Editing Denis d'or (section)

==Properties of the instrument==
The Denis d'or was reported to have 14 [[Register (music)|registers]], most of which were twofold, and its complex mechanism fitted in a symmetrical wooden cabinet equipped with a keyboard and a pedal. It was about {{convert|150|cm|ft|abbr=on}} long, {{convert|90|cm|ft|abbr=on}} wide, and {{convert|120|cm|ft|abbr=on}} high. Basically, it was a [[chordophone]] not unlike a [[clavichord]]—in other words, the strings were struck, not plucked. The suspension and the tautening of the allegedly 790 metal strings was described as more elaborate than a clavichord. The mechanism which had been worked out by Diviš was such that the Denis d’or could imitate the sounds of a variety of other instruments, including chordophones such as [[harpsichord]]s, [[harp]]s, [[lute]]s and [[wind instrument]]s. This was mainly owing to the responsiveness and combinability of the stops, which permitted the player to vary the sound in multiple ways, thereby generating far more than a hundred different tonal voices altogether.

Finally, the novelty instrument produced electric shocks as practical jokes on the player. When the German theologian Johann Ludwig Fricker (1729–1766) visited Diviš in 1753 and saw the Denis d'or with his own eyes, he referred to it in a journal of the [[University of Tübingen]]<ref>''Tübingische Berichte von gelehrten Sachen'', XXX, July 1754, p. 395.</ref> as an "Electrisch-Musicalische[s] Instrument"—the literal translation of which is "electric musical instrument".

It is disputed whether the Denis d'or sounds were also produced by electricity or if it was an otherwise acoustical instrument like the clavichord. Allegedly, Diviš could charge the iron strings with electricity in order to enhance the sound quality. This would be a possible explanation for effects that the audience perceived as electric in nature and might have been achieved with [[Leyden jar]]s or similar equipment commonly used in early research on electricity.<ref name="sitter">Peer Sitter: [http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/muwi/fricke/303sitter.pdf ''Das Denis d'or: Urahn der 'elektroakustischen' Musikinstrumente?'' (The Denis d'or: ancestor of electro-acoustic instruments?)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160103225303/http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/muwi/fricke/303sitter.pdf |date=2016-01-03 }} (collection of descriptions of the instrument in German)</ref>