Having almost hoarder-like tendencies towards old instruments, I now want to get one of these for myself.
"Like a good hook, attenuation is something that’s felt and experienced by the listener, in addition to merely being heard. “By attenuation I mean ‘sound shaping,’” explains Blanke, “the envelope, vibrato, and dynamic-volume changes that, when combined with pitch, give a sound its ‘shape.’ In synthesizer terms, attenuation happens in the attack, decay, sustain, and release, or ADSR. It’s what makes a sound start slow, build up, and end smoothly, like a bowed violin versus one that’s plucked. Attenuation is what was missing from the harpsichord and led to the invention of the pianoforte, which means soft (piano) and loud (forte). Unlike the harpsichord, which was all forte, the pianoforte could do both, which made it a much more expressive instrument.”"While the article is an interesting read, it takes a strange turn about 3/4 of the way through.
"In grim financial straits, Meek was also fearful he’d be implicated in a sensational murder for which homosexual men were being rounded up as suspects—the male victim had been sexually assaulted before being chopped to pieces and packed into a couple of suitcases. Meek’s homosexuality, which was illegal in England at the time, was known to authorities—in 1963, he’d been fined for “importuning for immoral purposes.” Down on his luck, depressed, and obviously panicked, Meek killed his landlady, and then himself."Via: The Otherworldly Sounds of the Clavioline, From Musical Saw to Wailing Cat | Collectors Weekly