Melodica

Invented in 1958 by the German company Hohner as a novelty instrument, the Melodica has evolved into a serious instrument used by professional musicians. My melodica is exactly as pictured above, sturdy metal and wood construction with a fine clear tone reminiscent of the Harmonica. The Melodica doesn’t have the ability to bend notes like the Harmonica, but it does offer good dynamic control through breath control, and the possibility of vibrato in the hands of a good player.

I sampled each note without round robins, since there is not really any possibility of useful attack variations. The sustains are one breath, not looped, lasting about 10 seconds. The vibrato samples were performed using the drain valve on the bottom of the instrument. I also recorded two types of releases: hard, where the tongue stops the air, and soft, where I merely take the instrument away from my mouth, so there’s a little after-resonance to the note. I also had to touch up the tuning on a few notes!