Music instruments you find curious or interesting

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This thread is to post musical instruments that you find interesting, while not necessarily your favourites. You can post videos or images of them, as well as pieces of music that use them, that you like (even if they're not the main instrument for that piece).

* If you post a video that you'd like everyone to see, please spoiler it.

I'll post two:
The first one is the "Seamoon", which is a machine with a mechanism that pumps air in order to make sound. In this video you have one alone so that you see how it is:
Seamoons セーモンズ

You may recognize the sound, which is used in (part of) an OST of Mob Psycho:
Mob Psycho 100 - Mob Kanjou no Bakuhatsu

The second one is the "Waterphone", or "Ocean Harp". It consists of a resonator, cylindrical tube and rods that are mainly used to produce sound, but not the only way to do it. Apparently it can contain a small amount of water, which enhances the "feel" of the instrument.
A demonstration of one alone:
Waterphone Demo: Waters-Hubbert

I believe it was used for the movie Full Metal Jacket in some scenes, particularly the one with the sniper, (I think it's this one):
Full Metal Jacket Soundtrack- Ruins
 
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Oh, this is a subject I actually really like to talk about.

I'll get an obvious one out of the way first, the theremin is pretty damn cool. I definitely think it was ahead of its time, and it's a century old at this point which is crazy to think about. If I ever got my hands on one of these, I'd love to learn it.

Ninja'd before I could post it myself, still a very cool instrument though.

I love the Octobass. It basically makes the double bass seem like a cello in comparison as shown with this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCEYPyUBDAU

Also, while not technically an instrument in the traditional sense, I've been super curious of this MIDI controller called the AlphaSphere. It's looks fascinating as hell and seems to be a product of the early-2010s. The manufacturers have a website and it seems to be updated as of this year looking at the copyright date, but it doesn't appear that they sell them anymore. Not like it matters given that getting your hands on one will set you back $900.
 
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That Rob Scallon guy on YT pretty much dedicates his channel to playing strange instruments. He did the hurdy gurdy (I still have no fucking idea why they don't call it the symphonia, that used to be its name), but I was pretty delighted by the bowed saw:
It sounds like you captured a lady's soul in the sawblade and forced her to sing opera for eternity.

There's also the theremin, you control it with your hands in a projected electric field to increase volume and adjust pitch:
I also remember that one because I think the lady playing the theremin was eyeing up Rob. The bible said never to trust female musicians though.

There was another video of his I liked; it isn't really an instrument per say, but it's still impressive to watch:
You don't play it, it's just a big machine, but it produces pretty respectable stuff. Listen around 35:00 to hear it.

Here's a guy going HAM on a sitar:
It has a bunch of sympathetic strings and a bridge that I believe floats a little bit to create the deliberate slight buzzing sound, but I always thought they looked pretty cool.

I've also always liked the viol, or the viola de gamba. That's one I would like to play one day:
It obviously looks a lot like a cello, but it's tuned to ascending 4ths like on a guitar (cellos are tuned to ascending 5ths), it's usually held differently, and it tends to be played with an underhanded grip instead of the usual like on a violin/viola/cello/fucking whatever.

Here's another one from the above channel that I always thought looked pretty anime:

There are a lot of interesting ones especially going back in time, but usually they're just some configuration of strings and resonating bodies.
 
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I love absurdly large wind instruments, anything bass or contrabass has such a different sound to what you normally hear. They rarely get played because they're so ungainly and require so much breath, but nothing sounds like them.
Contrabassoon

Sub-contrabass flute

Bass clarinet (not that big, but might be my favourite)

Bass saxophone
 
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I enjoy the Mellotron, a very interesting instrument in itself and has produced some very important sounds for some very important pieces of music.

Here's a video that actually shows the reels of tape being used in the machine. This is actually why Mellotrons usually have a set note length, because otherwise the sample would run out. It's while you'll hear samples in songs have very similar maximum note durations.
 
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I have a wish list of instruments to learn to play, although learning any one instrument to just a basic acceptable level is enough of an overtaking - and each requires maintenance time just to not lose skill - that it's a pipe dream. Most of them are things that are very similar to stuff I already play.

So there's Tenor Saxophone I already know, but I could pick up Clarinet which fingers the same and is good for classical, jazz, and klezmer.
Then I own a cigar box guitar, and I was thinking I'd like to learn banjo and just play the cbg in banjo tuning. Banjo being used in folk and gypsy jazz.
Electric guitar is something I'll buy when I finally get proficient at the acoustic guitar I own and play. Similarly, I already am a beginner (can play melodies, but wouldn't perform in public) on violin/fiddle, and mandolin fingers the same, so it would be simple to apply violin + guitar skills to be a mandolin player. Related, dulcimers have cultural value to me as an Appalachian form of mandolin.
Hurdy-gurdy I'm interested in, theremin, piano, organ, accordion.
Also bugle, drums, and fife, various reenactor type military instruments.

The exotics on the list that you may have not heard of, the hurdy-gurdy and the theremin, hurdy-gurdy is basically a violin in principle (bowed instrument) but played with a keyboard. They were predecessors to organs (they built huge ones) in the Middle Ages and have the characteristic of loud drone notes that always accompany the melody, giving it a feeling like violin meets bagpipes with a piano style of playing. You crank it to make the wheel (that it bows along) go.


The theremin has the interesting distinction of being the only Soviet instrument and the only instrument you play by waving your hands around. It has something to do with electrical fields. You'll recognize it as the source of many sci-fi B-movie sound effects, and it's extremely difficult to use it for anything else.



Saxophone --> Clarinet
Violin --> Mandolin --> Dulcimer
Guitar --> Electric Guitar
Cigar Box Guitar --> Banjo
Harmonica
--> Snare Drum (very simple toy)
--> Bugle (very simple toy)

Unrealistic:
Hurdy-gurdy
Theremin
Piano and then organ

Does posting hurdy-gurdy and theremin again make me a basic bitch?
 
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You can get a theremin pretty cheap if you're up for a little soldering.

Oh, hey, not even soldering. Don't let your dreams stay dreams. 1675580066832.png
 
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