Birotron

The Birotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument designed as a successor to the similar Mellotron, and financed by Rick Wakeman.

The Birotron was named after its inventor, Dave Biro, and developed with investment from regular Mellotron player Rick Wakeman.^[1][2] Like the Mellotron, the instrument produced sounds from magnetic tape, but it used eight-track tape in a loop. As such tapes never need rewinding, this avoided the problem that the Mellotron had, where a sound would stop playing after around eight seconds.^[1]

The instrument has 37 keys and features 19 eight-track cartridges. Tapes could be easily exchanged or replaced, and it was intended that musicians could add their own sound library recordings to the instrument.^[3]

Biro first started designing a tape-replay instrument in 1974 after hearing Wakeman play the Mellotron on Tales from Topographic Oceans by Yes.^[4] He used the keyboard from an old piano and parts from a local hardware store, plus a set of automotive eight-track decks from a junkyard.^[3] Biro built the prototype in his father's garage with "no plans, no drawings. nothing. All I remember is that absolutely no one thought it could work".^[4] Despite several faults, Biro and his manager Ed Cohen showed it to Wakeman who was so impressed by the endless loop feature that he turned to them and stated: "How would you like to make some money with this thing?" ^[4] Wakeman invested in the instrument by setting up a factory and technical team to research and develop the instrument. As part of the deal, Wakeman retained full rights with an offer of compensation to Biro should the instrument become successful.^[5] Development progressed in 1975, when Biro and Birotronics technicians Neil Bemrose, Stuart Osborne, Tony Merrill, Roger Rogers, and Alan Shepherd helped produce a revised and improved model at 'Birotronics Ltd.' Wakeman's factory and rehearsal facility run by business partner and CEO Peter Robinson in High Wycombe, England.^[6]

The Birotron was announced in September 1975 and marketed by Complex 7, a group of companies that Wakeman directed to help build and market the instrument alongside Packhorse Road Case Company.^[7][8] Peter Robinson was in charge of operations.^[9] Over 1000 advance orders (totaling over one million dollars in paper) came in from charting major music artists such as John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Keith Emerson, Rod Argent of the The Zombies, John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin, Roger Whittaker, Captain and Tennille, Rod Stewart, Patrick Moraz of the Moody Blues, Uriah Heep, The Beach Boys, Vangelis, Gary Wright, Chicago, Tangerine Dream, The Faces, Klaus Schulze, Dudley Moore, Synergy, and Elton John.^[1][3] Wakeman used the instrument on his solo album Criminal Record and on Yes's Tormato.^[10]

In late 1978, Wakeman said that no more than 30 to 35 unfinished models had been built, (a number surpassing other Birotronics employee counts estimating only 13 to 17 models were ever fully completed), and the instrument performed to his satisfaction in a studio setting. But problems arose when it was used on tour with Yes a year prior. Its precise voltage requirements made it unsuitable for use in countries outside the UK, and a decision had yet to be made to either produce several models to work on different voltages, or add a built-in transformer.^[10] Wakeman said a key problem was that the instrument had "teething problems" that did not bother him, but would be unacceptable to the general public.^[1] A further problem was the increasing popularity of string synthesizers, and digital technology in the form of the computer chip which was now used by emerging competitors like the Fairlight CMI system which would render the Birotron immediately obsolete because of its' reliance on 8 track cartridges as a sound storage medium. Its' association with art and progressive rock as opposed to the emerging new wave and punk music movements at that time was also a possible marketing challenge. Ultimately, very few models were ever built to completion and no one in fact actually knows how many Birotrons were made, as the instrument never entered mass production. The instruments' many unusual parts (such as iron bracing, tape headblocks, perfectly symmetrical capstans, and motor-tachometer units) were only made by singular companies who could not mass produce these parts timely or inexpensively, and Wakeman later said he lost around £50,000 (upwards of half a million dollars in today's money) in the investment.^[11]

Despite receiving over 1000 orders worldwide, the only musicians other than Wakeman to have actually received a Birotron are Tangerine Dream (who bought two), Klaus Schulze and professor Tom Rhea. This rendered the Birotron to become the rarest instrument in the world to be used on albums, tours, and a top charting hit single before its' sudden disappearance within the music industry. As of 2019^[update], only two working models are known to exist.^[11]

• Eight Track Heaven - Birotron page featuring an interview with Rick Wakeman
• Dave Biro Interview NAMM Oral History Library (2013)