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Instruments that continue to interest you.

Last posted Sep 06, 2016 at 09:40AM EDT. Added Sep 05, 2016 at 04:16PM EDT
9 posts from 9 users

Let's face it; there so many different types of instruments out there, it's neigh impossible to talk about them all. Despite so many of them, there are a true few instruments that continue to intrigue us in our lives.

So, what instruments interest you? What can you tell me about those particular instruments? Know any musicians that utilized said-instrument? I'll begin with at least one instrument:

Birotron B90: Considered by many to be the rarest pop/rock keyboard in the world, the Birotron is a 1970's Mellotron-esque machine that is designed to play 8-track tape loops, with various tapes typically containing flute, string, brass or choir loops on each tape. What made the Birotron unique over other Mellotrons was its ability to individually sustain any note hit on the keyboard. Another amazing feature was that, since the notes were essentially the 8-tracks, they could be swapped and replaced by other instrument tracks made by the owner, allowing a large variety of different notes to be played. Otherwise, Rick Wakeman, the funder of the Birotron, produced an entire sound library of 8-tracks to officially go with the Birotron units, so the customization was quite attractive. Musicians from the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, the Beach Boys, and approximately 1,000 following orders deemed the unit as a success.

However, despite all these positives, it was an extremely expensive machine, costing around $3,000 dollars. Combined with the slow production of the machines, many musicians quickly became disinterested in their investment. With that said, it is believed that only 10-30 Birotrons were ever made, with only 5 of them confirmed to exist to this very day. The aforementioned sound library recordings on the 8-tracks are now impossible to replace, meaning that once all the surviving 100-hour tapes are used up, it will be permanently lost to time. And while the master tapes have resurfaced, they're presumed to be beyond saving, unless some form of digital salvage can repair the audio.

The only known recording of a Birotron played in isolation.

Last edited Sep 05, 2016 at 04:22PM EDT

Three Instruments that interested me and a minor one that I once used.
The Keytar, which is basically an electric guitar and a keyboard. Pretty self-explanatory.

The Theremin, which you can play without any strings and looks like a sci-fi object.

I was going to have two major instruments that interest me but I discovered something called a Laser Harp while browsing examples of the theremin, and it looks amazing.

A minor one is the recorder, which is perhaps one of the best known things I remember about elementary school. I wasn't interested in this thing as a kid, but the other elementary students in my class were literally having fun with this thing. I remember even seeing students play the recorder during open house at school.

To start, I play the clarinet. My dad bought me a clarinet back in 2005, and since then I learned how to play. I was in my school band for 5 years (4 years in middle school, freshman year marching band). I also have an electronic keyboard in case I wanna try out some songs for my clarinet (i.e. I've been learning how to play "Lost in Thoughts All Alone" from Fire Emblem Fates).
As for famous clarinet players, the first one that pops into your heads should be Benny Goodman; here's one of his famous pieces "Sing, Sing, Sing"

I am interested in two other instruments that I want to play, and both are ancient instruments.

Thanks to the Legend of Zelda, I wanna get an Ocarina (specifically a replica of the Ocarina of Time).

And thanks to Kubo and the Two Strings, I wanna learn how to play a shamisen.

I don't know any famous ocarina or shamisen players aside from Link and Kubo respectively, but I know that both instruments sound beautiful when played. I wonder what kind of harmony these three instruments would have if played together…

I wish we have more Bass Guitars as leads. I'm not hating on Electric Guitars too much but they already have their turns.

Here are the songs


_Yes (hence their names).


<3 Cliff Burton Lars ( ͡ ° ͜ʖ ͡° ) ..|. Ulrich

This is from a 2-man band that never uses the electric guitar other than the bass as the lead!

Thanks Based CS188!

Is this familiar to you guys?

It's the Teenage Engineering OP-1, it featured in this paticular MV.

Its uncanny ability to record and repeat samples made making music on the fly super easy once you know how to use it.

I know nothing on how electronic guitars work, so I'm looking forward to give it a try if I got the time.
I'm pretty interested in ambient music, but they say making those kind of sounds with a guitar needs a shit-ton of extra stuff.

Extra:
Guzhengs are also pretty cool, but many of the tracks musicians played are too homogeneous, usually the same sort of "oriental style" that you Westerners would be familiar of. I played this a few times in my own school (they have a Chinese Music Club ffs) and how easy it is to make beautiful music by just simply stroke its strings makes me want to own one very badly.

Last edited Sep 06, 2016 at 06:23AM EDT
Skeletor-sm

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