Mu-Tron

a manufacturer of electronic musical effects

Musitronics, often shortened to Mu tron, was a manufacturer of electronic musical effects active in the 1970s. Founded by Mike Beigel and Aaron Newman, the company's products provided filtering and processing effects and were derived from synthesizer components. The company was known for producing high quality products with many user adjustable parameters, but high production costs and a failed product line, the Gizmotron, caused its downfall. Their best known product was the Mu tron III envelope filter, "the world's first envelope controlled filter", first made in 1972 and quickly becoming an essential effect for many funk musicians. It was placed back in production again, in a modified form, in 2014.

The Musitronics Corporation of Rosemont, New Jersey was formed in 1972 by Mike Beigel and Beigel teamed up with a former Guild engineer, Aaron Newman, to save what he could, and formed Musitronics. Perhaps the best known use of it is by Stevie Wonder, who used it on his Clavinet for the song "Higher Ground". The unit could be connected to an optional rocking foot pedal so that the effect could be operated in the manner of a wah wah pedal. It was used by The Smashing Pumpkins as an integral part in achieving the "pumpkins sound" for the 1993 album Siamese Dream: "This is one of the secrets to our secret sound. This is the Mutron Biphase. We run everything through it everything. It's fabulous", said producer Butch Vig in the video documentary Vieuphoria. The Bi Phase was featured on an episode of the BBC show The Repair Shop, where a 40 year old model was restored to fully working quality.

A simpler design than the Bi phase, it included only rate and depth controls. The Phasor II introduced additional functionality brought over from the Bi Phase, as a kind of scaled down version.

The Octave Divider used the octave effect, producing tones an octave above and below the input signal. There were many clones of the original Octavia around, but Mutronics' version, designed by George Merriman, had many more adjustable parameters.

A bucket brigade flanger which offered extensive control of effect parameters.

A dual volume and wah foot operated rocking pedal with photo electric controls, and a gain boost flat screw potentiometer on the side of the chassis.

Between 1976 and 1978 Musitronics manufactured a series of modular, plug in effects for Dan Armstrong amplifiers. These included the Green Ringer, an octave effect, the Yellow Humper, a frequency booster designed for bass guitar, the Purple Peaker, a similar boost effect for electric guitar, and the Orange Squeezer, a signal compressor.

The Gizmo, also called the Gizmotron, was a device developed by Lol Creme and Kevin Godley of 10cc, and manufactured by an offshoot of Musitronics called Gizmotronics. The device used motor driven plastic wheels to produce infinitely sustained notes on a guitar. The device was problematic, and Gizmotronics entered bankruptcy before very many had been produced.