General Information

Serial #

Prototype

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

aluminum bars/ non-ferrous metal hardware/ synthetic? cord/ wood base/ synthetic feet

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

109.8 cm

Width

75.0 cm

Height

21.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Communications

Category

Music

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Hoffert Deagan

Country

North America

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Unknown

Period

1969 +

Canada

Part of a collection of electronic equipment for musical composition, performance and recording owned and used by Canadian Paul Hoffert, composer, musician, author, researcher, entrepreneur and arts administrator. American born, he came to Canada as a child and his career has encompassed many areas of the Canadian music business, including working as a jazz pianist, CBC music director and performer, educator, manufacturer of stereo equipment, music producer, and film composer. In the late 1960s he worked for a short time as a researcher in Hugh LeCaine's electronic music lab at NRC, where he wrote a computer program for music analysis and developed a solid-body electric violin. In 1968 Hoffert and rock drummer Skip Prokop, formed the very successful jazz-rock band Lighthouse (1969-1974, 1982, 1993-present), which earned one platinum record and four gold records and received three Juno awards between 1971 and 1973 In 1977 Hoffert received a Canadian Film Award (later known as a Genie) for best original musical score for the movie "Outrageous!". He also headed the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, the Guild of Canadian Film and Television Composers,and the Ontario Council for the Art. In 1995 he was inducted into the Canadian Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2009 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.

Function

An instrument used to produce musical tones by converting the vibration of tuned metal bars into an electrical signal.

Technical

The Hoffert collection consists of approximately 25 pieces of electronic equipment for musical composition, performance and recording. These range from iconic keyboard instruments of the 1970s, to a variety of digital devices from the 1980s, to computer software from the early 1990s. These were used either for stage performances, especially during his years in the jazz rock band Lighthouse, or for work in his home studio. The vibraphone is a percussion instrument consisting of 36 tuned metal bars that are struck with mallets. Under the bars are tuned resonator pipes for added depth and electric fans, which provide vibrato. Developed by Jack Deagan of Chicago in 1927, the "vibraharp", vibraphone or vibes became popular with some jazz musicians, among them Lionel Hampton. With the electrification of jazz and popular music in the 1960s, vibraphonists were faced with the difficulty of amplifying these instruments. This was difficult to do with a microphone because the mike had to be placed so far away from the instrument to equally pick up the sound from each bar that it also produced feedback from the other sounds of the stage. As a stage and studio percussionist and a performer in a jazz rock band, this was a pressing issue for Paul Hoffert. In his early Lighthouse recordings and performances he used an acoustic vibraphone, but in 1969 he collaborated with the J.C. Deagan company to build a prototype of an electric vibraphone. This consisted of aluminum bars supplied by Deagan. To the underside of each bar Deagan engineers, on Hoffert's advice, had attached a piezo-electric pickup, which converted the vibrations of the bar into an electrical signal. Hoffert mounted the bars on a frame he built from wood and ABS plastic tubing from Canadian Tire. The electrical signal was fed through an amplifier and could be altered by various electronic effects devices Among these effects was vibrato, which in a conventional vibraphone were provided by electric fans. The vibrato circuit was again Hoffert's idea. This was the first prototype of the Deagan ElectraVibe.

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

incised lettering on bars reads 'J.C. DEAGAN, INC./ CHICAGO/ MADE IN U.S.A.' and 'DEAGAN/ No 515/ ELECTRAVIBE'

Missing

unknown

Finish

grey metal bars/ black cord/ black painted and unpainted wood base/ black synthetic feet

Decoration

N/A