Subcontrabassoon - Live Presentation (July 2022)

[@instrumentalheadquarters7062]

I almost died when he hit the subcontrabassoon with the chair. But this was wonderful.

[@hannah_soren]

1:01 - That’s my dad

[@timothytikker3834]

As an organist who has a full-length 32' reed stop in the organ at my church, I find these sounds soul-satisfying!

Very happy I was there to witness this presentation in person, the feeling of hearing this instrument live is really something else

[@Dr_Trumpet]

I've checking in on this project every now and then for years, and I'm really happy to see you've been able to create a finished product.

[@skapunkchristmas]

I love the dude that noped out the moment the "high" notes started being played. That's not what he came here for.

[@thrillscience]

You're the greatest, Richard! I hope to be able to hear your "Subkontrafagott" live someday.

[@juansebastianmorelli580]

Felicitaciones!!! La música sigue evolucionando.

[@timothytikker3834]

Yes, Berlioz' instrumentation treatise specifically describes the string octobass as only going down to C an octave below the cello.

[@Subcontrabassoon]

Moreover, at a time when the contrabass could only play down to E1 or sometimes even G1, a string instrument two full octaves below the cello that was mechanically limited to a range of 1.5 octaves wouldn't even have made sense.

[@robertstrong9381]

Stumbled across this randomly somewhere else on the internet but it’s so cool to find people doing their own stuff. I don’t know anything about music

[@music-zv6je]

"...and now for our special guest _pulls out the GigaRackett_ " Seriously, though, this sounds awesome! Still not very easy to discern the lower pitches but the C D E F that you played at 14:00 sounded LOVELY! The tone is great, really believe in the future of the instrument! As a one-man team, though, have you ever tried looking into hiring someone or has anybody ever approached you with a proposal? Might speed up the process, if that's possible?

[@zenasm.savage1999]

Richard great work, persistance and invention. When I first heard about your ideas I was like "yeah this is all great" but is this guy really going to do this. Having both the musical and engineering expertise to pull this off is a rare combination. I commend both your efforts and passion to this point.

[@isaacmcareavey237]

Great presentation, thought you spoke very well and I'm expecting to see a subcontra, contra, great bassoon, bassoon and maybe tenoroon group soon 😂

[@thepandemicfiles9331]

That is the dopest thing I have ever seen! I'm in love with it. All it needs is a mic and some crazy effects and I can create new worlds! LoL seriously I dig this bad boy. Amazing! C.P. Kaestner Author, Artist and Musician The Pandemic Files

[@composermega]

I never thought I'd be so fascinated by something like this. Even the music software I use often cannot hit those low notes. I'm really looking forward to the progress you make in the next few years!

[@wey136]

This is awesome!!!! Can't wait to hear what can be played with the fingers mechanism.

[@jrk1666]

The subcontra register is violently underrated

[@DrBovdin]

Very cool project. To reach pitches on a (semi-) portable wind instrument normally only possible on large, stationary, organs could lend itself to some very interesting pieces in unexpected places. I think there may be a (very) small niche for this monster 😄 I only ever played a little contrabassoon myself, Berlioz in fact (not unsurprisingly there), and had great fun.

[@yknoturbss-oon594]

Luv it!!! Super bassssssooooooon. I fangirled so bad when I realized Mr. BOB and Mr KOR were in the same room

[@darktimesatrockymountainhi4046]

More evidence that bassoons are really the only woodwinds we need

[@mal2ksc]

Kinda hard to beat the compactness of low clarinets, they're inherently an octave down for the same length of tube. That's why the gigarackett is cylindrical bore (aside from being a lot easier to build that way).

[@darktimesatrockymountainhi4046]

@@mal2ksc I admit that I love the tone of low clarinets. Perhaps I will compose some new woodwind quintets - with very different instrumentation than is customary...

[@camthesaxman3387]

There's no soprano or alto bassoon. Oboes and english horns don't count.

[@AlMulimanden]

Love it! Have you considered electrifying? Running all by solenoid would make the placement of tone holes a lot easier... or maybe save that for the supra-subcontra 😀

[@mal2ksc]

That would also open the possibility that when you use some obscure cross-fingering, it knows to open a vent for you since your thumb can't be in two places at once, and other quality-of-life "cheats". Potentially it could even "translate" the altissimo fingerings for contra into a combination that produces the correct result more easily but would be a finger-twister to perform manually.

[@camthesaxman3387]

Have fun dealing with batteries. I think a cable system similar to bicycle handbrakes would work better. The subcontrabass saxophone uses that for some keys.

[@gamingmusicmishaps]

this is amazing

[@alasdaircampbell4991]

This is amazing! I remember when you'd started the project, and the digital simulations of what it'd sound like. Tonight I'd been in the chorus for Mahler 2, and there are a few great moments for contrabassoon, such as the low C right before the mezzo enters. I was reminded of the subcontrabassoon, checked youtube and was very excited to see and hear the real thing!

[@peterpanda5069]

Nice to see Mr Rickard and the bassoonasaurus get a look in!

[@DietterichLabs]

That is really cool. It is amazing how far you have gotten with that.

[@werothegreat]

If you ever get a full CAD model with the keywork and everything, I would love to try to 3D print one myself!

[@ArsenalTheProtogen]

oh god

[@andykeen6769]

Hearing those super-low notes is a learnable skill, interesting. With some effort I can hear the subcontra low D by itself as a note (21:58), without the contra.

[@lamaspacos]

22:05

[@darktimesatrockymountainhi4046]

LOL! Stopping to set each note reminds me of ancient hornists having to stop & replace crooks for different notes...

[@Joge71]

I would love to hear a solo piece on this instrument...

[@jpsned]

I could visualize the reed flapping on the low A!

[@kishascape]

Now make a baroque era straight piped one just like the contrabassoon lmao

[@michaelmervin632]

Who in there right mind would want to play this and I’m sure it costs a small fortune

[@whistling_klutz]

"Tritonikon" sounds oddly badass...

[@muskul4206]

Not your whole body shaking when you play that low B flat 💀 💀 💀

[@Da_TboneLife]

This is very similar to trigger tenor trombone how it can play higher and play really low but bass and contra can play extremely low I assume and have range into the tenor trombone.

[@seanmathias232]

Can you please do a review on the bassoon variations you have? Very interested!

[@felipemoraes3101]

Is it lower than the Octacontrabass saxophone?

[@Subcontrabassoon]

Yes. As best as I can ascertain, the existing octocontrabass saxophone only has a range to written C (sounding Eb0). It has low B and low Bb keys, but they don't seem to be connected to anything and the physical instrument ends with C. In any case, the subcontrabassoon descends to A-1, which on octocontrabass saxophone would be written low F# (three ledger lines below the staff)

[@camthesaxman3387]

Why? Because we can!

[@nonix14]

I'm here because of his fingerings for garklein recorder.

[@ottolehikoinen6193]

Solo piece must have melody on overtones, yes?

[@pukalo]

epic

[@StereoTyp0]

How was the Colorado altitude for your playing?

[@Subcontrabassoon]

I didn't play a whole lot while I was there; this presentation and the short videos with KOR were the vast bulk of my playing. Since I would have a solo with one of my orchestras a month after the presentation, I tried to be extra-safe to avoid getting sick. If the altitude affected subcontrabassoon reeds, I'm not a sensitive-enough subcontrabassoon player to notice.

[@StereoTyp0]

@@Subcontrabassoon cool, I appreciated the presentation and your response. Gotta love historical broken-telephone that becomes "fact".

[@alrowland6495]

The elusive brown note?

[@pdqbachfan]

The better audio recording link is not working

[@jrtanker2271]

Honest question, why do you shake your head while playing? The only thing I could think of is vibrato but when playing notes that low, where the tuning needs to be so incredibly precise, the last thing you would want is vibrato. Apologies if this is obvious, I am not a bassoon player. Thanks!

[@Subcontrabassoon]

I don't know why my head shakes when I play. It's not something I do consciously, and honestly I'm too old to completely rework the entire way I play the instrument.

[@jrtanker2271]

@@Subcontrabassoon Very fair, and you still managed to make it shake the building.

[@M4r0t]

When you’re on frequencies so low, maybe it’s better to use a drum ! ^^

[@theresa.y5221]

27:42

[@claudiog.nogueiras2323]

ist insane. :-(

[@JohannaA.5013]

Sprechen Sie Deutsch _Herr_ Bobo?

[@Subcontrabassoon]

Unfortunately, I do not. At least, not beyond first semester beginning German.

[@JohannaA.5013]

@@Subcontrabassoon, ich habe die A2.2 completierte und beginne mit der B1.1 an! As you read some German articles, I thought you might have learned it. I don't know why, I always loved the bass sounds. And, despite the trembling sound I hear, I really appreciate the Subcontrabassoon. Bass sounds tend to relax me a lot. You sorry if I could not send any donations, times are harsh. But as a composer, I'll want to include this behemoth in my pieces! Congrats on your presentation. Hope one day I can experience personally the sound of the SCB.

[@Subcontrabassoon]

@@JohannaA.5013 As far as foreign languages are concerned, academic articles are often the easiest to deal with since there's so much common jargon and the writing tends to be rather plain and straight-forward.

[@JohannaA.5013]

@@Subcontrabassoon, sure.

[@bengundran1488]

It sounds like a long low fart.

[@michaelmervin632]

I imagen it costs more than a house A stratavariys it’s not.

[@SaxSpy]

whack

[@rubenmolino1480]

horrible

[@Subcontrabassoon]

I'm honestly and sincerely happy to get some negative feedback. It's easy to get anxious that all positive feedback is just people being polite. But some presumably-sincere negative feedback makes it easier to believe that the majority of the feedback I get is sincere. All the best, and sorry this isn't your cup of tea.

[@geoffbakerhytch5623]

@@Subcontrabassoon perhaps the negative-feedbackers would like to try developing a new musical instrument themselves, to see the monstrous efforts that must be made in order to succeed. Bravissimo, Richard; I've been following your project via this channel for about 5 years now; your tenacity, patience, resilience, and determination are truly impressive!! Thank you so much for this live demonstration, too.

[@Subcontrabassoon]

@@geoffbakerhytch5623 There's nothing wrong with disliking something, even if one might respect the work that went into making it.

[@ottohashmi]

no u

[@jpsned]

@@Subcontrabassoon I would ignore anyone who gives a one-word negative review. If they want to be taken seriously, they can explain why they thought it was "horrible." For all we know, it might not even be a negative review. Difficult to tell with one word.