The word “monochord” means literally “one string”. It was originally constructed by Pythagoras for basic harmonical experiments of tones 2500 years ago. In those days it was a simple wooden plate with only one string. Today the Monochord is an instrument with many strings of the same length stretched over a wooden soundbox, all tuned to the same tone. If you slowly pass your hands alternately over the strings without a break, you get a long-lasting sound that is rich in overtones.

Our German Monochord has 21 strings, one string tuned one octave lower. All strings are tuned to B.

Firstly we recorded separately each of the 21 strings of the Monochord plucked both with hands and plec in 2 or 3 dynamic variations. All the the strings were mapped in a range from C2 to C5 that you can pass your hands alternately over the keys related to the strings of the Monochord. Using this playing technique you get the typical long-lasting sound of the Monochord which you can transpose by using the key switch. Beyond that we recorded single strings in several Round Robin variations and dynamic layers that you can play the Monochord chromatically. Finally we created some intersting FX patches assembled from weird and experimental noises made with Monochord. We also added some scriptings to provide more opportunities.

Monochord Chromatic (chromatical playing, fx, additional script)

Monochord KEY Finger (all 21 strings plucked with finger, key-switch transposes notes, additional scripts)

Monochord KEY Plec (all 21 strings plucked with fingers, key-switch transposes notes, additional script)
Monochord Hit (big hit, all strings at once)
Monochord Texture 1 (experimental textures, modwheel morphs sound)

Monochord Texture2 (see above)

Monochord Texture3 (see above)

Monochord FX (11 different “one shot” fx-samples)

22 EUR (excl. VAT)

German Monochord – Demo “Crossroad”

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: Downbeat Box

Demo by Eric van Gent

German Monochord – Demo “Refrigerator”

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: Magnus Harmonica Organ

Demo by Eric van Gent

German Monochord – Demo “Open land”

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: Downbeat Box and additional strings (coming from external libraries)

Demo by Eric van Gent

German Monochord – Demo “Inter Mono”

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: Autoharp, Downbeat Box

Demo by Eric van Gent