Accordion/bagpipe tone?

[jonclayton]

Which chromatic sounds the most like an accordion or bagpipe in its tone (I'm not talking about an octave or echo harp, just fundamental tone)?

I got some sound samples from the Hohner website and their CX12 sample seemed to have the tone, while the 280 sample didn't. And not the Stevie Wonder sound.

But I have also heard of Hering and Seydel harmonicas but I haven't found samples. Would it have something to do with wood combs vs. plastic?

By the way YouTube seems to have passed me up in the technology department, can't seem to get their videos. Does this site have a section for mp3s and such?

Thanks in advance.
The music I'd want to play is a folk sound, minor keys mostly.

[Grizzly]

Chromatic harmonica, regardless of brand or model,  sounds the most like (wait for it)



a harmonica.

As soon as you can accept this, your life will become much less complicated.

Tom

[Renault]

Hohner makes a double-sided tremolo that is tuned to play bagpipe songs. Comes in the key of A and D only. The 7th note is flattened. But there's no way to add that characteristic drone sound that makes a bagpipe sound like a bagpipe.

http://www.hohnerusa.com/index.php?1548

[HallelujahAL]

You need a 'tremolo' harmonica which will give you the scottish musette type sound. There is also a way to create the drone sound whilst playing a tune by the clever use of a large balloon and a straw feeding the air into the harmonica. Sounds stupid, but it really does work!
 

[fspechtn]

Howard Levy on the diatonic has accomplished the drone sound while simultaniously playing the melody. It's the last verse of his now famous version of "Amazing Grace"  Have no idea how. He was just here in Chicago at the Green Mill last Saturday. I should have asked then.

[fspechtn]

The chromatic tremelo will sound exactly like the accordian [to me. at least] because both have double reeds on each note.

[Tim Atwell]

A long time ago, two Canadians teamed up to create a Scottish harmonica.  Bernie Brey and Andy (Paskas) Dallas.  Bernie mused one day that it would be nice to have one, but Andy made it happen.  He was very clever. 

He made one of these for me in return for my recording him playing his original tunes on an old TEAC open reel deck.  He started with a 64 CBH and tuned the blow notes in the second hole so they were the same as the blow notes in the third hole, G and G#.  So the first and second holes were a fifth apart, the interval of a drone.  He fed air into these two holes from, yes, a large balloon.  Through a PA the sound is unbelievable.  Over the drone you can play any diatonic tune.  I always played Amazing Grace.

Andy also made for me a Swiss harmonica (it yodels by itself); an Italian harmonica (it sounds like a mandolin) and a French harmonica (can be played with or without tremolo).  These three are all based on the 270.

Andy was cantankerous and stubborn, nearly impossible to get along with, but a rare combination of musician and mechanic.  A real Canadian, he did all of his custom work while lying on a bed watching hockey games.  Powerfully built and energetic, he had the patience of a saint when filing reeds.  He is probably buried with his oscilloscope.

[Grizzly]

Not to put too much a damper on your enthusiasm, but: no octaves, no echo (aka tremolo), just tone.

I stand by my answer. And IMO all the gimmicks in the world won't disguise the distinctive tone of a chromatic harmonica.

Electronics aside.

Tom

[jonclayton]

Thanks everyone. Grizz, I think you're right, but some tones are different from others. I am thinking of a thin, reedy sound versus a fat sound. An example of the thin sound is the French accordion played in the movie "Day of the Jackal". Another example might be an oboe. An example of a fat sound would be the 280 played on the Hohner site.

Any other sources for sound samples?

Great idea about the balloon. I just ran across a very nice air compressor I bought for airbrushing and never used. I was thinking about selling it for cents on the dollar but maybe there's a use for it. I also have a lot of aquarium tubing lying around.

[Grizzly]

These are all harmonicas, unmistakably; but: a CBH 2016 sounds nasal and reedy, a Chrometta sounds mellow and sweet, Hohners in general have more depth of tone, Herings are very bright, Suzukis (at least the SCXes) come close to Hohner but with less depth.

And the CX 12 is a monster! Loud, brash uncupped, mellow cupped, allowing great range of expression.

They share some of these characteristics with other instruments, which is why people like to make comparisons; but a careful listening will betray them every time.

And of course a great deal is in the hands—literally—of the player.

All IMO. And no one has ever mistaken my flute's sound for an oboe.

Tom

[Grizzly]

That is one heck of a beautiful website you have there and the fantastic is lovely to boot. I really love the presentation and the story as a whole



_______________
MarpleStringy Mesos | Bite MOW Gild | MOW Gold

You don't belong here.

[A.J.Fedor]

He's gone! I helped him on his way 

[streetlegal]

The CX12 does have more of what I would call a 'woodwind' tone as opposed to the brassier sound that is more generally associated with the harmonica. But apart from tone it is interesting to consider tuning options that would bring the sound of a chromatic closer to a bagpipe sound. I think some kind of just intonation tuning would be required - equal temperament tuning could never produce a bagpipe kind of sound.