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Hans Reichel's Daxophone
Hans Reichel's Daxophone
The Dax

The pitch and tonal color, created by the stroke of the bow, is manipulated by a handheld wedge of wood, which is called the Dax

Daxophone Sound Body
The Sound Body of the Daxophone
 Daxophone

The Daxophone was invented by Hans Reichel, and is a musical instrument of the friction idiophone category. It consists of a thin wooden blade fixed in a wooden block, which holds one or more contact microphones, and is usually mounted on a tripod. Most often, it is played by bowing the free end, but it can also be struck or plucked, which propagates sound in the same way a ruler halfway off a table does.

These vibrations then continue to the wooden-block bass, which are then amplified by the contact mics. A wide range of voice-like timbres can be produced, depending on the shape of the instrument, the type of wood, where it is bowed, and where along its length it is stopped with a separate block of wood called the "Dax". One side of the Dax is fretted to produce fixed pitches, while the other side is a smooth curve, to play more fluid pitch changes.

The sounds that come from the Daxophone are often very unexpected and sometimes very comical sounding!
Listen to a sample Hans Reichel’s Le Bal from Bart Hopkin's classic must-have experimental music CD Gravikords, Whirlies & Pyrophones

The Daxophone and its interesting vocal qualities :-)
Hans Reichel playing the Daxophone
Hans Reichel playing his creation with bow & Dax in hand
Daxophone Tongues
A few of the many different Daxophone "tongues" created by Hans Reichel that can be used to vary the sound of the instrument


Watch videos of Hans Reichel demonstrating the Daxophone

For more information, visit Hans Reichel's interactive website at www.daxo.de


 

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