Published
Sun, Jul 2, 2006, 12:00
- All together now – Autobaaahn. Kraftwerk fans rejoice! The hunk of metal and dials that the band custom built to produce THAT VOICE in 1974 has gone up for sale on eBay.
All together now – Autobaaahn. Kraftwerk fans rejoice! The hunk of metal and dials that the band custom built to produce THAT VOICE has gone up for sale on eBay.
Elvis junkies visit Graceland, metal fans catch drumsticks at concerts and electronic music geeks collect bizarre machines with huge dials and knobs that wouldn’t look out of place on an episode of The Tomorrow People. If you’re one of those obsessive types, or the kind of nut who makes a pilgrimage to Düsseldorf to track down the elusive electronic bicyclists, item number 300001522431 on eBay will make you wet your pants.
Described as “the mother of all transistorized vocoders”, this green metal meanie is the very same machine pictured on the back cover of Kraftwerk’s 2nd LP 'Ralf & Florian'. It was also used on the classic 23-minute cut ‘Autobahn’, which broke the band internationally and marked their transition from traditional instrumentation to all electronics.
RA is not sure if it comes with a guarantee and this one-of-a-kind monster is now 33 years old so any prospective buyers should be handy with a soldering iron.
What's certain is that the guy (and surely it will be a guy just as the sun will rise tomorrow) who snatches up this slice of electronic music history will be digging deep for the privilege - current bid stands at $7600 and counting...