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Long time lurker of the thread. I'm not sure if this is frowned upon here. Feel free to chastise me if it is. But I am selling my barely used chromatic harmonica (Hohner 270) in the SA Mart
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Jan 30, 2014 04:59
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I got an ocarina for 5.50$. I found it in a music store locally.  It sounds about on par with the one that my wife made out of paper. (Terrible!) At least it is a bit more solid. Too bad about shipping to Canada: Mountain ocarinas have 30$ shipping on top of a 25$ instrument and I'm not doing that. Ditto any place which sells ocarinas online, really...
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Jan 30, 2014 08:01
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No Gravitas posted:I got an ocarina for 5.50$. I found it in a music store locally. There have to be easier options than that; on eBay.ca there are Chinese and Korean instruments that ship for $5. On my phone now, but a page or two back I listed out a few of the better-quality Asian imports, clearly identifiable by how they're stamped.
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Jan 31, 2014 17:05
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It's fine, I think. Yeah, it sounds like total rear end, but at least I get to practice. The cheapest decent-looking thing I could find is in the 25$ range, and at that point I'd just want a certainty with quality. It is actually the same kind as the one that the guy on page 33 got, except mine had a different brand. Still, it is clearly the same instrument. I'm going to stick to the crapcarina for now. In a couple of months I will know about my new job and then I will spring for a Mountain Ocarina or at least for something more decent. I really think the international shipping is a major blunder for the MO people. It should not be that expensive. I'm ready to give them my money, just when I see the price of shipping exceed the price of the instrument I get rather antsy... How come it costs so much? I don't get it. It ain't fragile clay they ship. Stick it in an envelope and done. 10$, maybe?
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Jan 31, 2014 19:32
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:There are basic "bottle cap" $30 or less transducers you can stick on to most string instruments, that pick up the vibrations and turn them to electrical signals But I honestly don't know, which is why I'm asking.
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Feb 1, 2014 00:32
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This might be of interest to some in this thread. I found an old book, "Folksongs of Alabama", for $0.50 at a university library. It's a collection of traditional folk songs from Alabama as collected by a college professor back in the 30s and 40s. It's especially cool because it doesn't just record the words, it also includes the melody: I took a bunch of pictures of the first section, which you can check out here: http://imgur.com/a/4PBLw
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Feb 2, 2014 07:57
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Speaking of such, I have the Catania diatonic electric kalimba and am trying to figure out what effects pedals to buy; I'm thinking flanger, particularly a used MXR flanger; anyone have an alternate idea? You should get into modular synths, that's my main reason for wanting to get a electric kalimba D: e: (Also my reason for not being able to afford one right now. Oh, and thanks for the advice!)
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Feb 2, 2014 18:34
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philkop posted:Long time lurker of the thread. I'm not sure if this is frowned upon here. Feel free to chastise me if it is. Glad to see it sold so quick; to get some instructional value out of the experience, can you briefly tell the thread about how you came to the decision to get a Chromatic, and how you then realized you wanted one in a different diminished tuning? That might help some folks understand the CH better.  quote:Are these actually any different from a $2 piezo buzzer with a 1/4" jack connector soldered to it? I mean, if it's the same thing, $30 seems a bit steep. Apparently they're largely the same overall family; I have a Barcus Berry stick-on piezo that bought ages ago (they're like $50 now), but there are tons of inexpensive piezo "bottle cap" pickups all over the place these days. There are folks who have them on Etsy for like $10. If you know how to solder and have the tools, I imagine they must cost almost nothing to make. The cigar-box guitar players are huge into these:  quote:I really think the international shipping is a major blunder for the MO people. It should not be that expensive. I'm ready to give them my money, just when I see the price of shipping exceed the price of the instrument I get rather antsy... How come it costs so much? I don't get it. It ain't fragile clay they ship. Stick it in an envelope and done. 10$, maybe? That does seem rather odd, do STL Ocarina and Songbird Ocarina have similarly high Cannuck prices? Is it some weird customs thing? There is just so, so much CBG stuff online these days, but I can only think of a handful of times I've ever seen anyone play one in person. Are all the players just in certain parts of the country, or are they all guitarists who already have a dozen instruments and just pull out their CBG every so often? They're cheap enough and easy to make that you'd think more novice musicians would mess with them; though I think we have a couple of goons who've made them. quote:You should get into modular synths, that's my main reason for wanting to get a electric kalimba D: I had to go google up "modular synth", and I'm still somewhat confused. Some of them look scary complex, others look simpler but I don't even know what a "ribbon cable" goes into, so even those are probably ahead of me.  Can you give a quick breakdown on what a modular synth is, and how one would apply it to a kalimba? What would be a good, reasonably inexpensive, complete product and not just a PCB board and some solder, modular synth to try with a kalimba? I perused eBay and things like the $140 "Flight Of Harmony IMP" look less threatening, but that's just me eyeballing gear. EDIT: In the short-term, I'm thinking to just get an MXR flanger for my kalimba: 
TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 05:17 on Feb 4, 2014 |
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Feb 4, 2014 05:05
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I rediscovered this thread a couple of days ago and, quite honestly, I find myself slightly obsessed. I've often had thoughts about doing a solo experimental metal project with unusual instruments, and this thread has rekindled that interest. I think the one I've focused on the most is the autoharp, though the dulcimer, diddley bow, shamisen, the korg monotron and/or that stylophone, and a few others have caught my interest as well. I hope to get into this stuff whenever I have the spare money to make a purchase (or whenever I gather some materials and make myself a diddley bow to dick around on).
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Feb 4, 2014 07:48
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Can you give a quick breakdown on what a modular synth is, and how one would apply it to a kalimba? A modular synthesizer is an analog synthesizer where each individual function or stage is split into a separate module, so that you can patch them together in arbitrary configurations. A conventional mono synth usually consists of a oscillator(s) -> filter -> amplifier signal chain, with a modulation side chain usually consisting of envelopes and low frequency oscillators. So a basic modular synth has each of those functions as separate modules. Since you can patch arbitrarily, you have far more flexibility to configure modulation, tweak knobs at will, exploit feedback, combine things in ways you never see in a simple mono synth. There are developers out there that have invented some truly bizarre modules although most of the time you're better off having a solid collection of basic functions. The price you pay for that flexibility however is they are massive, expensive, difficult to use unless you internalize how each module works, have no factory patches, and if you discover something awesome you better record it because you'll never get it back once you pull a cord out. Often they're making "sound" rather than "music" which is great for atmospheric ambient drones, maybe not so great for e.g. country music. At least you'll look like a space wizard doing it.
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Feb 4, 2014 08:04
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Hawaii_Lame-O posted:I rediscovered this thread a couple of days ago and, quite honestly, I find myself slightly obsessed. I've often had thoughts about doing a solo experimental metal project with unusual instruments, and this thread has rekindled that interest. I think the one I've focused on the most is the autoharp, though the dulcimer, diddley bow, shamisen, the korg monotron and/or that stylophone, and a few others have caught my interest as well. I hope to get into this stuff whenever I have the spare money to make a purchase (or whenever I gather some materials and make myself a diddley bow to dick around on). Diddley bows are awesome because you can whip one together in 20 minutes. I ran to the hardware store and grabbed a 3 foot plank, then grabbed one of my spare mandolin strings, a beer bottle, and an old tobacco tin. A couple nails and a little block of wood to hold the bottle still and it was working great. I ended up gluing a steel nut on top of the tobacco tin to help it resonate better.  Also, it's not on your list but the sound of the jouhikko might interest you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjfgohDem-M Pekko Käppi has a lot of great songs on Youtube.
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Feb 4, 2014 08:38
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Should also mention modulars are usually mono, it takes a poo poo ton of modules to build a polyphonic patch and you're usually better off using a purpose-designed machine. As for the kalimba pedals question goes, you can also use modular synths as highly configurable signal processors as well, for all kinds of electric instruments. An analog pedal and a filter basically give you a wah-wah pedal and you can add poo poo from there. In addition to filters some specific modules useful for effects are envelope followers (detects volume level to modulate other signals), level detectors (to generate triggers for envelope generators and so on), ring modulators (to add anharmonic overtones and pitch). You can also get more exotic modules like phasors (phase shifting filters) and frequency shifters (which is an arrangement of filters, oscillators, and modulators that shifts every frequency in a signal by a certain fixed amount, which is wholly non-harmonic and completely different from a digital pitch shifter), and filter banks, which are useful for reducing or enhancing specific formants. To take a specific example, in addition to controlling a filter with a pedal you can add an envelope triggered by a level detector to the filter cutoff modulation, so you get that characteristic synth filter sweep on every pluck, and maybe add some low frequency oscillator modulation to either the filter or an amplifier to get a vibrato effect as well. It could take some investment to put it all together, though, so it sort of depends on how much you want to tweak around with synth stuff vs. buying some solid effects off the shelf. A single module generally costs more than a stomp box and you need several to do much.
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Feb 4, 2014 08:44
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quote:[lots of modular synth info] While it sounds really awesome and potentialfull, the fact that I understand so few of those words is indication to me that this would be a big step out of my field. While I wouldn't let that stop me if it was the solution to all my musical needs, its more complex than I can justify getting into at the moment since electric stuff is such a small portion of what I do. I don't even do MIDI stuff, much less analog synth, so that field will have to stay on my periphery until I find a musical need for it. drat, we got smart goons about all kinds of topics. So far as stomp-boxes, the best clip I've seen demonstrating a variety of boxes with electric kalimba is this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4R5If9_UBw. Phaser sounds pretty awesome, but I still think my highest priority is a flanger. I have Wasabi (Danelectro variant?) Overdrive and Distortion pedals, and I'm just not finding them very compelling on my kalimba. Hawaii_Lame-O posted:I rediscovered this thread a couple of days ago and, quite honestly, I find myself slightly obsessed. I've often had thoughts about doing a solo experimental metal project with unusual instruments, and this thread has rekindled that interest. I think the one I've focused on the most is the autoharp, though the dulcimer, diddley bow, shamisen, the korg monotron and/or that stylophone, and a few others have caught my interest as well. I hope to get into this stuff whenever I have the spare money to make a purchase (or whenever I gather some materials and make myself a diddley bow to dick around on). If you have time but not much cash, you absolutely need to build an electric diddley-bow and start from there. Folks that have done this before, do you recommend buying the pickups used on eBay, or better to go to a local guitar repair shop and buy a fistful of junk parts out of their spares bin? I was going to suggest looking into making our own effects pedals (distortion, fuzz, etc), but this interesting article advises that making your own pedal from new store-bought parts would run about $30-50, and that's assuming you have the tools and skills. So you're probably better off just haunting eBay for the cheapest pedals possible, or watching Craigslist for somebody dumping them. Do you already play an instrument? Do you already have an amplifier for an electric diddly bow? Amplifier are often really cheap on Craigslist since they take up space and are a pain to ship. My overall point being, getting to the point of playing an electric diddly bow with amp and pedal(s) and all could probably be in the <$50 range depending on what beater gear you can scrounge together.  diddley bow ≠ rocket science EDIT: Autoharps can be quite inexpensive on Craigslist, but make sure you read up well in advance about how to scope out used 'harps, lest you be stuck with a clunker, or having to re-felt the whole thing. And a fresh set of strings is like $50 since there are so many of them, so factor the condition/cleanability of the strings into it too. But with a little reading and watching CL you can come out of it cheap, and if you want make a cheapo transducer pickup so you can plug it into your amps and pedals. TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 06:05 on Feb 5, 2014 |
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Feb 5, 2014 05:53
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So, here is my plan for an ocarina. "Night by Noble". http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/chuya-online/item/71568/ 30$ for what some people consider the best plastic ocarina ever. 5$ shipping. Has anyone played one of those? I have thoroughly googled it and the reviews it gets are great. I'm also wondering about the tuning. A=442hz. Is that going to be a problem? Reviews say no, but I do wonder.
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Feb 6, 2014 02:44
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I'm itching to learn a new instrument, and I was wondering if I could get suggestions on what to learn. It has to be affordable for a mid-quality model first and foremost. I'm kinda looking to learn a string instrument, but woodwind would be cool too. No bows though. The weirder the better 
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Feb 6, 2014 07:40
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:While it sounds really awesome and potentialfull, the fact that I understand so few of those words is indication to me that this would be a big step out of my field. While I wouldn't let that stop me if it was the solution to all my musical needs, its more complex than I can justify getting into at the moment since electric stuff is such a small portion of what I do. I don't even do MIDI stuff, much less analog synth, so that field will have to stay on my periphery until I find a musical need for it. In your case, it's best to think of a modular system as a bigger and more open-ended effect pedal. It could be useful if you find a unique-sounding and/or deep processing module that you like (a particular filter, delay, flanger or what have you). Or if you want more modulation possibilities, like controlling the speed and regen of a flanger with, I dunno, a joystick, random settings, or with a sequence of different settings. You get the idea.
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Feb 6, 2014 14:34
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quote:So, here is my plan for an ocarina. Seems to get really good reviews; my only hangup would be whether you have to sign up for that Tenso mail account like some Ocarina Network threads mention, but the link you give mentions using EMS, does that take any special hassle? Seems to be a neat design, allegedly almost as good as ceramic but sturdier. I'll be curious to hear what you think once you get it. So far as A=440 (modern concert pitch) vs. A=442, note that A#=466hz, so A442 is only 1/13th of the way to even being the difference between a white and a black piano key. And in whatever case other buyers seem to say it's not an issue. I'd say so long as shipping sounds good it looks like a plan. quote:In your case, it's best to think of a modular system as a bigger and more open-ended effect pedal. It is intriguing, but in the short term I should probably make sure I use my electric kalimba enough to justify getting into something new and complex. So in the short term, stompbox flanger it will be. JoeCool posted:I'm itching to learn a new instrument, and I was wondering if I could get suggestions on what to learn. It has to be affordable for a mid-quality model first and foremost. I'm kinda looking to learn a string instrument, but woodwind would be cool too. No bows though. Fair enough, and this is kind of my bust for not having a clear "what we need to know" in the OP like some other megathreads (like the one for cameras, etc) have to let folks help us help them. So what we need to know from you: - What kind of music do you enjoy listening to? What genre of music do you envision yourself playing? - Do you have any existing musical skills? If so how advanced, or still basic? Either is cool, just helps to know. - What kind of playing do you want to do? Freeform kicking back on the couch and just building a groove? Joining in with friends who like to jam? Trying out a formal art genre that involves academic-style study (like learning Renaissance lute, or learning classical South Indian sarod)? Backing up your singing voice? - A big one: when you peruse through the thread, what jumps out at you? Even if it's not the exact thing you want to play, or out of your budget, too bulky for your room, etc. at least knowing what you like gives us a feel.  
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Feb 7, 2014 03:46
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Seems to get really good reviews; my only hangup would be whether you have to sign up for that Tenso mail account like some Ocarina Network threads mention, but the link you give mentions using EMS, does that take any special hassle? I had a cancer scare yesterday and I just bought the drat thing. Life's too short to play my poo poo ocarina, even though I apparently don't have cancer after all. I'm quite sick instead of deathly sick! Yay! I used my own Canadian mailing address, no Tenso required. Probably would have been cheaper, but I'm not in the mood for complications. No hassle, simple procedure. Shipping ended up 15$. I had to confirm the purchase to confirm the shipping charge. It is shipped with EMS, so I should get it in a week or so. Depends on when the seller actually ships it out. There was no small packet option, so EMS it had to be. Glad to know the pitch won't be a problem. Here is a guy playing the current model of ocarina that I have: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=KWMkw4cq54Y#t=573 The pain! He somehow manages to make that turd sound ever worse than my terrible copy. Here is a different guy playing the other ocarina that I have: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WODnLglJwiM Don't laugh, I had to start somewhere! My point being: I'm not sure how well can I compare the music made by Night to what I have right now, but I will try once it arrives. One tip for sweet potato ocarina noobs: Duct tape on the left hand pinky hole is a lifesaver. It makes the instrument a lot more ergonomic. For me the sacrifice of the highest note (that usually sounds like poo poo anyway) is very well worth it. You can always remove it later too, if you need the range and can make it sound not too terrible. EDIT: Oh no. After a nice and English run of email up to this point... This email... Nooooo!!!! quote:Gravitas No 様 Translated: "this is just a confirmation". I also don't like how they print my postal code... This will be a long week and a long wait. EDIT2: It shipped. No Gravitas fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Feb 7, 2014 |
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Feb 7, 2014 04:16
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Fair enough, and this is kind of my bust for not having a clear "what we need to know" in the OP like some other megathreads (like the one for cameras, etc) have to let folks help us help them. 1) I enjoy a lot of classic rock, but don't necessarily want to be playing it. If anything, folk music (Irish, American, Japanese,) is something I would want to get into. 2) I have a basic grasp of the ukelele (can switch between major chords reliably), as well as trumpet. Other than that no musical experience. 3) Freeform would be my ideal play style, but it would be cool to join in with friends as well. Singing voice is nonexistant 4) The fife is something that catches my eye, as well as the mandolin and especially the sanshin and its relatives.
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Feb 7, 2014 06:10
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:It is intriguing, but in the short term I should probably make sure I use my electric kalimba enough to justify getting into something new and complex. So in the short term, stompbox flanger it will be. Oh, I definitely agree with you. Modulars can be really hard to wrap your head around (it doesn't help that many common functions you see were originally derived from old lab equipment and from analog computers) and are still relatively expensive. Sure, they don't cost you the equivalent of a house anymore, but still.
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Feb 7, 2014 13:46
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Hey, yeah! The modular synth is relatively daunting and while you may read a lot about it, it really is about plugging stuff together and getting surprised most of the time. This is a shot of my rack, which I recently filled up. I've got a in/out module on the far left where I want to plug a kalimba, and use the system as an open ended effect pedal. The whole thing is a lot of expensive trial and error in the end, especially if you approach it with the attitude that expensive trial and error is to be expected. But it's open ended and fun. I got into it after spending way too much time on synth forums and the synth thread here, doing some DIY in general and more specifically building a shruthi. I was mostly joking though. The flanger seems like the way to go
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Feb 7, 2014 14:21
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:So far as A=440 (modern concert pitch) vs. A=442, note that A#=466hz, so A442 is only 1/13th of the way to even being the difference between a white and a black piano key. And in whatever case other buyers seem to say it's not an issue. I'd say so long as shipping sounds good it looks like a plan. Yeah, with most wind instruments the player can easily change the intonation by a lot more than that just on accident. If you can actually hear the difference between 440 and 442 then you will probably also be able to correct your technique to play in 440.
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Feb 7, 2014 15:49
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JoeCool posted:My bad! I didn't realize the amount of thought that should be taken when choosing an instrument. No worries, here's a few initial suggestions to mull over, and let us know if you want any of the angle changed on this. Your initial note of fife and mandolin are both pretty good options, so for a start I'd suggest picking one of those two and making a solid go of it. I wouldn't try to get too multi-instrumental at this early of a stage, so focus on picking one thing and really putting some consistent effort into it, though if you enjoy uke there's no reason not to keep playing uke casually on the side. Note the key of "consistent effort" isn't "spend weeks promising yourself you'll set an hour or two aside someday soon to practice", but rather "keep your instrument handy and pick it up at every opportunity even if you just have a few spare minutes. Ten minutes a day is way better than an hour once a week. In any case, between those two: fife has the advantage of being small, pretty good ones are still quite affordable, they fit well into a number of traditions, and the skillset almost totally crosses over with Irish/folk flute and with tinwhistle. You can't sing with a fife (which isn't your thing anyway), and you can't chord, but it's great for melody, harmonizing counter-melody, etc. Mandolin is cool because you can constantly mix it up between chording and melody, it fits into a very, very wide array of traditions/genres, and they're still pretty affordable and though not tiny are still smaller than most other popular instruments.  For mandolin, we have a megapost somewhere earlier in the thread, I think the table of contents in the OP lists where. As I recall, Rogue mandolins have a good rep on MandolinCafe for being a surprisingly decent dirt-cheap starter. Like $75, crazy cheap. Though you may want to shop around to spend a little more money to buy one from a seller who actually knows instruments and properly checks out, QCs, tweaks each mando before it ships. As opposed to just jimmying open the crate from China and chucking one into a box to ship to you. Alternately, you can buy one as cheap as you can, and take it to your local luthier for $50 or whatever of tweaking and settup there. If you want a nicer mando, we can check around here, or the NMD:ML subforum's mando thread, or MandolinCafe to get the current gouge on what the good buys are in the $300-600 range. For anyone owning/buying a mandolin, check out Pham Nuwen's custom avatar: Niles Hokkanen's mando chordbook is amazing and costs almost nothing, so every mandolin player should have a copy in their case.  For fife, I want to stress that you don't just want to go out and buy just whatever fife off the first Amazon page you see. There are a lot of "camp fife" pieces around which are pretty primitive (or tourist wallhangers), or marching fifes which are only meant to be played in the highest registers in a big marching band. But my guess would be you want something more like a small flute, that plays regular melodies and its low register equally well. It gets a bit confusing because "fife" often means the simpler wooden flutes played at high pitch for "fife and drum" marching bands, which isn't what you want for playing Irish jigs and reels. Such a creature, a wooden keyless tiny flute, the Irish call a "piccolo", but Americans use "piccolo" to mean the small metal or wooden flute with keys used for orchestra or highschool band. Supposedly the Brits and Irish call the small flutes "band flutes", but that's confusing since in Northern Ireland a "flute band" is just a sectarian version of a fife and drum corps used to antagonise Protestant vs. Catholic strife with parades. But whatever, what you want is a fife that's made for playing folktunes, not for marching. For such tuneful fifes: the main brands I'd recommend checking out that are made to have a functional low range, basically playing just like a tinwhistle but side-blown which gives you more nuance: - I don't know if he's still making them as of this moment since I haven't seen an update, but user jemtheflute at the Chiff & Fipple Forum is a Brit who makes "pvc piccolos" for just £18 shipped, that are supposed to be pretty good basic instruments. http://forums.chiffandfipple.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=82663&hilit=piccolo - Ralph Sweet makes a wide variety of flutes/fifes/whistles, and his "Professional" line is supposed to be made a lot like larger Irish flutes are, not just simple bored rods like more primitive fifes. He has a really nice looking synthetic model for $125, $150 for rosewood, $225 for blackwood. http://www.sweetheartflute.com/fifes.html You could also puzzle out whether you want to start with fife, or with full Irish flute, which behaves almost exactly the same but is larger and an octave lower in pitch. Note also that tinwhistles also finger identical to flute and fife, just the mouthpiece is different, so if you get a D fife (which I strongly suggest that key so you can use instructional materials produced for flute/tinwhistle), for just a few bucks you could buy a tinwhistle in a different key (like Bb or C) so you can switch it up a bit if you're jamming with friends and want to play in a different array of keys.  I'm not seeing it listed as an option on their site, so you may have to email them to request it, but at one point Sweet was offering his polymer "Professional" fife as a "trio" set, where you got one body, but both whistle and fife heads, so you could play the instrument with one mouthpiece of the other depending on what sound you wanted. Kind of a neat versatility if he still has that, but if he doesn't no huge deal since you could just buy a D tinwhistle by Feadog or whoever for $10 and have that be your backup. Here are a few fife-related clips: - a relative beginner (though iirc she already plays tinwhistle) playing a Ralph Sweet camp fife in C: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugbi6uBtOeM - Irish slow aire on a fife by KDJ Flutes, good use of the low register: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bJBUyYpSik - here's a wooden piccolo with keys, basically the fife's evolved relative, doing some Irish reels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNXm0qVSrbM - The "Cup of Tea reel" played on a gorgeous and pricey handmade McGee piccolo out of Australia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQT4K5GCopE Another (not quite as pricey) high-end Irish piccolo maker is Skip Healey, and a Japanese piper playing Irish tunes on a Hammy Hamilton model: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMR12iXHVoo. If you're wanting to drool over high-end items in the $400-800 range. Granted, that's pricey, but fifes do have some great value for the price. For any fife in D, you can just use any of the vast amounts of online tutorials (video and written) for tinwhistle/pennywhistle and all the finger motion is pretty much identical. There's also a neat blog for folk fife (or "piccolo" for the Irish) that looks well-worth reading: http://irishpiccolo.blogspot.com/ TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 07:02 on Feb 8, 2014 |
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Feb 8, 2014 06:43
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Wow, awesome post man that helped me immensely in deciding. I really enjoy those Irish reels and warm, Renaissance-esque tones. I've also realized I am less drawn something more shrill like American Civil War fife playing. Those rogue mandolins look great as well. Could you tell me more about fifes because that was a good read.
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Feb 8, 2014 10:35
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JoeCool posted:Wow, awesome post man that helped me immensely in deciding. I really enjoy those Irish reels and warm, Renaissance-esque tones. I've also realized I am less drawn something more shrill like American Civil War fife playing. Those rogue mandolins look great as well. Could you tell me more about fifes because that was a good read. No worries, the above and also my first fife blurb on page 6 is pretty close to the limit of my knowledge. The blogspot is really worth leafing through as well. Do you still have any specific things about fife you wanted to know? We have a few goons in and out of the thread who play various early flutes. EDIT: here's the site-specific google hits link on Chiff&Fipple for coverage of the topic. EDIT2: As the C&F forum threads explain, the difference between the older "simple system" piccolos and the modern is the same as with the older wooden flutes vs. the "Boehm" design modern silver flutes. So that's one distinction. I'll also add just for reference that Peter Worrel was recommended on C&F for making simple-system but fully-keyed piccolos. Many ways to upgrade (and often suprisingly inexpensively) if you go this route, but many quite inexpensive ways to start out.  Fundamentally, a folk fife is kind of the midway between an Irish flute and a tinwhistle, and uses identical fingering to both of those, so pretty easy to find learning materials. My impression is that it's not so commonly thought of as an Irish instrument these days, seen just rarely at sessions, but that it was reasonably popular earlier in the 20th century, especially for playing for dancers. TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 21:28 on Feb 8, 2014 |
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Feb 8, 2014 17:12
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My ocarina has left Japan and is coming to my hot little paws sometime over the next few days. Joy! Now I have an instrument and I need music to play. I'm interested in the renaissance period. Any suggestions on easy-ish things playable on an ocarina? And any suggestions for an instrument which is cheap, isn't a recorder and plays renaissance music well? More thoughts on training material: Epitaph of Seikilos, Ode to Joy and the initial bits of the main theme of Simon the Sorceror are pretty forgiving and nice places to start. None of them sound like rear end when played slowly. Being able to play the Epitaph is awesome. It is the oldest complete piece of music in existence. The thing is drat short, so it won't be a long journey. Think about it: Give it a few days and you can play the oldest complete song from memory. Major morale boost, something well needed for a beginner.
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Feb 8, 2014 22:09
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No Gravitas posted:My ocarina has left Japan and is coming to my hot little paws sometime over the next few days. Joy! I'd have to go dig around since I'm not as familiar with sites of sheet music for that period. The main trick is you want to favor tunes which span just an ocatave or so, within the range of your ocarina. If you ever happen to order anything from Susato, they have a $7 tunebook of one-octave tunes that's supposed to be pretty good.. If your ocarina has a range of a 9th, Susato has a whole line of inexpensive books in their "Nine is Fine" series of tunes for instruments with a range of just an octave +1. quote:And any suggestions for an instrument which is cheap, isn't a recorder and plays renaissance music well? Are you thinking primarily wind instruments here? Most Renn string instruments tend to be a bit pricier (though not ridiculous) and would take some real focus to learn. There are some Renn wind instruments though that wouldn't be a particularly difficult segue from ocarina. So far as cheap, since you have an ocarina coming, I'd focus less on finding another cheap thing to buy right away, and instead put a little time in on ocarina while saving up so that when you know what other wind instrument you want to add, you'll be able to buy a solid one. So far as Renn wind instruments, there are a lot of really unusual and interesting ones, many of which are surprisingly available and affordable. Setting aside recorder, there were also a number of early side-blown flutes popular then. My impression is that they're somewhat different from the modern keyless Irish flute and fifes a post above, but I think in the short term you could get a pretty good feel by buying one of those affordably, and could always get a more authentic reproduction if you get big into serious ensemble playing or reenacting. Those aside though, here are a few of the key examples of really interesting, yet available, Renn wind instruments: Crumhorn  Pretty classic Renn instrument, popular in ensembles. Basically a kind of primitive oboe with a capped mouthpiece above the reed. Kind of a buzzy, resonant sound. Susato makes all sizes of them in ABS plastic in the $300s. They also sell a somewhat modernized/hybrid version that fits the long instrument in a more compact space by winding the bore through the body, calling in the "kelhorn" after the company's owner.  Consort: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w7KJznei7I Solo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UI30-9TsafQ "Crummhorn Homepage": http://www.recorderhomepage.net/crumhorn.html Cornetto and serpent   Though it looks like the other reed instruments, this is actually a brass instrument, with a small trumpet-like mouthpiece. These are very foreign to us because the modern era really doesn't have brass instruments with open finger holes. It's kind of in the same family as the awesome serpent; we have some extensive discussion of serpent earlier in the thread; for a while it appeared the main guys making affordable synthetic ones for $800 weren't taking orders, but they updated their site back in August, so I emailed them to ask if they're up and running. Cornettos/cornetti can be bought in ABS plastic cheaper still, The cornet/cornetto/zink was a rather prestigious instrument in the Renn period, lots of music written for it, but only seen in rare niches nowadays. There are a handful of virtuoso players, mainly in Europe, that seem to do pretty well for themselves. It is a really beautiful instrument, kind of sounds between a trumpet and a flute. There are a number of makers making resin ones quite affordably; Chris Monks makes them in £200 range. - Quick podcast intro to cornetto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VmXoJL84J0 - Cornetto lead backed up by piano: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8LqhUgbuzQ - Cornetto lead in a larger ensemble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U3jGWLFmsQ Rackett and dulcian   The dulcian (also called fagotto, curtal, etc) and the rackett (or rankett) are ancestors of the bassoon. The dulcians tend to be a little pricey, like $1000+ (though Lazar's Early Music occasionally has really affordable used ones), although racketts can be had a fair bit cheaper. Rackett is kind of like an extreme version of the kelhorn listed above, where that tiny body holds a hugely long bore because it doubles back on itself nine times inside there. Also kind of resembles a bong. Keith Loraine makes racketts in the $700s, Paul Beekhuizen has sopranos through tenors around €400, RenWorks starting around $1000. - Quick intro to rackett: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql25jqpsNZ4 - Rackett ensemble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFfXS59UQs4 - Intro to dulcian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovSpmpePMno Those are a few big-picture suggestions, but in the meantime take your time and really get a feel for ocarina. Read up online about Renaissance music, see if you have any friends that want to play duets with whatever instrument they play. While it's not impossible to get involved in the above Renn pieces on a purely individual basis, a lot of folks come into them through interacting with other people in the Early Music scene, so you might want to see if your area has any Early ensembles you can visit, watch some of their gigs. This has been a fun one to research, I hadn't read up on Renn stuff for a while. I noticed that Official Piffaro has a number of good intro clips explaining Renn instruments, so their series is worth watching. TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 06:46 on Feb 10, 2014 |
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Feb 9, 2014 21:05
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I stumbled across a pentatonic kalimba the other day, and thanks to that awesome kalimba post a couple of pages back, I decided to buy it. The shop I bought it from had sat it next to pastel didgeridoos and was trying to pass it off as an aboriginal instrument, so I was a bit wary of its quality, but it was $15 so I figured why not. It only has a range of 5 notes (7 keys), but the sound is very resonant and mellow. Almost melancholic, actually. And you weren't kidding, TTFA, when you said it was hard to sound bad on these things! I kinda underestimated that plus-point, and it really is satisfying being able to pick it up and start playing without having to fuss over it. It'll probably fall apart in my hands one day, but I'm having a lot of fun with it so far
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Feb 11, 2014 06:56
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Stick to your ocarina. Also look at all this crazy cool stuff I dug up! Thanks! That was a nice blast to have. Ocarina made it across the pond, stuck in customs since yesterday. I should get it tomorrow or the day after. I might get a 15$ being Canadian and daring to order internationally fee, raising the entire cost to 60$. That is on par with how much a Mountain Ocarina would be before the "bCadtoi" fee. The process so far was amazingly painless compared with what I expected it to be.
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Feb 12, 2014 15:39
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No Gravitas posted:Thanks! That was a nice blast to have. No worries, and not at all discouraging you from further exploration in the big picture, just saying you'll have a much better idea of what you want once you get some months of Renn ocarina playing under your belt. Start tossing your spare change and loose singles into a jar, and by the time you figure out what you want you may well have enough to buy a next instrument. Anything jump out at you as a possible aspiration out of the above-posted Early Music instruments?
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Feb 13, 2014 01:43
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My talharpa should ship out next week - apparently the finish is just drying and there's some final finishing work to wait on. Considering the amount of time it has taken to get built, I am really looking forward to this drat thing finally arriving so I can suck at it for a month or two before it suddenly clicks.
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Feb 14, 2014 00:33
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Hedningen posted:My talharpa should ship out next week - apparently the finish is just drying and there's some final finishing work to wait on. Considering the amount of time it has taken to get built, I am really looking forward to this drat thing finally arriving so I can suck at it for a month or two before it suddenly clicks. Awesome! I'm looking forward to seeing your talharpa when it gets in. Who made it for you? My jouhikko is somewhere in a build queue... I'm really excited to try it out, especially since it's designed with piezo pickups so I can run it through an amp. What will an overdriven jouhikko sound like? I also ordered a 10 string kantele kit for my girlfriend's birthday present. Hope she likes it, I like the sound of the instruments I found on youtube and it looks pretty easy to pick up.
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Feb 14, 2014 00:59
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I still find it very odd that two goons ordered bowed lyres at the same time; I think we also have a third one who was working on building one in her garage a few months back. I've been culling all the instruments I don't use often so I can focus on the ones I play all the time. Aside from playing mileage, I do also factor in cost, size, and durability. So when I have an extra ABS Native American flute, I'm not too concerned because it wouldn't sell for much, and I can chuck it in a drawer and forget about it for years with no harm done. As opposed to say a huge bajo sexto that's even bigger than a normal guitar case and sucks to haul during moves. The practical upshot of this is I ordered a Sweet professional fife (the resin one) this week because I figure it's a generally useful item, easy to loan to flautist friends, and near indestructible. following not mine, just an example of an array.  I now have one of those $5 Yamaha fifes that I won't need, also because it uses recorder-like fingering rather than tinwhistle fingering. To that end, if you're an absolutely dirt poor young goon at the moment but want to mess with wind instruments, email me at my username at Yahoo and I'll send you out the fife, and also a few tinwhistles that are new with the mouthpieces still shrinkwrapped so you can share them with friends who also want to play music.
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Feb 15, 2014 00:04
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:I now have one of those $5 Yamaha fifes that I won't need, also because it uses recorder-like fingering rather than tinwhistle fingering. To that end, if you're an absolutely dirt poor young goon at the moment but want to mess with wind instruments, email me at my username at Yahoo and I'll send you out the fife, and also a few tinwhistles that are new with the mouthpieces still shrinkwrapped so you can share them with friends who also want to play music. A year or two ago I was that goon. Except I was too poor to be a goon  . Now I'm way better off, but seeing this still gives me a teary eye. You rock.(If only for gently caress's loving sake my loving ocarina would loving get the gently caress over here al-loving-ready!!! Delivery will be on Monday, late 3 days now.) EDIT: loving "attempted delivery" out of nowhere. I'm sitting RIGHT THE gently caress HERE. I'd hear a knock, you loving lazy postman. Off to the post office in a couple of hours to get my precious ocarina out of their hands. EDIT 2: The reputation that Night by Noble Alto C gets is an understatement. It is better than people say. Way better. I cannot imagine an ocarina that sounds better. My thoughts of getting a clay Standard Night AC in lavender are now over. I don't need anything else. This is it. EDIT 3: The sound is very clear provided you get the right force of breath. My plastic crapcarina was content with almost any air I threw at it. This one is a bit harder to please, but once pleased it really sings. Even the high notes come out clear and not very airy. Feels nice and solid too. At almost 150 grams it should, compared to ~60 grams of my old plastic. Very pretty to look at. Awesome to play. Only now I'm realising how terrible of an ocarina I had before. Seriously, pay the 45$ (shipped!) and enjoy the state of the art. It really is nothing short of that. No Gravitas fucked around with this message at 07:30 on Feb 15, 2014 |
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Feb 15, 2014 00:17
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Aphra Bane posted:I stumbled across a pentatonic kalimba the other day, and thanks to that awesome kalimba post a couple of pages back, I decided to buy it. The shop I bought it from had sat it next to pastel didgeridoos and was trying to pass it off as an aboriginal instrument, so I was a bit wary of its quality, but it was $15 so I figured why not. It only has a range of 5 notes (7 keys), but the sound is very resonant and mellow. Almost melancholic, actually. And you weren't kidding, TTFA, when you said it was hard to sound bad on these things! I kinda underestimated that plus-point, and it really is satisfying being able to pick it up and start playing without having to fuss over it. Glad it made you a believer; pentatonic instruments are incredibly to "make music" on without having to do all the book-learning and all. Just naturally harmonizing instruments. - For wind instruments, the main pentatonics (at least commonly available in the West) are Native American flutes (available in the <$50 range for student pieces) and Susato makes a kind of pentatonic tinwhistle called the "Pentacorder" for $30. - For percussion, there are a decent smattering of pentatonic marimbas and xylophones, and some of the "Hang drum style" metal hand-pan drums are available in various set pentatonic tunings. Kalimbas are, of course, the most affordable and compact of these percussion instrument (well, technically a lamellaphone, but similar idea). I'll put in a particular shout-out for Goshen Kalimbas. A little hard to find online, and Kalimba Magic only carries a few of their higher-end items. However, House of Musical Traditions gets their stuff on and off, and tends to have their neat small solid-body pentatonics for just $25 or so, which are a great deal. - For string instruments, the easiest pentatonics are the various smallest harps/lyres/zithers. Some, like the kantele, are not traditionally pentatonic tuned, but the beauty of strings is that just a few twists of a key makes the instrument pentatonic. I do keep meaning to hit up that guy on Etsy who makes really neat mini hammered dulcimers to see if he can do a pentatonic version... No Gravitas posted:EDIT 2: The reputation that Night by Noble Alto C gets is an understatement. It is better than people say. Way better. I cannot imagine an ocarina that sounds better. My thoughts of getting a clay Standard Night AC in lavender are now over. I don't need anything else. This is it. Really glad to hear getting a good ocarina has really turned your experience around! I'm not pressuring folks to go out and spend themselves into pain, but the price difference between poo poo and great ocarinas is quite low (especially in the US where great ocarinas are $20), so getting a dubious one is of false economy. We're fortunate with tinwhistles in that all the most common ones are pretty solid, so the many goons getting tinwhistles are sitting pretty. You almost have to go out of your way to buy crappy tinwhistles, which I have done about three times: a solid plastic "Dixie" model that was a weird design (raised fingerholes?) but played okayish, then a souvenir-stand one at Mt Vernon labeled "Cooper" where the woodblock fipple was misplaced and is almost impossible to get tone out of, and a "Schylling" brand from an educational toy store, that was apparently made of steel and weighed a ton and sucked. I gave away the Schylling, but I'll include the other two in my gift-box of tinwhistles (the rest I'm sending are better) for whatever poor young goon rogers up for those and the Yamaha fife. By the way, I finally got all my tinwhistles into one spot, and here's what I have: 
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Feb 18, 2014 03:31
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Turns out the polar vortex has screwed up my luthier's schedule... it's been too cold in his shop to cure the glue or apply finishes, so while my jouhikko would probably have already been made normally, it'll be a few more weeks now.
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Feb 20, 2014 08:33
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Just got my used flanger in the mail today: this combo is gonna be tits:
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Feb 23, 2014 15:42
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Anybody here have a good knowledge on Chinese instruments? I got a zhonghu for Christmas, and while I've got it set up properly, it sounds extremely muddy. I've tried various rosins, from the cheap rosin it came with to my more higher quality dark rosins that I use for my viola and cello; I've tried caking it on as well as cleaning it up and applying very little; I've tried adjusting the height of the qianjin and using different strengths on the knot, and still, it just sounds like the bow takes a few seconds to "bite" into the string. It sounds either muddy or it's belting out some false harmonics. I also have an erhu, and it's set up pretty much the same way as my zhonghu, but the erhu sounds just fine, despite using the same kind of rosin and everything. Should I just get new zhonghu strings? The ones on it currently are more or less brand new, though.
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Feb 23, 2014 18:45
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So I'm looking to get my girlfriend a squeezebox for her birthday. A guy in Denver was selling a couple student ones, a Hohner 32-key ($150) and a Scandalli 32-key ($140). He ended up being impossible to communicate with, and sold the Scandalli (which I wanted) after telling me he couldn't meet up when I was on the way there (1.5 hr drive for me) so I think it's probably going to be a bust. I'm still waiting on him to tell me if he'll hold the Hohner for me, but I'm no longer hopeful. Next, I found an ad for a Camerano 25-key, 12-bass ($175) that promptly disappeared with no "Sorry, it's sold," reply from the seller. gently caress Craigslist people. edit: I'm also now considering this: http://denver.craigslist.org/msd/4348359076.html Good deal? No? At any rate, I'm after a less-complex squeeze instrument, definitely not a full-size. We play in unorganized groups with people a bunch, mostly folk and modern covers, just for fun dinking around on instruments. She's not super set on one in particular, so a concertina, button accordion, keyboard accordion, pretty much anything is reasonable. I don't want to risk one of the toy accordions or really anything off Ebay after reading all the squeezebox posts in this thread. Naturally, I don't want anything that will immediately need servicing either. My budget is about $150, but I might push it further if it was something really good. Any goons have advice about where to find something? New instruments are prohibitively expensive. Any of you have anything like this for sale? HenryJLittlefinger fucked around with this message at 04:45 on Feb 26, 2014 |
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Feb 25, 2014 19:12
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There are a couple ways to go about this, here are my three key ideas: - What you're doing so far, look at small piano accordions in your area. What you really want to do though is read up on "how to buy an accordion" articles, and/or YouTube tutorials. There are a ton of piano accordions floating around the US market, of varying degrees of quality and condition. Repairing an inexpensive piano accordion is not very cost-effective, so you really want to prioritize getting one that's in good playing condition from the start. Here's one such guide for a start: http://1accordion.net/buy.htm . Just showing you know what to check for also gives you credibility in arguing the price down, since you can point out small defects. --Upsides: available locally, reasonably familiar for a keyboard player / Downsides: Even the small ones are a good 10lb+, and a 25-key only has two octaves of range. - You're not likely to find a decent concertina in your price-range, unless you're willing to go to $275 or so used, but you could rent a concertina for several months for $50 or so, which would give her time to try out an instrument. And some of the shops that rent concertinas will apply your rental fees towards the cost of the instrument if you end up buying. From what you describe, English concertina might be a good option, since it's small (just a few pounds), three octaves of range, fully chromatic, etc. The main place to look for used concertinas would be Concertina.net/forums , and we have a few other goons who've gotten good deals there, and other players are really helpful. - So far as button accordions, buying off eBay is inadvisable since most sellers have no idea how to judge accordions. That said, Melodeon.net has a wide following, and if you ask on their Classified forum, you could quite possibly find a good deal on a 2-row accordion in your price range. Posting a "WTB" ad could work, or there are a few key members (especially hickory-wind) who routinely buy beater button accordions in the US and refurbish them, and can probably find you a good deal on a serviceable 'box in the $100-200 range if you PM them. By buying from other musicians, you (generally) get a much more accurate feel for what you're buying. In particular, the "Club" model accordions, which are 2.5 rows, are good Hohner instruments but have a limited following in the US, so can be had at great prices from casual players and refurbishers. A good Hohner Club can be 8-9 pounds, and since it's bisonoric (different notes on push/pull) its 8 bass actually are equivalent to 16 bass on a piano, and a Club is largely chromatic. It doesn't have the familiarity of a piano, but it has its own intuitiveness to playing, and would certainly be a more unusual accordion, plus most Clubs are from well-recognized manufacturers (mainly Hohner) so you don't have to navigate an environment of dozens of no-name instruments.  Those are my takes on the issue, though clearly your girlfriend's preference should be key. I wouldn't try to just surprise someone with an instrument type they weren't expecting, since choice of type of instrument, and even of individual axe, has a lot of the personal to it. Sit down and watch some YouTube together, take a look at piano accordions, English concertinas, button accordions, see what sound and feel speaks to her. EDIT: the free giveaway package of cheap tinwhistles and fife higher up on this page is still available; see earlier post TapTheForwardAssist fucked around with this message at 14:55 on Feb 26, 2014 |
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Feb 26, 2014 03:47
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