The Daxophone was invented by Hans Reichel, and is a musical instrument of the friction idiophone category. It consists of a thin wooden blade fixed in a wooden block, which holds one or more contact microphones, and is usually mounted on a tripod. Most often, it is played by bowing the free end, but it can also be struck or plucked, which propagates sound in the same way a ruler halfway off a table does.
These vibrations then continue to the wooden-block bass, which are then amplified by the contact mics. A wide range of voice-like timbres can be produced, depending on the shape of the instrument, the type of wood, where it is bowed, and where along its length it is stopped with a separate block of wood called the "Dax". One side of the Dax is fretted to produce fixed pitches, while the other side is a smooth curve, to play more fluid pitch changes.
The sounds that come from the Daxophone are often very unexpected and sometimes very comical sounding!
 Listen to a sample Hans Reichel’s Le Bal from Bart Hopkin's classic must-have experimental music CD Gravikords, Whirlies & Pyrophones
The Daxophone and its interesting vocal qualities :-) |
