The story
Musical Stones – by Harry Binns
Situated in the heart of the Lake District, this lithophone sits in the Keswick Museum. It was built in 1840 after 13 years of construction. It is the second of 2 built. The first built in 1785 consisted of only 2 octaves, this lithophone has a 5 octave range and is tuned more accurately. The stones are slate taken from the nearby mountain Skiddaw, which stands as the 6th highest peak in England. It’s also where I grew up.
The instrument itself which is in the Keswick Museum, toured around the UK and Europe during the 19th century. At one point it was played in a private performance for Queen Victoria in London.
The sampling of this instrument is fairly basic due to my limited setup. It was recorded using only a single Rode NT1-a (I made it stereo within the exs24). I only had a short period of time to record the samples just after the museum had closed. There were still a few people about and cleaners using hovers. This means there are quite a few artefacts. However, I find it sounds best with a large long reverb.
I hope you have as much fun playing with this as I have and I hope to re sample it someday to a higher quality.
Reviews for Musical Stones
- Sound
- Character
- Playability
- Inspiration
- GUI
Leave a review to let others know what you thought of the instrument!
One of a kind pitched percussion!
Really enjoying writing with this instrument, it has great dynamic range! I love being able to get very quiet with a percussion instrument. It definitely is reminiscent of a Xylophone/Marimba crossover, but the stone sound is blatant and adds a lot of unique character. I think this is a perfect instrument for a number video game settings that need that striped back tribal version of a theme, using this for a melody variation. It also reminded me of an intro to a Karnivool song that just has a few notes on possibly a Xylophone with distortion, before the full band comes in. Very unique, I'll be using this quite a lot I think!
Sounds like a special kind of xylophone
It really sounds like a very special xylophone to me. It plays well, but by default, it is very lown on volume, so I suggest bringing it up a little bit. It also seems to me that it has some fidelity issues, so I am sure that some noise reduction would really make it shine. A great concept with great potential!
General Bell-is Sound
Musical stones at its finest! Has a Fred Flintstone vibe to it. The lower octaves have some interesting textures to explore. This would sound great with some FX and layered with other sounds. Enjoy!
Really dynamic and creative.
First off this instrument is really dynamic which is awesome. I wish more of these bell type instruments would be as dynamic as this. The concept of this library is also pretty creative, however there are many similar bell type instruments i prefer on pianobook. I dont find the resonances on this one to be particularly pleasing compared to other similar libraries. There is also noise present as well as some clicking in the samples. Its a really cool instrument overall, there are just others i prefer on pianobook
Unique Instrument
This is certainly a very unique instrument, and it's super cool that the museum allowed someone in to sample it. Although the concept is extremely unique, the resulting sound isn't really that different from other mallet sounds, and the differences it does exhibit aren't necessarily all positive ones. There's definitely some noise in the samples, and for better or for worse, the intonation hasn't been adjusted on these samples, so they're not particularly in tune. So, while some might find this useful, it's not really my cup of tea due to the limitations of the timbre and intonation. It's still a unique part of what PB has to offer, though.
