Matthew Vita

Hi there,

We (musicians) often do not fully understand instruments (that we play or do not play), electronic instruments, and/or foreign instruments to their full extent.

Alas! An enlightening thread to ask away the questions in our minds about certain instruments that Wikipedia couldn't answer in simple layman terms. I hope you participate and *maybe* learn a thing or two!

I'll start:
-How exactly do the Roland synthesizer (303) and drum machine (808) sync together? I'm not asking how you do it.. (I don't own either)... I'm just curious as to how they work in sync and can be programmed with patches for different parts of a song.

-I've seen Sitars with rounded off hand drum-like things dangling off near the headstock of the instrument, their purpose?

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vanblah

I'd hazard a guess that it was some sort of proto-MIDI language. These devices came out before the great MIDI standardization project but the concept is still the same. In fact, you can get converters for them so someone out there has to know the language that they use.

roachboy

sitar making

here's an page from a sitar maker that runs through the various parts of the instrument. the thing you're referring to is a tumba (resonator)...there's an outline of the functions it has (or is supposed to have) on the page.

interesting idea for a thread.

thinking about a question that might be relevant to it.

all that's in my head at the moment concerns microtonal tuning systems, whether anyone is using them and what they're doing with them...but this may be more a compositional question than an instrument one (it's both really, but more general)....

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vanblah

Personally, I don't do much with microtonal tuning systems (except when I play violin and then it's usually by accident ). I find some of the music fascinating.

I do enjoy some of Harry Partch's stuff ... I think it's more interesting to watch him play than listen though. It's sort of how I feel about a lot of the more esoteric music--it's more interesting being there experiencing it than listening on a CD (not just experimental music either). Not that I ever saw Harry Partch live ... I'd only have been like 6 years old.

Matthew Vita

Ah, I now understand the concept of a gourd "body" of the instrument. Thanks.

Microtonal tuning is definitely theory-heavy and has its own notation.. from what I understand of it, it takes our A440 and tweaks it... apparently...

Thanks for the participation guys, think up some questions and let them fly.. (I'm sure you don't understand everything about certain instruments..)

-MV

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"And I feel fine anytime she's around me."