November 13th, 2007
How to waste time: the Omnichord
There was much excitement in our house last week when a big box arrived in the post. The contents? One Omnichord, which is going to take some beating as the best musical instrument in the world (second only to my trusty, coveted pal, the xylophone). Now, you’d swear time wasn’t an issue for me with a little guy to look after, but sure enough I managed to resurrect an indecent amount tinkering about on it. It’s an electronic harp of sorts, which works by pressing chord buttons - major, minor and 7ths - while you scratch the touch plate on the right. In true vintage Bontempi style, there are various preset rhythms you can add, like “disco” and “latin”. It was manufactured by Suzuki in the early 80s and they no longer make them, but they turn up on eBay. There’s a short history here. It truly is the
musical instrument for non-musicians. After about an age of messing around and imagining myself joining Amiina*, I had to put it away. It’s addictive.
The sound is beautiful; for one instrument it sounds like a mini-orchestra. If you’ve never heard one, a reference point would be ‘Ocean’s of Noise’ on Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible; there’s an omnichord lurking in there. I Prefer the Obscure Remix is similarly taken with the Omnichord and has footage of a old guy who’s a whizz, playing it’s more modern cousin, the Q-chord.
* I completely forgot to post the live review of their recent Dublin show, so it’s here. After the gig, I got chatting to MarÃa and Sólrún, who were lovely and so gracious. When I told them that Kurr is the best album in the whole world for getting babies to sleep, they signed a single I’d bought saying to my son with “sweet dreams!”. I thought that was adorable…
November 13th, 2007 at 9:45 am
Oh my God, I WANT ONE! It has joined my list of coveted instruments, along with the theremin and autoharp (when we toured with the Handsome Family, which is what really kicked off my autoharp craving, Rennie Sparks told me they were really easy to find on eBay, and so began my quest. Alas, there were indeed lots of autoharps but I never found a seller who’d ship to Ireland and so I eventually gave up).
November 13th, 2007 at 11:16 am
I’ve always had a soft spot for the Zither, but that Omnichord is very swish!
November 13th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Sinead thats class! Quick question - where did you get it?! It looks like the ideal birthday present for my brother who’s a fan all obscure musical instruments!
November 13th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
If you need a ‘vibes’ or Jew’s Harp player I’m your man!
November 13th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Does it have ‘Greensleeves’ as a default playalong track like my old Casio?
do do do doooo do doooo do doooooo…
November 14th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Want a go.
November 14th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Oh you lucky so and so. I’ve been coveting one of those for all of this year. They’re almost at the top of my “musical gear I want” list, below a sampler but above a KAOS pad. Another example of them (or rather the Q-Chord) in action would be on the second to last song on Sunset Rubdown’s Shut Up I Am Dreaming and the imaginatively titled “Q-Chord”.
Au Revior Simone use them too. I met them after their last Dublin gig and chatted to them about it. That’s right, I got talking to pretty indie chicks and the conversation matter was their gear, no wonder I’m single.
Anyway, if you get bored with it and want to sell it let me know.
November 16th, 2007 at 1:32 am
That’s a science week blogging comp entry covered then Sinead…lol
November 16th, 2007 at 8:19 am
WANTSIES!