos Electronics, its band pass filters are set up similarly.

[@PhillipRaymondGoodman]

The way it filtered that piano was just gorgeous, I'm not certain if I've ever heard anything that comes close to that effect, if I did it was probably on your channel

[@VincentPresley]

Amazing. I could just sit and listen to that thing for hours.

[@DavidPasajero]

Super nice sound ! ❤

[@ViniciusRodrigues-nk4bs]

Of all things I've seen you resuscitate, and discover, this has to be the strangest, most wildly musical noise box. I would love to own this very unit.

[@denis_lengart]

Amazing sounds, very warm and natural.

[@johntait5141]

Very cool instrument 🎸 & a very cool presentation with some history to it. Always like your videos.

[@cmd_f5]

I love the rhythmic stuff when you turned the generator way downg. It's like .... electric rain or something.

[@DrTomoculus]

I subscribed to your channel because of this instrument. I love it!!!!

[@HeathcliffBlair]

Fantastic sounding and looking instrument. Totally unknown to me until now. Thanks. 🙂

[@mongobigmuff]

That is a beautiful instrument. I love the sound, the looks, everything!

[@BenCDaugherty]

Such a cool instrument! Sounds so eerie and unique

[@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER]

Ooh dang that's saucy! And nice tshirt 😂!!!

[@michaelkonomos]

Well done as always. "Broken but singing" describes a lot of us, I think.

[@christianlamalle8758]

Fantastic and mysterious sound ! And the design ! 😯

[@arthurq7255]

Hmmm, was für eine geniale "Soundkiste" - Instrument der besonderen Art...Man konnte dierekt sehr viel Klassiker Sounds hören....vielen Dank für das kennenlernen dieses Urgesteins an Instument. Und erwänterweise, ich hatte das Glück, Oskar Sala und die Tochter vom Karavwin ( Theremin )1997 in Berlin kurzzeitig kennen lernen zu können..Es war eine Klangausstellung der besonderen Art, wo wir die Ehre und den Raum hatten, dort und im Internet, weltweit die erste molekulare Verbindungen in Klang umsetzten zu können...- Doch die größte Ehre war es, mit Herrn Sala technische Worte zu wechseln.. ......mhG aus Berlin

[@reptilespantoso]

Very, very cool. And .. omg that Neumann desk. 😍

[@Hainbach]

Yeah that desk is a dream

[@JohnnyReading]

I swear I've heard these sounds on Broadcast records.

[@Reverb]

Love at first sight 😍

[@withak30]

Can't believe it costs one euro just to use the hold feature.

[@idj20]

Klaus Schutze would have loved that instrument given the kind of sounds it made.

[@TheScreamingFrog916]

This is so fun! I love unusual musical instruments, and synthesizers, and Hainbach does not disappoint. Cool that you pointed out the similarity, to the Moog Subharmonicon (which I have). Thanks so much for sharing this 🙂

[@DanielGBenesScienceShows]

I would absolutely love a tour of the _inside_ of that amazing machine! The few glimpses you gave us under the hood made me giddy.

[@sth242]

This is what the RUMPELKAMMER-Intro back then lacked from.

[@l00kns33]

I just Googled the MEL scale filter and it seems to basically be a logarithmic filterbank, where the frequency bands are closer at the low end and spreads out at the high end. And the triangular filters are very sharp and straight (no resonace) bandpass filters. This must have been implemented in different software emulations and possibly even hardware. But then again there is a lot of other variables in that old thing adding that certain something that one might not be able to find elsewhere. Very interesting. And cool design with the color choices too.

[@dedicatedspuddler7641]

It's beautiful.

[@rossminet]

And this is just the desktop version.

[@YungCortex]

this is soooooo sick wow

[@Jefflantern483]

That East German synthesizer has a nice gnarly sound to it! 🙂🎵

[@alaksandrporakh601]

Sounds amazing ✨✨✨

[@bricelory9534]

Man, you playing with the Mel filters was doing something to my brain I think - when you flipped some of the switches, I felt something in my ears kind of flip too. It was bizarre. Fascinating instrument!

[@nolanroube1009]

Wow ! I love it !

[@zmix]

Very interesting..! Fascinating bit of history to learn that the MEL filter was used to wreck a nice beach..!

[@amyragan157]

jawdropping, so reminiscent of the French work going on at the same time through Radigue & Schaeffer and their contemporaries. The MEL tonalities omg, what a dream for electroacoustica.

[@Herfinnur]

You really pulled out something special from inside you with this instrument, Hainbach. It's like proper, modern 2023 classical music. Not that classical is somehow above everything else, of course, but it is rare that a current piece with nerve and emotion simultaneously feels like classical music. First I was annoyed that it's so short that it stops before I can totally swim away in the sounds, but then I figured out (I'm such a genius) that it is impervious to overplay so now it's just running on repeat.

[@danielortizdecaracas]

OMG a white elephant for lofi grooves, incredible cinematic machine, thnaks mr hainbach

[@pheotus]

I love this

[@veloopity]

Lovely

[@digitale-grundbildung]

Really looking forward to your gig i Cafe Wolf in Graz on the 23rd of November.

[@studiobrootle]

Loving these videos. Would love to see some more test equipment ones too 🖖

[@BorisKraft]

Saw Nils Frahm play one in Berlin earlier this year, it sounded amazing! Cool that you had a chance to play around with it.

[@nonameforareason]

This is such a great Instrument, thank you so much for sharing all this great sounds and information! Just downloaded your Subharchord-Studien, so mindblowing!!! Would be so great to have this thing as an virtual instrument or at least this MEL filter as an plugin!!!

[@Hainbach]

Thank you!

[@atuanoiniin]

Wow! What a cool machine. Sounds amazing!!

[@octatonicgardenmarcospi4978]

Fantastic piece of history. Interesting to know the realities of living behind the Soviet experiment.

[@java4653]

Ushana Show is a great personal KZbin channel from a Russian GenX aged immigrant. Really detailed & interesting.

[@vanshake669]

Que alegría vuelva a funcionar el Subharchord!! Es una gran historia la de este instrumento. Me gusto mucho el video. Gracias por compartirlo! Abrazo!

[@unadomandaperte]

Akademie der Künste, The womb that nurtured Ralf and Florian? I wouldn't be surprised if they had an opportunity to explore the Subharchord there, helping to set them on the path to the Autobahn. ❤❤❤❤

[@johanmalm8378]

A playable nuclear powerplant control desk. Lovely!

[@paulholmes6910]

Wha t an amazing machine, awesome!

[@hattree]

Sometimes I imagine Hainbach putting his hands on the keyboard and playing something uptempo.

[@arunca190]

Looks like a cooler and giant Critter & Guitari Organelle.

[@mr.kilpatrick2991]

very cool

[@digitaldesigner5284]

Fantastic instrument.

[@user-we2bk6qb3n]

Thank God the Moog finally came along.

[@Gulleization]

Dude… I love this stuff, I wish some day I could collect obscure synths and make KZbin videos as well.

[@sn1000k]

Hainbach does it so we don't have to

[@pariaheep]

Super Intriguing! Is this what is called Retro Futuristic? Wonderful video Hainbach!

[@MrCrrispy]

Never heard of this machine before, great.

[@ingolf7411]

There were lots of unusual and exciting instruments in former times. The Trautonium, this Subharchord and many others. Some of those concepts would be nice in todays electronic instruments (the Moog Subharmonicon was a real gem in that sense). Great presentation of those wonderful sounds.

[@neonwind]

I need one!

[@jungstrauma4]

ja cool- wieder ein neues lieblingsalbum:) vielen dank

[@Hainbach]

Das freut mich!

[@Moon-kr1pw]

Great!

[@hazysativa3045]

This thing is amazing, very dark industrial tones

[@MetalHeadAZ]

that is super rad!!

[@Scodiddly]

Looks like something Love Hulten built!

[@zaprodk]

Pretty good play on the name. Genius!