Matt's Gearspace

Render from Modartt's Hohner Collection for Pianoteq, authorised by Hohner. Photo: © Modartt, via Modartt, trimmed and resized.

Hohner

Hohner Clavinet D6

Discontinued 1979Released 1971

The sound of funk. Sixty steel strings under the keys, each fretted by a rubber pad, which is why it bites and why it stops dead when you let go. Six rocker switches to the left set the tone (Brilliant, Treble, Medium, Soft) and pick which of the two pickups you hear, and a mute slider on the right damps the strings for the choppy sound everybody copies.

Specifications

General

Manufacturer
Hohner
Status
Discontinued
Released
1971

Keyboard

Keys
60
Key action
Synth-action
Aftertouch
None
Keybed
60 keys, F1-E6

Sound

Tone source
Strings
Sound engine
Electro-mechanical: a rubber tip on the end of each key presses a tensioned steel string down onto an anvil, fretting it like a guitar. Two sets of magnetic pickups, switchable, read the string.
Polyphony
Full polyphony (60 notes)
Features
Two switchable pickup sets, Four tone rockers: Brilliant, Treble, Medium, Soft, Mechanical mute slider, No sustain pedal

Connections

Outputs
1/4-inch unbalanced

Heard on

Artists and records that used it, as Hohner tells it.

  • Stevie Wonder, “Superstition”
  • Herbie Hancock, “Chameleon”

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    Keys
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    Keys
    61
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    Synth-action
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