The new "Ballone Burini" Vibrandoneon
- This topic has 0 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 11 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Dear friends of the Vibrandoneon,
I’ll try to get in contact with the “Ballone Burini” people to influence the further development of the Vibrandoneon if possible. I sincerely hope that they take long time players’ experiences and wishes into account. I know that there are many players like me who love that instrument but are tired of its flaws. So here’s my question to you all: What things would you want to have changed in comparison to the old Vibrandoneon? These are a few of my points:
1. An absolutely tight air chamber possibly made of plastic or lacquered wood.
2. A moisture hole that is big enough to dry out the air chamber properly.
3. The possibility to remove the back easier than to have to unscrew 19 screws (possibly some sort of quick release?).
4. Different mouthpieces for more flexibility and better possibilities to use different playing techniques.
5. A quick release for the grille to change the colour of the tone quickly.
6. The possibility to assign the two sets of reeds (Blowing in and out) to different octaves (for example the reeds for blowing in sound an octave higher or lower than the reeds for blowing out).Now if you may you can tell me some points you would like to have changed. I can’t promise that this will really work, but I’ll do my very best.
Quetscher, it would be fantastic if user input was used by the manufacture. I would like to add a option for a built in pick up with a volume control. It’s better if this comes from the factory than an aftermarket addition. Also a user tool set, tools that would be needed to replace or tune a reed, wood or plastic polishing kit. Preferably built into the case. I would pay extra for that option anyday. All your suggestion are pretty much what I would like to see as well.
Melodica-MeThis is a great idea Quetscher! I’d even be happy to meet with them as well, and have an open discussion with other Vibrandoneon/Eolina players.
1. An absolutely tight air chamber possibly made of plastic or lacquered wood.
Yes! Constructed in a way that is very easy and quick to remove, again and again, without wear and tear, so it can be dried quickly.
2. A moisture hole that is big enough to dry out the air chamber properly.
Moisture holes might not even be needed, if access to the air chamber is easy
3. The possibility to remove the back easier than to have to unscrew 19 screws (possibly some sort of quick release?).
Absolutely
4. Different mouthpieces for more flexibility and better possibilities to use different playing techniques.
Yes
5. A quick release for the grille to change the colour of the tone quickly.
Maybe even a hinging grille?
6. The possibility to assign the two sets of reeds (Blowing in and out) to different octaves (for example the reeds for blowing in sound an octave higher or lower than the reeds for blowing out).
Sounds interesting!
I’d like to add:
7. Some sort of lever that allows the player to engage the second set of reeds instantaneously, so certain notes, or passages could be doubled an octave higher or lower as part of the performance. This would be fantastic for me.
Hey Troy, hey Oscar,
thanks for your your comments, I’ll take everything in account you told me.
Just some remarks:
Oscar, my trader actually does build in melodica-mics made by HDS, but I’ll ask if BB itself could provide a mic system.
I’m sure they have already finished the design of the Vibrandoneon and the case, so it might be difficult to get tools within the case, but that I’ll ask that, too.Troy, I didn’t think of a small moisture hole, more something like they had in the old Eolina which was a brass plate at the bottom of about 5x4cm which you could remove, so you could even clean the inside. But I’m pretty sure that they will build the new Vibrandoneon exactly like this.
I was also thinking of a grille with a hinge and a handle to produce WahWahs…
I think that there will be no possibility to double octaves with the new Vibrandoneon, as far as I understood there will only be one set of reeds for blowing and one for sucking. But if I’m mistaken I will certainly ask for such a lever because it was always so inconvenient to change registers.I really like Troys idea of blowing in for a lower octave and then sucking for a octave higher. A hinged grill for a wah-wah effect would be fantastic. Well for now we wait for the big debut.
Picture of the new Vibrandoneon BB All Black Plastic. Can you say Super-Fornza WOW. Now the question is how does it sound and how much.
WOW, thanks a lot, it really looks fantastic! But man, it’s large and heavy (and that’s just the small model, I hope it’s a mistake!), look at this:
Seems to be a real hybrid between the old models of Eolina and Vibrandoneon (Vibrandoneon mouthpiece plus Eolina hand strap, perhaps this makes it easier to hold).
They have an order form on this site where you can choose between different tunings – very good, in my opinion a melodica should be tuned a little higher than 440Hz because depending on the blowing pressure it may sound lower anyway (my Vibrandoneon is tuned 442 and that’s great for playing together with 440Hz instruments).
I’m looking forward to trying out that black treasure.
That would get some attention on stage. Yes Quetscher, I look forward to hearing it and knowing the cost.
Lowboy
That’s a beautiful-looking thing.
For what it’s worth, my wish-list for the ultimate melodica-type instrument would be roughly as follows:
– Available in 6-row button format (ideally including Janko layout, which is a whole lot more intuitive than the C system or B system, even if it does sacrifice some of the compactness – and I’ve always been baffled by why only the Serbians have the foresight to insist that their button accordions have 6 rows, thus allowing you to play any note with either a finger or the thumb without having to bunch your hand up)
– Equipped with two sets of reeds tuned an octave apart such that you can switch smoothly and gradually, or instantaneously, between low, low+high and high
– Fitted with a rigid but repositionable gooseneck mouthpiece like the Hammond 44 (but less breakable)
– Playable on both blow and draw
– Equipped with wah-wah grille as MelodicaMe suggests
– Equipped with some system to hold a high note as a drone without having to keep your pinkie on the key, and thus imitate the sound of the khaen. Come on, I can’t be the only melodica player who tries to imitate the sound of the khaen a lot, can I?
– And as a super extra-unrealistic fantasy, some sort of system like what the Blues Box people are building – an easy way to pitch bend without having to have an extremely fine key pressure variation.Of course, such a beast with all those features would probably either be so heavy as to be unplayable, or have to be built of ultra-light high-tech materials and thus the plaything of the 1%, but surely <i>some</i> of those features could be workable. Especially if they’re already building ones with <i>some</i> duplicate rows of buttons.
Hey David,
great wish-list!
Did you know that some of your ideas have already become reality? For example the Vibrandoneon will be built in a (not 6-but) 4-row version – and perhaps it will be able to give it a Janko layout although then you would only have a range of a little more than 2 1/2 octaves. Victoria (former manufacturer of the Vibrandoneon) seems to have built some Janko instruments a few years ago, but ridiculously with only two rows!
(By the way, thanks for explaining the sense of the sixth row, I didn’t understand it before, now I know…)
I’m not sure if you need a special mechanism for playing drones as long as you have sort of a neck strap; so you wouldn’t need to hold the instrument and could simply play drones with your left hand, that’s what I do…
The Blues Box bending method seems to be quite interesting although I don’t speak English good enough to understand completely how it works – but the possibility of bending that fast and effectively is fantastic.
Greetings, Quetscher
How about using a clothes pin to hold down a drone note? Beyond that you might a use a small spring clamp of some sort. Industrial equipment catalogs often have scores of various kinds of spring clamps. Could those work on your instruments?
LowboyLowboy
Lowboy
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.