Odd Instruments and Musicians in Rock History
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Artist:
In a comment to a comment on my previous post, i mentioned that *Big Daddy* used the theremin in the itnro to their version of the Star Wars theme...What famous hit single used a theremin as a major part of the arrangement?And, for that matter, what international hit single used an ocarina, miked and fed through a fuzz box, for the bridge?What *is* an ocarina, for that matter?And what's a "Musitron", and what classic hit track features one?Mildly obscure(er than the previous): What was the "Fartbox", and what hugely influential single owes its signature sound to it?Track by *Vanity Fair* featuring cowbell?AND: What *Kinks* song features the session piano of *Nicky Hopkins*?
Comments (27)
The *Stylotron* (which seems to be back in production) was created rather later, 1967:(from "*WikiPedia*":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubreq_Stylophone)
There's an "*official Stylophone website*":http://web.archive.org/web/20000816045047/http://www.stylophone.freeserve.co.uk/, which features online stylophone simulators you can play with.
Apparently, the Stylophone is back in production (or was, as of 2007), supposedly going on sale at HMV stores in September for £14.95.
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that's designed to resemble the one in the "*Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time* game":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Zelda:_Ocarina_of_Time...)
But, just in case: If you mix two signals together (technically, if you mix them in a non-linear device, but most amps have enough non-linearity to work), they "heterodyne" - the outpout includes the two original signals, but also it includes some amount of signals ("beat frequencies") equal to their sum and their difference.
The theremin contains two radio-frequency oscillators tuned to the same frequency, so that when miixed they produce zero beats. One is fixed frequency, the other variable; it's detuned by moving the hands near an antenna, using body capacitance to cause it to vary in frequency.
Mix the two signals, amplify th resulting difference sigal, and presto - weird electronic music...
(It's the same effect that causes analog tuner AM radios - particularly shortwave - to make whistling noises as you tune past strong statons...)