Solovox

musical instrument

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July 14, 2026

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The Solovox was an electronic musical instrument invented by Laurens Hammond in 1940. It was designed as an attachment for a piano keyboard, allowing amateur players to add organ-like or orchestral sounds to their music.1

The Solovox was a monophonic instrument, meaning it could only produce one note at a time. It featured a small keyboard and was intended to be mounted directly below a piano's keyboard. Players could select a variety of timbres by adjusting tablet-shaped switches on the instrument's front. This innovation was part of a broader trend in the post-World War II era, where electronic instruments became increasingly popular, offering new sonic possibilities beyond traditional acoustic instruments.23

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electronic instrument
Post-World War II electronic instruments
The Hammond Solovox, Constant Martin’s Clavioline, and Georges Jenny’s Ondioline are examples of commercially produced monophonic (capable of generating only one note at a time) electronic instruments. These instruments used small keyboards and were designed to mount immediately under the keyboard of a piano. They were capable…
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The Hammond Solovox, Constant Martin’s Clavioline, and Georges Jenny’s Ondioline are examples of commercially produced monophonic (capable of generating only one note at a time) electronic instruments. These instruments used small keyboards and were designed to mount immediately under the keyboard of a piano. They were capable…
Read More

Laurens Hammond
His later inventions included the Solovox (1940), an attachment to the piano keyboard designed to enable the amateur player to augment the melody with organ-like or orchestral sounds, and the chord organ (1950), on which chords are produced simply by touching a panel button.
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His later inventions included the Solovox (1940), an attachment to the piano keyboard designed to enable the amateur player to augment the melody with organ-like or orchestral sounds, and the chord organ (1950), on which chords are produced simply by touching a panel button.
Read More