Clair Omar Musser

Clair Omar Musser (1901–1998) was a marimba virtuoso, a conductor and promoter of marimba orchestras, a composer, a teacher, a designer of keyboard percussion instruments, an inventor, and an engineer for Hughes Aircraft.

Musser was born in Pennsylvania and began to study the xylophone in the 5th grade. Upon witnessing a performance of Teddy Brown playing marimba with the Earl Fuller's Rector Novelty Orchestra, Musser was inspired to study with Brown's former teacher, Philip Rosenweig. Musser soon became recognized as a virtuoso in his own right, performing as a soloist, with orchestras, and in an early Warner Bros. Vitaphone film.

Musser's first major project as a designer was a unique instrument called the Marimba-Celeste, built at the J.C. Deagan, Inc. factory in Chicago. Essentially, the instrument combined a marimba and a vibraphone, with a built-in amplification system for the lower marimba keys. Musser toured with this instrument between 1927 and 1930.

Some time between 1949 and 1950, Musser designed and built a predecessor to the drum machine, alliteratively called the "Musser Maestro Marimba Metron", or more simply the "Rhythm Machine." The machine, used by Musser to accompany performances and lessons, measures 1.5 feet wide and about 3 feet square. Manufactured using vacuum tube technology, it plays 13 electronically generated rhythmic accompaniments such as the bolero, waltz, rhumba, cha-cha, tango, samba, and beguine. In addition to the pre-set loops, percussion sounds can be activated using push-button controls, which show wear from Musser operating them with his mallets while playing.

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