64’ Instrument

[F Kalbrenner]

About a year ago I had posted a link to a video of a Contrabassoonist (Richard Bobo) proposing a new instrument I'd love to get my hands on called the Subcontrabassoon.
Recently Bobo had posted an update video where he talked about a new 3D printer he acquired and all the various things he had been printing off with it.
One of the things Bobo printed off was an enlarged copy of a bassoon reed which somehow led to the creation of a 64' Rackett.
I should point out that I use the term 64’ very loosely as the Rakett that Bobo demonstrates is in the key of G not C which means that it would probably be much longer, and I should also say that the video is over 20 minutes and it's not until around the ten minuet mark does he start to demonstrate the instrument. I just thought that some of you might be interested as it it not often do you see an instruments that can play this deep.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUWfNmUP8hc

[jbird604]

Interesting! Reminds me of a 32' reed I had on a big Rodgers analog years ago. My young daughter referred to it as the "helicopter flying over" stop!

[myorgan]

Very interesting instrument! Take it to the zoo, and see if any elephants respond. Alternately, take it to the aquarium to see if any whales answer or beach themselves.:-B

Michael

[F Kalbrenner]

The Gigarackett I agree is a joke instrument and I don’t think it is necessary to go that deep but I do think Richard Bobo's main goal the Subcontrabassoon is worth while as I think it would enhance the bass line of a lot of orchestral music, although that does depend on how loud it can sound.

[myorgan]

...although that does depend on how loud it can sound.

One would think that with a waveform presumably as large as those frequencies would create, the resulting amplitude may be greater than we anticipate.

Michael

[voet]

Do you suppose Bobo is trying to get even with his mother for always telling him to "Quit making that racket!"? ;-)

[F Kalbrenner]

One would think that with a waveform presumably as large as those frequencies would create, the resulting amplitude may be greater than we anticipate.

Michael

Yes the amount of volume that Richard Bobo managed to get out of his GigaRackett (although is still not quite enough to fill a concert hall) is pretty good. I guess what helps is that reed pipes (or double reed instruments) don’t always need to be wide enough to fit a person inside unlike flue pipes.


One thing that I think is also worth mentioning is that a year ago Richard Bob also uploaded an April fool’s video of a contra bassoon he called the Hyperoctosubcontrabassoon which unlike the GigaRackett this instrument would have been massive in real life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sv2KD1l4Dpc