[Herman van Aartsen]

Hi Oscar,

Thank you so much for taking your time to answer all my questions. Your movie shows (sound-wise) exactly what I was hoping the bell would add to the design and sound.

I’ll give it a try myself 😉

Kind regards,
Herman

[Herman van Aartsen]

Hi Daren, Oscar,

Thank you for your answers. Obviously, I wasn’t clear. I wasn’t talking about using a trumpet-style mouthpiece but actually using the other part of the trompet: the bell part. What about mounting (in some way) the bell (and part of the tube going to it without the velvets) on to the melodion. In that way the sound of the melodica has to pass (go into) the trumpet tube and bell 😉 Despite the looks, I was wondering if such design would enrich or change the sound. And does the pitch change? That would be less useable. In such a design one could also use a trumpet mute (no idea to handle that but the idea is interesting). Would this be the birth of a new instrument? I would be happy to take the leap.

Herman

[Herman van Aartsen]

Great performance! By observing your cheeks: are you using circular breathing?

[Herman van Aartsen]

Hi Meldocia-me,

Just a follow up on this thread. I’ve used to Roland FV500-H a few times now. The purpose was to be able to have a nice volume control. To be honest, it did not meet my expectations. Changing the volume not by breath-control (blowing harder softer) changes how the instrument is perceived/is. Yes I have some effects pedal but this didn’t feel natural. So I removed it and solely use my breath for that. And yes, softer than soft is not possible when the reeds do not vibrate anymore due to lack of sufficient flowing air 😉 I’ll accept this as part of the way the instrument is. I’ll now use this pedal as a better expression model (25k range) for my Strymons. What I’ve learned is that most default expression pedals are in the 10k range. This 10k range does not fit the requirements of quite a few effect pedals.

Cheers,
Herman

[Herman van Aartsen]

Hi Melodica-Me,

Yes that one. It sound really great but I assume it is quite hard to play. Especially getting the notes spot on. I found a very nice rendition of “Cry me a river” on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0fx6i_didk

And another URL of someone who really know his way around: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3GAqabHEDs

Very nice and warm sound. Changing tones by using your hand partly covering the tubes. Do you use it during gigs?

With regards,
Herman

[Herman van Aartsen]

Hi Melodica-Me,

You have built your own melodica? Do you have images of it? I’m very interested to learn about the fabrication process. What I also find very interesting is the Suzuki Andes, well the concept of it. Hohner had a similar pipe instrument a while ago.

With regards,
Herman

[Herman van Aartsen]

Hi Melodica-Me,

I’m still trying to post a reaction but the forum-software’s policy rules do not allow me – probably to many words match with a previous post. Just to let you know, it is certainly no lack of interest. I’ve contacted the administrator to see what’s wrong. Keep u posted.

With regards,
Herman

[Herman van Aartsen]

Hi Lowboy,

Very very very nicely done! Do you allow me to use it as a background for my desktop? If yes, is a HiRes version available? I like the atmosphere of it. Many thnx.

With regards,
Herman

[Herman van Aartsen]

Hi Melodica-Me,

First of all, I was happy to see that you’re one of the Monsters of Melodica. I looked a lot at youtube-movies before actual buying a Melodica, in my case a Melodion. It is for movies like yours that I decided to buy one. I also, like others that do not know the Melodica quite well, was somewhat prejudiced. The only Melodica’s I knew for almost a year back were the plastic ones you could buy at a local toy store with an also plastic sound. In my current playing I still meet people with this same idea of the Melodica. Luckily, they are more than surprised by tonal quality and versatility of current (more expensive) Melodica’s. Now I’ve got two, the 44H and the 24B. The latter one is another story as far as playability is concerned. Why Hammond? Well maybe because I was a Hammond Organ player for quite a while but mainly because of the integrated mic, playability and the sound.

Having said that, I’m very happy with your answer and I’ve got some additional questions 😉

When playing I connect the 44H to two Strymons. The Mobius for Chorus (getting a more accordion flavor – this is the first one in the chain, i.e. where I plug-in the Melodica) and the Big Sky for Reverb. Both can be controlled by an expression pedal that gives me lots of soundscaping possibilities during a live gig. As I can read from your post is that some sort of preamp is preferred.

I also have the Supro Drive. This active pedal is capable of preamping and of course creating overdrive if the gain is very open. This one can also be controlled by an expression pedal which controls the gain. This behaves like a kind of volume control. I don’t have this one (yet) in the chain because I’m bit worried about changing the quality of the sound to much – I like some subtle changes.

But now the question. Yes, I can use it that way (to be honest, I didn’t think of that before), but I think it should not be the first one in the chain. I would think of: Mobius > Supro > Big Sky. But then it misses the point of being a preamp to the chain.

Any experiences with that? Or would you still advice to have a passive expression pedal for volume control? If yes, where is it in the chain? If yes, then an additional preamp is needed? If no, what is the best place for the Supro in the chain?

Many thanx again!

With regards,
Herman

[Herman van Aartsen]

@LowBoy: I really like the b/w image of the white-hatted man (could also be a woman, hard to say :-)) playing a melodica/melodion. Can you give any info on this artwork?

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