The world of musical instruments is by no means limited to Casio synthesizers, violins and guitars. Over the vast history of the existence of music, people have tried to invent something new. Often they turned out really unique tools.
Theremin
This musical instrument is most often heard in horror films. It was invented by the Russian scientist Leo Theremin in 1928. Of course, it is difficult to call it a modern musical instrument, but it still attracts a lot of attention.
Theremin gained wide popularity due to its sound - creepy, slightly vibrating. It is often used in their work by underground musicians. The difficulty of playing the Theremin is not only working with your hands, which changes the pitch, but also the need for perfect hearing.
Banjolele
Ukulele and banjo are instruments with a multi-million army of fans, but their hybrid, the banjole, has not gained popularity. This instrument is a small banjo with four, not five, strings. It sounds very soft and soothing, but not everyone is comfortable playing it. Banjolele remained a niche musical instrument - maybe because of the name, maybe because of the inconvenience of playing it.
Omnichord
Suzuki introduced the Omnicord electronic musical instrument in 1981. It starts to sound only after pressing the chord key and hitting a metal plate. The omnichord had every chance of getting the title of the most popular instrument, but he never became one. However, the British group Gorillaz played the famous melody from the song Clint Eastwood on this musical instrument.
Baritone guitar
Guitars are one of the most popular instruments in the world. However, an unenviable future awaited hybrids of musical instruments: combining conventional and bass guitars with a baritone guitar was a failed experiment. Due to the peculiar design, it sounds lower than usual, but today it is used extremely rarely and only in recording studios to give the guitar part a richer sound.
Glucophone
A musical instrument with an unusual name, but very pleasant sound. Outwardly, it resembles a hand-held metal drum. It is represented by two bowls, on one of which there are “tongues”, and on the other - a resonating hole. Each of the bowls requires fine tuning.
The story of the creation of the glucophone is pretty banal: its author, Felle Vega, cut off a part from the gas cylinder and named it Tambiro. Years later, a modified glucophone began to be made in many workshops, and it gained popularity among street musicians.
Keyboard
A classic synthesizer enclosed in a plastic guitar case. Like all previous hybrids of musical instruments, it is used quite rarely, but it has the advantage of compactness.
Wind synthesizer "Evi"
One of the most popular synthesizers, which, however, is unknown to a large number of music fans. It combines a synthesizer and saxophone. Playing it is practically no different from playing the saxophone. However, thanks to the synthesizer functions, it can be connected to a computer.
Electronium
One of the most mysterious, but by no means modern musical instruments, invented by inventor Raymond Scott. Very little is known about electronium - except that it is a prototype synthesizer. The only working copy belongs to the composer Mark Mathersbo, but it does not work.
Musical saw
Unlike a conventional saw, a musical one bends much stronger. The musician during the game rests one end on the thigh, and holds the other with his hand. A bow is used to extract the sound. It sounds very unusual, and often it can be heard in the compositions of folk groups. However, a musical saw is an instrument of the ethnic genre of music, not widely used.
"Marteno Waves"
One of the unusual tools, authored by Maurice Marteno. In sounding, it resembles theremin and violin. The design of the French instrument is very complex: the musician needs to press the keys and pull the special ring during the game. Marteno Waves was used to record Radiohead songs, giving them an unusual sound.
Harpeggies
A string-type Harpeggi musical instrument created in 2007 by Tim Mix. It became a bridge that combined the sound and technique of playing the piano and guitar. Simply put, a modern musical instrument is a hybrid of two instruments, similar to a large zither. To play it, you need to click on the strings located on the panel. This method of sound extraction is called tamping.
Harpeggies are divided into two types depending on the number of octaves and strings.
Laser harp
Unique in its idea, the concept of a musical instrument, created in the 80s by Jean-Michel Jarre, who began to use it in performances. The idea is very simple: with the help of laser beams the image of a string harp is formed, after which the movement of the musician’s hands is tracked. When a musician crosses one of the rays with his hand while playing a laser harp, the photosensor sends a signal to the controller, which generates signals of the corresponding frequency, duration and volume.
There are two types of laser harps: open and closed. The last type of laser harp is necessarily created on the basis of a full frame, in the lower part of which there are emitters, and in the upper - photodetectors.
The principle of playing the closed laser harp is simple: when the photosensors record all the rays, the instrument is silent, when any of the rays disappears - the corresponding sound is made. The harp is much more interesting in the sound and game. It is, in fact, a powerful laser, the beam of which is directed into the mirror of a standard galvanometer, which turns it around in the form of strings of an ordinary harp. The photosensor is located near the exit point of the rays and catches the light reflected from the musician’s hand crossing the rays. Processing such a signal is very difficult, because it requires filtering the sound from exposure, dust and rays reflected from the walls, which requires special equipment. Perhaps the laser harp is one of the most modern musical instruments.