New Miraphone
Posted: Mon Jun 14, 2004 4:16 am
Hi
There should be a chance to try a prototype at ITEC in Hungary. I will also bring it on a US tour in October as well as on the Army conference in Washington late January.
The development is now in it's second year. I used the instrument on several tours last year and I'm very happy with what Miraphones chief designer Christian Niedemaier has achieved. Intonation and agility is better than on any tuba I've played so far. The main issue now is more or less to decide the right size of the body and the bore of the valve system . This is likely to end up slightly smaller than on the last prototype, but nothing is set yet. What we are really working on is adjustments of sound color, to allow the player to add that "Stradivarius flair" to the sound. Even the first prototype was good enough to beat most existing e-flats, but slightly to dark in the sound for my taste. We are also working on improving valve response and speed. (rotary of course..)
I am waiting for the fourth new prototype in the mail (-box?!) next week.
Considering that the design and production of a new body normally takes several months you can imagine the resources put into this project. But then again, Miraphone promised me to build the E-flat of my dreams...
We hope to be able to launch the horn early -05.
Øystein Baadsvik
There should be a chance to try a prototype at ITEC in Hungary. I will also bring it on a US tour in October as well as on the Army conference in Washington late January.
The development is now in it's second year. I used the instrument on several tours last year and I'm very happy with what Miraphones chief designer Christian Niedemaier has achieved. Intonation and agility is better than on any tuba I've played so far. The main issue now is more or less to decide the right size of the body and the bore of the valve system . This is likely to end up slightly smaller than on the last prototype, but nothing is set yet. What we are really working on is adjustments of sound color, to allow the player to add that "Stradivarius flair" to the sound. Even the first prototype was good enough to beat most existing e-flats, but slightly to dark in the sound for my taste. We are also working on improving valve response and speed. (rotary of course..)
I am waiting for the fourth new prototype in the mail (-box?!) next week.
Considering that the design and production of a new body normally takes several months you can imagine the resources put into this project. But then again, Miraphone promised me to build the E-flat of my dreams...
We hope to be able to launch the horn early -05.
Øystein Baadsvik
