Optigan.com has introduced a new Optigan sound disc, Darksophone.
Darksophone features the work of indie rock veteran Pall Jenkins (The Black Heart Procession, Three Mile Pilot). It includes the sound of musical saw, Marxophone, skeletal guitar and heavy drums.
For those unfamiliar with the Marxophone, it’s a zither-like instrument that is played with a series of keys, which bounce metal hammers onto the strings for a repeated dulcimer effect. The musical saw is played with a bow, and each note has an organic vibrato and other articulations. The sparse guitar chords lend themselves to combining chord buttons for extended harmonies.
The drums feature patterns in both 6/8 and 4/4.
Pricing and Availability
Darksophone is available now for US $99.99.
The demo is cripplingly good in my opinion. Does anyone know if there is a strategy for ‘playing’ (or sampling) the disc without owning an optigan (I’ve never heard of this instrument before; I just did a quick wikipedia read and ebay search; Totally awesome, but no way in hell I’m buying one).
Kraftwerk used the Optigan’s little brother the Orchestron to great effect. The choir sound at the beginning of Radioactivity is an Orchestron. It was a great choir sound for 1975 (better than the Mellotron), and it still sounds good today.
Insert standard regular comment by Rabid Bat in support of the obsessed genius lunatic producing these crazy things and how much I relate to his obsession with the total mastery of obscurity, one of the most noble of endeavors.
This disk might be the best yet.