The Mysteries of the Holophonor

[on:]

I really would like to come to a decent conclusion as to what instrument/s are used to process the sound of the holophonor.  Whenever it's beeing played eloquently on the show I feel relaxed, and fresh.

I've been pondering maybe some flute, pipe organ, and oboe?  What are your thoughts?  It may have been answered somewhere on here or CGEF but I'm too lazy to look and I'd also like to hear some thoughts from people about the holophonor in general.

[Reply #1 on:]

At some points, I thought it sounded somewhat like a saxophone of some sort.

[Reply #2 on:]

I'll have more to say when I listen again, but I'm pretty sure I heard some English Horn (like an oboe but lower-pitched).  Or maybe sax, as Nixorbo said.  There are definitely several different woodwinds and probably some electronics (synthesizer) too.  I don't think there was any pipe organ; I listen to a lot of that and would've noticed.  The bit at the end of TDHAIP is mostly flute, I think, several different kinds.

It is a wonderful sound, isn't it?

[Reply #3 on:]

Vintage Dave has the idea.  In my opinion, Holophoner is heavily based on English Horn.  For the most part, an English Horn is used to process the sound of the holophoner.  They even have similar shapes:



I don't believe saxophone is used to process the sound.  Since both saxophone and english horn are reed instruments, they are able to produce a similar tone on a few select notes, so I can see where you got that idea.

[Reply #4 on:]

i don't know what it is nor do i have any theories. All i know is that when played well it is gorgeous and really makes me wish i had musical talent.

[Reply #5 on:]

It's a very nice sounding instrument.  I hope they make a real one!  I'd say flute, oboe, English horn, some violins too, and maybe piano- well, at least when the boy is playing. 

[Reply #6 on:]

i thought sounded very much like and oboe

[Reply #7 on:]

My guess would be that it's a combination of instruments generated by a synth.  Usually those things have many instruments that can be imitated.  Blend some together to get a "new" sounding instrument.  I have no idea which instruments may have been blended though.

The holophoner was quite beautiful to listen to.

[Reply #8 on:]

It's a remarkably unified sound.  It really just sounds like one, mysterious instrument, not like some mishmash of sound effects.  I agree with the oboe/english horn analysis, too.  It has a distinctly reedy sound.

[Reply #9 on:]

I guess English horn would be the best guess, though I think I detect some oboe in there too.

[Reply #10 on:]

(For those from England, an English Horn is a Cor Anglais...ah, the intrices of instrument names)

The Holophonor heard at the start of "The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings" is a synth, although programmed so that certain notes vary the pitch slightly, making it out of tune. It's nowhere near the sound of a Cor Anglais (English Horn, whatever...). The Cor Anglais has a much cleaner tone.

The next time it's heard (playing Fur Elise), it's again a synth, but with the same tone layered over a piano like sound.

Fry playing The Grumpy Snail is back to the out of tune horn like synth, with a load of reverb added.

...but the massive tone change occurs when Fry is composing the opera. It's turned into an ethnic flute (and I know, because I play the flute), with could be a synth (you can get some good ethnic sounds out of a Roland), or live.

On a side note, the modern day (modern day? should that be past day?) version of the Holophonor would be the Yamaha WX5/7 (Wind Controller), which is a wind instrument that produces only MIDI and breath control signals based on breathing and key input.

The holophonor sound changes nearly everytime you hear it, but most of the time it's a synth.

[Reply #11 on:]

Except that the WX5/7 can't produce holograms when played.

[Reply #12 on:]

Could if you linked it up to visualizer, and then connected that to a hologram projector 

[Reply #13 on:]

^Neither of which technologies exist, quite yet. *sigh*

[Reply #14 on:]

The last part of the opera, when everyone has already left and it's just Fry and Leela sounded like a trumpet with a harmon mute. Aat the beginning when Fry was practicing in his room, it sounded like a clarinet.

[Reply #15 on:]

second

[Reply #16 on:]

Who says it has to sound like any one arbitrary instrument?
The holophoner obviously has some electronics in it: It could make music like a synthesizer (and therefore sound like almost anything).
<shrug>

[Reply #17 on:]

But when Fry starts playing, it sounds like a whole orchestra tuning up... whats with that?

[Reply #18 on:]

That's because there is actually a whole orchestra tuning up  - the attention to animation on the orchestra is actually very good, with the timps player actually tuning them in the correct way...

(You'll have to believe me on this one, because I can't screen capture from my media player due to DirectX, my macs being fixed, and CGEF is down)

[Reply #19 on:]

I mean on other episodes too.

[Reply #20 on:]

it's a very complex instrument. in this ep, there was an orchestara tuning up. when he plays in other eps, there is no orchestra tuning up but there is sounds of an orchestra, i believe, pl,ayed by the holophoner.

[Reply #21 on:]

What! Holophoners aren't real?

[Reply #22 on:]

No, but Holophonors are   

[Reply #23 on:]

Sheep plz plz plz do you know if the last piece of music is a real on or specially composed...u know the one where fry and leela hologrammes kiss and walk off...cuz that is one of the most relaxing tunes i have ever heard..is it real and whats it called...plzplzplzplzpzlz :P

[Reply #24 on:]

It was most likely just Chris Tyng doing what he does.

[Reply #25 on:]

 

Originally posted by HedBot:
Sheep plz plz plz do you know if the last piece of music is a real on or specially composed...u know the one where fry and leela hologrammes kiss and walk off...cuz that is one of the most relaxing tunes i have ever heard..is it real and whats it called...plzplzplzplzpzlz :P

For the love of all that is good and holy SPEAK ENGLISH.

[Reply #26 on:]

all I know is that I want one

[Reply #27 on:]

 

Originally posted by Nixorbo:
 For the love of all that is good and holy SPEAK ENGLISH.

i assume seing as you can read it that u understand zamorian
 

so why speak english?

[Reply #28 on:]

So we can all understand what the hell you're trying to say 

[Reply #29 on:]

Ditto.

Anyways, I don't care what what makes the sound. All I know is, I feel like picking up my sax, and writing some more jazz.

[Reply #30 on:]

Whenever I hear the holophoner, it stirs something inside me, literally make me want to cry.

[Reply #31 on:]

 

Originally posted by HedBot:
Sheep plz plz plz do you know if the last piece of music is a real on or specially composed...

That would be a Chris Tyng original...sorry   

If you're looking for stuff in that style, perhaps try Thievery Corporation, or some Indian ethnic stuff.

[Reply #32 on:]

I thought that only a few people in the world knew how to play it and they supposedly aren't that good. So why can some kid play it great? Just because his mom hit him very hard? Oh.

[Reply #33 on:]

i think it would be an electronic sound and it makes more sense that way it can project images

[Reply #34 on:]

Having watched Parasites Lost on CN tonight, I said that when Fry started playing it all three times it's sounded like a bagpipe, and continued it through a orchestra.

[Reply #35 on:]

A little off topic as to the sound of the holophonor, but has it been mentioned that Issac Asimov had used something like the holophonor in his Foundation series? Might have this been an inspiration for the holophonor?

[Reply #36 on:]

Oh yes, the VisiSonor.  Stringed/keyed instrument that acts directly on the visual and auditory areas of the audience's brains.  Similar, but I'm sure DXC et al would acknowledge it in a commentary if it were so.

[Reply #37 on:]

The part where he writes the opera really sounds like an indian flute - bansuri.
Check out a guy named Hariprasad chaurasia. He's an amazing indian flute player that sound very much like this music.
I too wish i knew who played these tunes , they are beautiful!

[Reply #38 on:]

 

Originally posted by sk8ghost:
I thought that only a few people in the world knew how to play it and they supposedly aren't that good. So why can some kid play it great? Just because his mom hit him very hard? Oh.

When I was in first grade my music teacher taught our class about a famous composer who learned to play the piano as a child. He was a child prodigy, but what most didn't know was that his father would sometimes keep him up all hours of the night forcing to play a song and everytime he made a mistake his father would box his ears. As an adult, the composer became completely deaf, but continued to play. Can't remember who it was off the top of my head, but I always smile at the vague reference. Little off topic, but it's a response.

[Reply #39 on:]

 

Originally posted by can't_read:
  He was a child prodigy, but what most didn't know was that his father would sometimes keep him up all hours of the night forcing to play a song and everytime he made a mistake his father would box his ears. As an adult, the composer became completely deaf, but continued to play. Can't remember who it was off the top of my head, but I always smile at the vague reference.

Beethoven I believe.  This is funny cause my roomate couldnt remember his name yesterday either.