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ubizmo
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« on: January 15, 2015, 02:16:48 am » |
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I was going to post this in the other thread, about Why is this Forum So Dead, but decided it deserved a fresh new thread with a less morose title.
The "ProRange" is not, in fact, vaporware. I know because I played a prototype daily for about six weeks before sending it back to Karl, not long before Christmas. I'm posting this now, with Karl's permission, because the PR is very close to ready for release. The reason why I'm posting this instead of Karl is twofold. One part is that I'm excited and want to talk about it and get some buzz going. But Karl's even more excited, so that's not really a good reason. The other reason--the important one--is that Karl doesn't want to be distracted from this important final phase of development. So he said I could go ahead and talk about it!
I'm using the abbreviation PR, and I put "ProRange" in quotation marks, because that will not be the final name of this new instrument. After much discussion and reflection, a different name has been chosen, but Karl will unveil that when the PR is actually launched. So don't get too comfortable with "PR"!
On to the good stuff. The PR prototype that I had is the result of years of experimentation by Karl. A number of other designs preceded it. For the last year or so, I was involved only as a kind of sounding board for ideas, via phone or Skype. I still haven't met Karl in person! It was a tremendous privilege for me to be able to serve as test pilot for the prototype of what is, in fact, the final design.
I can't post pictures or sound samples (I don't actually have any sound samples), but I can give you a pretty good idea of what to expect. In general size and shape, the PR is about the size of an iPhone 5, but somewhat thicker. One of Karl's top design priorities was for the instrument to be compact enough to be carried in a pocket or in a holster that isn't cumbersome. With this design, he succeeded. Although the PR is overall thicker than the iPhone, it is tapered in thickness, narrower at the bottom (distal) end. The shape, viewed from above, is rectangular with rounded corners (more rounded than the iPhone's) and the mouthpiece is slightly tapered inward. The general shape could be described as sleek.
There are ten tone holes; eight on top and two on the bottom. The player's hands do not shift from one set of holes to another. The range is two full chromatic octaves, from C5 to C7. There is "chamber overlap" of a minor third, from B to D. That is, the notes B, C, C#, and D can be played on either chamber. This is an incredibly important and useful feature. It takes just a little while to get used to it, and then you find it indispensable.
The top (2nd octave) chamber has a tuning hole at the bottom end. This creates what's sometimes called "chamber balance", which means the breath pressure needed for high C on the bottom chamber is about the same as what's needed for the same note, which is near the bottom of the range of the top chamber. Without that tuning hole, changing chambers would require a sharp breath cut. On the PR, the transition is very smooth. You can play all the way to high C without any feeling of "pushing" or strain. At the low end, the bottom C "bell note" is strong and clear. At no point is there any need for the "acute bend", as needed on some other ocarinas.
The voicing holes are on the bottom. The overall volume of the PR is a bit less than that of the existing MOs. It's not a huge difference, but enough to be noticed. The tone is different from the existing MOs too. It's notoriously hard to describe instrument sounds, but in my view the PR is a bit less "reedy" than the MOs we're used to. Some people described that reedy quality as "buzz"; in any case, there's less of it in the PR, giving it a slightly softer, more flutelike tone. At least, that's how I'd describe it.
Without going into too much technical detail, there were quite a lot of problems to be solved in getting to this design. We think of the ocarina as a simple instrument, but the PR is very much an instrument of the 21st century. The tolerances required to make the instrument work are incredibly fine. Even the material used had to be carefully considered and tested. This is not an instrument that could be made in clay, or even most ordinary woods. Add to that one of Karl's top priorities, which was to develop an instrument rugged enough to be carried around anywhere, and the range of possible materials was narrowed even further. Many ordinary woods, for example, would swell or shrink enough in varying weather conditions to throw the tuning off, given the fine tolerances already mentioned.
In addition, the patented tone hole design places constraints on the positioning of the tone holes, and their positioning in turn affects their size. You can't just put them anywhere and expect them to work. The way in which the chambers have to be configured affects the flow of air, which in turn affects the size of tone holes, tuning, timbre, and everything else. I only grasp the most superficial details of all this, but I learned enough to gain an appreciation of the challenges involved.
Musically, I consider the PR a breakthrough instrument. It's an ocarina, but I think it will have an appeal that extends beyond the ocarina community. I found that I was able to play the usual things that I play, with a lot of added flourishes, thanks to the extra range; but I could also play things that I couldn't touch on the existing MOs, such as Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" and "Wachet Auf." And of course, for those of us here in the US, "The Star-Spangled Banner" is no problem. The very first melody I wanted to try was, of all things, "When You Wish Upon a Star". This song, if played to include the full Jiminy Cricket falsetto at the end, uses the entire range of the instrument, and sounds just lovely.
Karl and I share a love of Irish dance music, and in fact I've been doing a lot of whistle playing in sessions for the past few years (especially low whistle). The ocarina sounds great with this music, but most of it needs more range than any single ocarina, and more efficient playability than other doubles I've tried. But I found myself playing quite a lot of in on the PR prototype. I can't say it was all easy, because a lot of this music just isn't easy; it's fast and complicated. But as I got the hang of the PR I was able to play more and more of it.
So there you are, something new to talk about.
Before anyone asks, no I don't know when it will be released, nor what the price will be. I know it's very close to ready. I'm going to take the liberty of suggesting that if you're interested and want to contact Karl about the PR, do so by email rather than by phone, for the same reason that I'm posting this instead of Karl. Karl loves to talk about his work, and it's really easy for him to lose several hours in a day doing so. But things are at the stage now where he just needs to focus on sorting out the final details.
If you have questions, post them here and I'll try to answer the ones I can answer. Some will no doubt have to wait until the launch, but that shouldn't be too long now.
This is going to be so cool!
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