I have no idea if this is the same as the one at the Montreal Symphony Orchestra but for anyone else who was curious about the specs on this beast:
- HEIGHT: 3.6 m (11.10 ft.)
- LENGTH OF THE SOUNDBOARD (uppermost board): 2.06 m (6.76 ft.)
- WIDTH OF THE SOUNDBOARD: 1.11 m (3.64 ft.)
- LENGTH OF STRINGS: 2.18 m (6.56 ft.)
- NUMBER OF STRINGS 3: (A-E-B)
- DIAMETER OF STRINGS: 5/16 in. (7.94 mm). 1/4 in. (6.35 mm) et 3/16 in. (4.76 mm)
- WEIGHT: 131,54 kg (290 lbs.)
- NUMBER OF PARTS: There are hundreds of parts, of which 237 make up the complex mechanism of this precision instrument.
- SPECIAL FEATURES: The octobass is the lowest-pitched and largest-sized instrument of the entire string family. The performer must climb up on a small stool in order to access the neck of the instrument, and it is only by means of levers and pedals - not with the hands that the strings can be reached and sounded. The octobass bow is longer and heavier than the bow of an ordinary string bass.
Apparently it can do as low as 25Hz. That would be badass to experience in person.
Man, that’s deep ;-)
I’ve seen a youtube video on that Octobass once, and it was amazing. Having to climb some stairs to play this absolute beast was something that shocked me. And the levers to play it.
Holy hell, I thought this was a joke at first.
It still can be, roll a bard that only plays it. Your party and dm will probably hate you but it’s a funny one-off, or if they’re fun you can try to work around the limitations together like making str/dex checks to get it through a narrow cave. Even better, make it a halfling that needs a step stool to play it.
Basically as cumbersome as a one man band!
The YouTube said 16 Hz, infrasound. You can see the vibration mode.of the string, super cool.
Thanks for the stats
I wonder where they produce these things
May I present the contrabass saxophone:
That’s one whisper you shouldn’t be careless with.
Careful scream
There’s a size larger: the subcontrabass sax
There is also a sub contrabass recorder
These are all well and good but what does it take to get all these in the same room, playing at the same time?
I tried to find a video of a contrabass band. This seems like something that would have been done with YouTube existing. I came up empty.
I did stumble across this all bass orchestra playing Wellerman, so I’ll give you that as a consolation prize.
At first it looked like a Contrabass Slide Whistle.
I’m a bit disappointed.
Is this the instrument that does the dramatic horn sound that Christopher Nolan forced to use every 20 seconds in his movies?
Small chance it was used for the Reaper main cannon in Mass Effect.
Counterbased
Here’s another that’s slightly less terrifying than the above sample https://youtu.be/jCEYPyUBDAU?si=4rhnEk6ZZhZrQgtq
Shit this is even the guy from the photo isn’t it?
The only string instrument that can save more than two people in a flood.
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They’d have to plug the holes though
Keyboard players: hold my beer
The violin she tells you not to worry about
That’s awesome.
That one plays in the same league as the hammer.
There’s still hope I can fulfil my dream of playing in an orchestra!
Don’t drop that bass. It’ll surely break apart.
The bass drop would be unheard of though
Davie503 and rob scallion fucking about with one.
Of course Davie found the biggest base possible
Hopefully he gave it the biggest SLAP
Indeed he did.
Very cool! Never heard of that thing before. Very impressive to see it in action!
Sad.
It’s not being played by an octopus.
Primus sucks.
They could have been nice and put the levers a bit lower.
I don’t think you can actually hear the fundamental of the lowest note. It’s lowest note has a 16hz fundamental, and people can usually only hear down to around 60hz.
Overtones. Bowed string instruments have a lot of harmonics. I can’t imagine it sounds very good, but I bet it’s interesting.
Yeah exactly. I thought it sounded pretty cool from the recording, but you’d probably need to be there in person to get the full low frequency effect.
Near where I grew up there are these caves on a cliff side on the ocean. At the right time of day, the tide is such that the water rushes in and creates these amazing subsonic booms. You can’t hear them, but if you go down one of the walkways into the side of a cave, you can feel it. It’s crazy. Probably a similar thing.
And yet only three strings…
Seems strange they didn’t make the key levers more ergonomic.
It keeps the short people from playing it, which would just look absurd.
Nah, would make it look even larger, which would be good!
Tall as he is, the musician does look almost as if he has to stand on a platform to play. And that twist in his back doesn’t look sustainable.
are they keys or locks? maybe I’m not familiar with the right nomenclature.
keys or levers, attached to a set of capos. Not locks.
The giga bass
