Electronic harmonicas

Hohner electric harmonica prototype, courtesy harmonica museum

The idea of an electric harmonica goes back to the 1920s. Pat Missin created  a very informative page about this topic. He also shows a picture of the Hohner  electronic harmonica prototype from the late 1970s. The prototype still exists. I had the fortune to take a picture of it at the harmonica museum in Trossingen, Germany. Unfortunately, nobody at Hohner can provide any information about its history. On top of that, the connector cable is nowhere to be found. Without that cable it is not possibility to get it to work. I would have loved to hear how it sounds.
The first really useful electric/midi harmonica was the Millioniser 2000, invented by Walt Miller. You can find the full story story about it online. It was quite an advanced technology for its time.

The DM48, developed by Erik Lekholm is the most recent addition to the world of electric harmonicas. The DM48 is a MIDI controller and needs to be connected to an external MIDI device.