The SynthAxe is a fretted, guitar-like MIDI controller, created by Bill Aitken, Mike Dixon, and Tony Sedivy and manufactured in England in the 1980s. It uses electronic synthesizers to produce sound and is controlled through the use of an arm resembling the neck of a guitar in form and in use.
The neck of the instrument is angled upwards from the body, and there are two independent sets of strings. The fretboard is continuously scanned and sends signals to synthesizers which produce the sound. The left set determine the pitch played, through contact with the frets on the neck and by sensing the side-to-side bending of the string. The right set of strings are velocity sensitive; these strings can be plucked, strummed or damped in the same manner as a guitar’s. A keyboard made up of nine keys can also be used to trigger notes instead of the strings. An electronic tremolo bar can be used for standard whammy bar effects, or can be redefined to produce different MIDI output (e.g., filter cutoffs, volume, etc).
The Daily Omnivore 
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