The double bass harmonica is not exactly a common instrument. It was more popular several decades ago, when harmonica ensembles were more common. The bass harmonica is a double-deck instrument with two hinged bodies, the lower having all the natural notes, and the upper having all the sharps/flats – so it is fully chromatic covering a range of two octaves, starting with EE (like the lowest note on a bass guitar). Each of the holes of the harmonica has two reeds tuned an octave apart – thus this harmonica has 58 reeds total. The double bass harmonica is an “all blow” instrument.

It was a tough cookie to catch the real timbre and authenticity of this giant harmonica. Thus we tested several recording settings in which we recorded at least every second note in a long sustained and a short variation. We ran with velocity layer and Round Robin variation and came out with three seperate sample sets recorded with different microphone set-ups. Beside this we recorded a typical flutter fx and added some scriptings to provide more opportunities.

Dbl Bass Harmonica Close MW Flutter KEY (very close and intimate sound, key switched, long, short and release notes, flutter FX, additional script)

Dbl Bass Harmonica Double (bright sound, real doubling because of two different sample sets, long looped notes, additional scripts)
Dbl Bass Harmonica KEY (authentic sound, key switched, long, short and release notes, additional script)
Dbl Bass Harmonica Mud (rich and muddy sound because of three different sample sets playing simultaneously, long looped and release notes, additional script)

Dbl Bass Harmonica Triple Texture (pad alike FX sound assembled out of four different sample sets, additional script)

18 EUR (excl. VAT)

Double Bass Harmonica-Demo “Saturday Night”

Musikvideo: Adobe Flash Player (Version 9 oder höher) wird benötigt um dieses Musikvideo abzuspielen. Die aktuellste Version steht hier zum herunterladen bereit. Außerdem muss JavaScript in Ihrem Browser aktiviert sein.

Additional Instruments: Super-Sound EK-470, Upcoming “Home Drums”, real Guitars

Demo by Eric van Gent

Double Bass Harmonica-Demo “Drear Trees”

Musikvideo: Adobe Flash Player (Version 9 oder höher) wird benötigt um dieses Musikvideo abzuspielen. Die aktuellste Version steht hier zum herunterladen bereit. Außerdem muss JavaScript in Ihrem Browser aktiviert sein.

Additional Instruments: Upcoming “Experimental Box Vol2″ and additional strings (coming from external libraries)

Demo by Eric van Gent

Just the Bass Harmonica:

Musikvideo: Adobe Flash Player (Version 9 oder höher) wird benötigt um dieses Musikvideo abzuspielen. Die aktuellste Version steht hier zum herunterladen bereit. Außerdem muss JavaScript in Ihrem Browser aktiviert sein.