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Thursday, November 17, 2011

Gear Devendra Banhart has a Korg Wavedrum on Top of His Amp

Posted by Trent Moorman on Thu, Nov 17, 2011 at 11:40 AM

Ornithology is a branch of zoology pertaining to birds.

Ornithology is a branch of zoology pertaining to birds.

This is the top of Devendra’s amp. The Wavedrum is a dynamic percussion synthesizer. You can play it with sticks, brushes, hands, spatulas, slabs of tofu, or Chilean Hawk beaks. The Wavedrum brain contains 36 algorithms for analog, additive, non-linear, physical modeling. 200 sampled sounds, 100 for the head, and 100 for the rim, with assignable velocity-switching capabilities.

It’s not a MIDI conga. It is more of an electronic drum, whose internal sounds are based on a multi-synthesis physical modeling technology. Say that with me, MULTI-SYNTHESIS PHYSICAL MODELING TECHNOLOGY. It’s like saying multi-care physical rehabilitation Olympic high dive center for ornithology. Or like Carl Jung saying man appears to be sub specie aeternitatis. Jung could not experience himself as a scientific problem.

Beneath the skin of the Wavedrum, and underneath a little metal tongue that lies just above the drum-head is an arrangement of sensors and microphones whose output adds to the overall sound, picking up slap sounds and hand noise. There’s not really a way to use it as a guitar effect. Input/Output jacks are: Output: L, R ¼" unbalanced. Phones: Stereo mini phone jack. And AUX IN: Stereo mini phone jack.