WOW!  VERY RARE, "modern-day vintage"
BREAKAWAY VOCALIZER 1000

I've got a hard-to-find BREAKAWAY VOCALIZER 1000 in very good condition. For those of you scouring eBay for these, the Breakaway needs no introduction.
It's a NO RESERVE auction. Happy bidding!

For everyone else I will try to explain what this amazing musical device does . . .

In a nutshell, the Breakaway Vocalizer 1000 was an early MIDI musical instrument that took the pitch from a vocalist (male or female) and played a corresponding MIDI tone in the same pitch from its onboard library of instruments. It was originally sold as a toy through Sharper Image (that's where I got mine) in the 80's. Think of it as a musical karaoke machine. You sing or hum into the microphone and out comes the sound of a violin, trumpet, etc. In addition to MIDI-tracking the main vocal input, the unit also produced a variety of accompaniments to create "original" compositions. These are typical of the Casio-inspired melodies of the 80's, but are fun nonetheless.

It's notoriety has climbed in recent years as emerging electronic musicians clamored for a means to generate MIDI sounds using only their voice. It was discovered these Breakaway "toys" were actually quite capable instruments - able to track and playback to the nearest 32nd of a semitone. The on-board tone generator was co-developed by Ensoniq, a leader in music technology back then. The unit could also track the pitch of just about any sound-producing object and generate corresponding MIDI triggers. Even today, it is sought after by harmonica players as one of the best MIDI input devices available.

As I said, this is mine. I am the original owner. This unit comes with the original pitch-bending microphone w/singing and humming mouthpieces, power supply, external cartridge with six song selections, and original instruction manual. I do NOT have the original box.

It is in very good condition and still works perfectly. Because these do not come up that often I'm setting a modest starting bid of $30.00. This is a NO RESERVE auction which should spark a lot of activity, so keep an eye on your bid and don't let this Breakaway get away!