I like to find the "good enough to record at home" level of these kind of instruments. Not pro level, but not "doesn't stay in tune / cheapily made" bottom. But that middle ground where it's totally playable. Completely unrelated to this instrument but I've got a chinese flute coming in shortly that's actually two flutes together (called the bawu) - looking forward to recording that :)
So great you made that video! I used to play 3-string domra-alto (1 octave lower) for ten years being teenager, I was playing in non-proffesional Orchestra called "Souvenir", and it brings me joy knowing that this great instrument is known all around the world!
I'm Craigus Barry a composer based in the midlands uk, and I'm a paying Patreon member since early last year. Your packs have been on my film scores since 2021ish, in-fact my last two - Pocket Film Of Superstitions (2023), and I Curse This Land (2024) have used your most recent Patreon packs exclusively
@@DavidHilowitzMusic Thanks for the reply - I think Synclavier V was absolutely worth buying, that and the mellotron v are pretty good. Synclavier V you can make your own additive synthesis patches which is a deal breaker for me, I know there's a few others that are similar in the V series but Synclavier V is like Zappa's dream come to life. 12 layers of samples per patch and can be assigned across the keyboard as required, you can also use the re synthesis feature to change your organic sounds into digital synthesised ones.
This channel is seriously at the intersection of all the things that delight me. Calm and soothing videos with great storytelling, physical / analog instruments and recordings, restoration and preservation, learning about world cultures and finding a new respect for them, software / coding and sharing with a community. You are one cool dude, and I love these videos!
When i was little, my guitar tutor in music school also specialized in playing the domra, i remember always being absolutely fascinated by how fast she could play it, even more so when 3 to 6 players would all strum incredibly fast AND IN SYNC
@@bryanbytes I know it's C++, I want to see the audio lib. VST3 integration, audio clip storage, setting up for midi, etc. Especially interesting since this is a sampled plugin.
Hi! Love your videos! I am from Odesa, Ukraine, and I haven't been home in a while, and this video brought great joy to me, since I used to pass the building of the factory you mentioned every day. I'm glad it found it's way to you, haha. Peace!
Absolutely phenomenal video, David. I love your style, as always. But, the fact you were inspired by your musical/cultural exploration to create more functionality in decent sampler is even more amazing! I am really happy to see you doing so well on UA-cam too!
Glad I found your channel a couple months ago. It's a treat whenever you upload a video! Always love learning about new instruments from various parts of the world.
Your cliftili video was the video that finally introduced me to microtones, as a amateur producer then, (though still am), i had always wanted notes slightly sharper or flatter- I assume then what i noticed were the off-tune minor and major thirds, and ever since then I have been fascinated by the math of music- that video finally brought me to learning music theory in the mathy eyes of a microtonslist, an appreciation of many psychoacoustics properties, to enjoy new harmonics past the 3-prime we have. If i didn't see that video I don't know how long id miss this part of me in music, and the friends i made along the way- the Xenharmonic community it my internet family, thank you for leading me to them
Your videos are really engaging. I always enjoy them. Decent sampler is becoming more and more powerful. I loved the facility you added in the Kifteli video to enable alternative pitch intervals. And bringing in the functionality to enable fractions of bpm length echos is a delight. Big thanks ! :)
After watching Doctor Zhivago, I wanted to get a balalaika for so long. Looking up the instrument I came across the domra and it also looked really interesting. I also came across a balalaika player called Aleksey Arkhipovsky and he is amazing. For some pieces he uses a delay and it sounds very similar to what you did with the sampler. I'll be glad to add this one to the library. Thank you so much!
Again David's generosity with his time and skill and creativity should be celebrated. As should his diligence and intellectual curiosity. Terrific stuff.
Thank you so much for this video! I played the Domra when I was in musical school in my teenage years. It was truly a delightful and unforgettable experience. I glad that more people now recognize that instrument.
Hey, love the video. I may have to add some info about these types of instruments. Dutar means an instrument with two strings which one plays the melody and the other adds harmony. Tanbour or Tembour means an instrument with a hollow, pear-shaped body and a long neck, which in most examples, there isn't too much of a difference between the two. I grew up in Iran and being around its traditional music, you see many different versions of this type of instrument based on the region, city, culture, language, race or even kinds of trees that are meant to build these instruments from. Among the Kurmanjs, turks, balouchs, and especially kurds, this instrument is being played and it is sacred to its culture and people. The first versions of tanbour goes back to ancient Persia, which you can find evidence in myths and historical texts. The way you build and play each one is different based on its region, and the tuning or the notes are different in each tanbour or dutar. Some of them use microtonal frets. If you look through Kurdish tanbour, Khorasani dutar, or Azari ghupuz, you'll see that they are usually played among traditional singing and sometimes in groups. Hope this information helps. Keep up the great content❤
I started learning guitar and found your vids through looking for guitar maintenance videos. I love every video so much and I feel encouraged to learn guitar and music even more knowing that I could then apply that knowledge and start a new instument like the cool stuff you find.
Hi, David and thank you for you inspirig videos! I shoul admite that beside your programing and musical talants there is a talent to present information in a simple and clean way. I was playing tenor Domra in music college when I studying classical guitar. It was a orchestral classes for every musicians.
As a luthier I can tell you that this instrument is imploding under a combination of very light construction and the force of the string tension needed to tune it to pitch.
Came here for the Domra, and got a Decent Sampler update too - Incredible! Thanks David! I just created my first sample library in Decent Sampler and it was an absolute pleasure, looking forward to making more. :)
When I was in school, I played domra in a russian folk orchestra. It was so cool, I really miss it now that I'm adult and only play at home 😅 The coolest was probably when we played Kiss-"I was made for loving you". I still unintentionally play it whenever I get any instrument into my hands because the melody is really catchy xD
I am full of admiration for the way you participate in music making. An old, broken down instrument which you seem to instinctively know how to bring back from the brink and which you play with the same soul that you might apply to a violin. The finished sample pack may have more or less of what an aficionado of the instrument might recognise, I wouldn't know. The sounds are lovely. As Mao (apparently) once said, " It makes no difference if a cat is black or white as long as it catches mice."
At 5:39, the sound and overall tone reminded me very much of a four stringed Irish tenor banjo. It’s plunky yet round and slightly dull sound. It’s funny to find parallels in vastly different instruments.
You missed the opportunity for a pun where Ekaterina's Domra is missing it's Fourth string, and it only goes up to the Third, and but you'd get to that in a Second, having to mention its history First. :)
Seeing that balalaika unlocked an old memory of a band I heard back in 2009-ish. Katzenjammer. Their lead singer plays a contrabass balalaika. It's HUGE
This year I am graduating from a music school on the Domra instrument. I have exactly the same one as you have in the photo. It's a little painful to see how you play it, because, for example, when playing, not only the hand moves, but the entire arm from the elbow. 😅 But it's very nice to see that someone knows about this instrument! :)
I've always loved your free sample libraries but I had no idea you created decent sampler!! Incredible work. And thank you so much for making these plugins free!!
IKR It seems like until 2022 Ukraine was only known to Risk players (Kinda. The territory is European part of Russia, mostly) and Geography geeks. And, well, ex-USSR countries population.
@@BAHO2d Okay, ChNPP incident is probably a fair point. The other two not as prominent for western general public though I feel like. Sports fans - sure, but not the others. A shame. There's more to it.
It's nice you added that. As opposed to expensive echoboy some free delay plugins that sync are Cocoadelay, NastyDLA, SpaceshipDelay, Valhalla SuperMassive, ValhallaFreqEcho....
DUde! I literally just got one of these! That exact same one! I got it becaue I'm Ukranian by blood, and wanted to delve into my heritage, and you've just gifted me so much new knowledge! Thank you!
@@Osutrwaleeaah The Domra is not exclusively a Russian instrument, and thw Wiki points out. But at tge end of The Ukranian people are pretty related to the Russians. If I'm not mistaken the Ukrainian split of from Russia many many years ago.
I have an early 20th century three-string Domra. Nice instrument. Apparently, it was later discovered that the few references in the literature to the original "Domra" referred to a percussion instrument, so these are probably mis-named. However, since the resurgence in popularity, the name has stuck.
Thanks David! Your work is very inspiring. I've been using Decent Sampler even before i found your channel and it was unexpectedly pleasant to discover that there is a nice person behind the software
I've built a couple of these instruments. I used the fretboard setup transferred from a Puerto-Rican cuatro, which is possibly half as long again than the mandolin-length version (this is a family of instruments so you'd expect everything from soprano to bass). I've made plenty of four strings, so I opted for a three-stringed variant. The first one I strung with some left-over strings from an abandoned project, so no idea what they were for (possibly the cuatro). It was okay with mandolin tuning but very taught, so I eventually opted for EAD tuning instead, which is one of the accepted tunings for the three-string, and it sounds quite middle-eastern when played. The mandolin strings I used for the second build wouldn't take EAD tuning, so I opted for a mandolin style tuning of DAE instead. They are great fun to play. Here's Alina Gingertail playing hers ua-cam.com/video/aEadQcDQT08/v-deo.html
I can definitely use a dombra, but the tempo synced delay functionality will be great for the next decent sampler instrument I create. I have a spreadsheet that I use to script the sample layers, so it mostly automates the process. Provided I can generate the samples programmatically. Audacity has great functionality for exporting using tags, so if you can make your samples the same length, the spreadsheet can make the tags as well. Hard to do if you're manually sampling something physical, but I've found it useful for constructing things from a complicated VCV Rack patch, or something from PureData.
Hi Dave, I recently came across your videos and was really impressed by how meticulously and thoroughly you analyze musical instruments. I wanted to suggest that you also take a look at the dombra, which is another traditional two-string instrument from Central Asia. As an aspiring musician from Kazakhstan, I think it would be fascinating to hear your thoughts on the dombra and how it compares to the domra. Looking forward to your new videos and reviews!
The evolution and expansion of lute-family instruments across the middle east and Asia is super interesting! I'd hesitate to call them the same instrument though. There's huge variation in size, tunings, playing styles, existence and placement of frets, etc. across all those instruments (though in adjacent countries they do sometimes vary only in name). They are as much independent instruments as things like Oboe and English Horn, Cello and viola da gamba, etc. in the Western musical tradition.
For the exact reason of you mentioned about not being able to find exact details on the original instrument, your sample libraries are, in my opinion, on of the most valuable projects on the entire internet for humanity. Preserving these traditional instruments, their sounds, tuning keys etc is CRITICAL for fields like anthropology. You deserve a grant from the Library of Congress or someone to be able to do this for life, unimpeded. $5billion for a jet barely better than what China can make for $100m, yeah I think our government can afford a couple of million to support your endeavors for life. NASA gets over $20 BILLION per year, for what? To put more tin cans on rocks in space? Ooohm, we now know the mineral composition of Venus' moons! Who cares, how does that actually benefit humanity? Nothing but an embezzlement scheme anyways to support political donors in the aerospace industry. THIS actually helps us understand anthropology, neurology and cross cultural relations- all things with TANGIBLE benefits for humanity.
You did a great work with this instrument and your library sounds amazing. I played the domra in orchestra for 3 years while studying at the College of Music. I think the defining technique for playing the domra is tremolo. Of course, it requires a lot of practice to master perfectly, but it would be nice to also be included in library. Just a small suggestion. Thanks!
Brilliant adding note length delay. It is like using a tap pedal, in a way. I'm glad you solved something you have considered adding to your program for some time!
Wonderful - can't wait to try it out. Speaking about coding: Another feature I hope you might consider implementing during a rainy weekend, is the ability of Decent Sampler to remember the interface scaling when you close it and reopen. Best wishes from Oslo, Norway.
i always really apreciate your content is the full package great informative content, great editing and a free library of the insturment? that's just spoiling us thank you.
For an admittedly bleak but somewhat comical depiction of a Skomorokh home, watch the second scene in the classic film _"Andrei Rublev"._ I love these instrument videos of yours. 👍🙂
4 strings - Ukrainian Domra, 3 Strings - Russian Domra. Try researching "Kobza".. Many images of 18th century Cossacks playing these. These are precursors to the Domra. Nice sampling project.....great way to stimulate cross - cultural awareness. Cheers.
Hi there, David! Thank you for a Decent Sampler. It's a very useful app, as well, as your sample libraries, that you provide. As a ukrainian, I will kindly propose to look at kobza and/or bandura. They are definitely more ukrainish folk instruments than domra :D Good luck
David, are you aware of the new Well Tempering called" Precise Temperament." It is a specific adjustment that is supposedly tuned against A432Hz Scientific Tuning. But what amazing is that it really does SOUND better than equal temperament. Especially when you hears chords changing in time. Robert Edward Grant is the inventor, and he is currently working with a few people around the world to disseminate the tuning instructions for pianos and the note for adapting it on Logic Pro and some other computer workstations. I just got it contact with them, but the strangest things is that R. E. Grant also has a color that I applied to each note, and I discoed them not beause I know much about tuning, but because I had he EXACT SAME color associations in my mind that were being applied to Grant's notes concerning his new tuning. So, I'm strangely, albeit unexpectedly, part of the tuning crew!
Really cool to see those old instruments made into sample libraries. Obviously, domras, as any plucked stringed instruments, are not easily programmable because of how many special playing techniques they use. As a next step, I’d really suggest a baghlama. A very common instrument that characterises the eastern musical tradition well, the microtonal scales, the melodic structure, and the timbre is instantly recognisable. They’re pretty cheap, too, and even the cheap ones sound great.
If you make a new bridge wider on the ends to get more wood on to the surface, and make it as (flat) thin as you can on those feet it would make that instrument sound completely different and wayyyyy louder, i’ve worked on a lot of these old bowl backs.
i love watching these videos, thinking that's a cool instrument and hearing my bank account scream in the distance
I like to find the "good enough to record at home" level of these kind of instruments. Not pro level, but not "doesn't stay in tune / cheapily made" bottom. But that middle ground where it's totally playable.
Completely unrelated to this instrument but I've got a chinese flute coming in shortly that's actually two flutes together (called the bawu) - looking forward to recording that :)
So great you made that video! I used to play 3-string domra-alto (1 octave lower) for ten years being teenager, I was playing in non-proffesional Orchestra called "Souvenir", and it brings me joy knowing that this great instrument is known all around the world!
I'm Craigus Barry a composer based in the midlands uk, and I'm a paying Patreon member since early last year. Your packs have been on my film scores since 2021ish, in-fact my last two - Pocket Film Of Superstitions (2023), and I Curse This Land (2024) have used your most recent Patreon packs exclusively
That’s really great to hear! On a side note, I still have yet to try out the Synclavier V plugin…
@@DavidHilowitzMusic Thanks for the reply -
I think Synclavier V was absolutely worth buying, that and the mellotron v are pretty good. Synclavier V you can make your own additive synthesis patches which is a deal breaker for me, I know there's a few others that are similar in the V series but Synclavier V is like Zappa's dream come to life. 12 layers of samples per patch and can be assigned across the keyboard as required, you can also use the re synthesis feature to change your organic sounds into digital synthesised ones.
As a programmer with musical aspirations I find you and your work deeply inspirational. Thank you for sharing all that you do!
This channel is seriously at the intersection of all the things that delight me. Calm and soothing videos with great storytelling, physical / analog instruments and recordings, restoration and preservation, learning about world cultures and finding a new respect for them, software / coding and sharing with a community. You are one cool dude, and I love these videos!
When i was little, my guitar tutor in music school also specialized in playing the domra, i remember always being absolutely fascinated by how fast she could play it, even more so when 3 to 6 players would all strum incredibly fast AND IN SYNC
Your plugin has helped me make so many tunes. And this is another great addition!
As one of the few people into programming and music, I'd love a needlessly nerdy dive into programming a music lib.
Yes! I'd love to see how that works
maybe a CliffsNotes version@@sophieAutumnMay
He pretty much showed you the starting language (C / C++)
Although a favorite language of few, it’s known for audio processing libraries
@@bryanbytes I know it's C++, I want to see the audio lib. VST3 integration, audio clip storage, setting up for midi, etc. Especially interesting since this is a sampled plugin.
Probably proprietary software
Lovely to see the Domra get some love, often overshadowed by the whackier Balalaika :))
Balalaikas are awesome too, but yes :D
Both got a soulful vibe
Hi! Love your videos! I am from Odesa, Ukraine, and I haven't been home in a while, and this video brought great joy to me, since I used to pass the building of the factory you mentioned every day. I'm glad it found it's way to you, haha. Peace!
Absolutely phenomenal video, David. I love your style, as always. But, the fact you were inspired by your musical/cultural exploration to create more functionality in decent sampler is even more amazing! I am really happy to see you doing so well on UA-cam too!
Glad I found your channel a couple months ago. It's a treat whenever you upload a video! Always love learning about new instruments from various parts of the world.
Your cliftili video was the video that finally introduced me to microtones, as a amateur producer then, (though still am), i had always wanted notes slightly sharper or flatter- I assume then what i noticed were the off-tune minor and major thirds, and ever since then I have been fascinated by the math of music- that video finally brought me to learning music theory in the mathy eyes of a microtonslist, an appreciation of many psychoacoustics properties, to enjoy new harmonics past the 3-prime we have. If i didn't see that video I don't know how long id miss this part of me in music, and the friends i made along the way- the Xenharmonic community it my internet family, thank you for leading me to them
Finally! A video on this amazing instrument!
Your videos are really engaging. I always enjoy them. Decent sampler is becoming more and more powerful. I loved the facility you added in the Kifteli video to enable alternative pitch intervals. And bringing in the functionality to enable fractions of bpm length echos is a delight. Big thanks ! :)
I loved the handwritten note you casually left by the keyboard during the coding montage! Cool instrument, thanks for the DS sample libraries.
I had to go back and look at the note this time! Love little easter eggs like that.
After watching Doctor Zhivago, I wanted to get a balalaika for so long. Looking up the instrument I came across the domra and it also looked really interesting. I also came across a balalaika player called Aleksey Arkhipovsky and he is amazing. For some pieces he uses a delay and it sounds very similar to what you did with the sampler. I'll be glad to add this one to the library. Thank you so much!
I played in a band for years where the two main instruments were the Domra and Balalaika.
Thumbs up to this new sampling effort of yours, and particularly to adding the sync option to the delay ❤
Again David's generosity with his time and skill and creativity should be celebrated. As should his diligence and intellectual curiosity. Terrific stuff.
Thank you so much for this video! I played the Domra when I was in musical school in my teenage years. It was truly a delightful and unforgettable experience. I glad that more people now recognize that instrument.
1:00. That's not unplayable, it was just set up in the hopes that Freddie Green might play it 😊
Hey, love the video.
I may have to add some info about these types of instruments. Dutar means an instrument with two strings which one plays the melody and the other adds harmony. Tanbour or Tembour means an instrument with a hollow, pear-shaped body and a long neck, which in most examples, there isn't too much of a difference between the two. I grew up in Iran and being around its traditional music, you see many different versions of this type of instrument based on the region, city, culture, language, race or even kinds of trees that are meant to build these instruments from. Among the Kurmanjs, turks, balouchs, and especially kurds, this instrument is being played and it is sacred to its culture and people. The first versions of tanbour goes back to ancient Persia, which you can find evidence in myths and historical texts. The way you build and play each one is different based on its region, and the tuning or the notes are different in each tanbour or dutar. Some of them use microtonal frets. If you look through Kurdish tanbour, Khorasani dutar, or Azari ghupuz, you'll see that they are usually played among traditional singing and sometimes in groups.
Hope this information helps.
Keep up the great content❤
I started learning guitar and found your vids through looking for guitar maintenance videos.
I love every video so much and I feel encouraged to learn guitar and music even more knowing that I could then apply that knowledge and start a new instument like the cool stuff you find.
Deepest respect for your devotion
Hi, David and thank you for you inspirig videos! I shoul admite that beside your programing and musical talants there is a talent to present information in a simple and clean way. I was playing tenor Domra in music college when I studying classical guitar. It was a orchestral classes for every musicians.
Love your ear for musical composition. And love that you create sample libraries for each instrument you find/fix/play/record.
I’ve been to Kazakhstan, and I have a Dombra. I love the sounds it has :)
As a luthier I can tell you that this instrument is imploding under a combination of very light construction and the force of the string tension needed to tune it to pitch.
you’re definitely right! it’s only a matter of time before it becomes completely unplayable
Came here for the Domra, and got a Decent Sampler update too - Incredible! Thanks David! I just created my first sample library in Decent Sampler and it was an absolute pleasure, looking forward to making more. :)
When I was in school, I played domra in a russian folk orchestra. It was so cool, I really miss it now that I'm adult and only play at home 😅 The coolest was probably when we played Kiss-"I was made for loving you". I still unintentionally play it whenever I get any instrument into my hands because the melody is really catchy xD
Looks so cool! Excited to see how it sounds in this video
I am full of admiration for the way you participate in music making. An old, broken down instrument which you seem to instinctively know how to bring back from the brink and which you play with the same soul that you might apply to a violin.
The finished sample pack may have more or less of what an aficionado of the instrument might recognise, I wouldn't know. The sounds are lovely.
As Mao (apparently) once said, " It makes no difference if a cat is black or white as long as it catches mice."
You should definitely give a listen to Akdeniz Erbaş. He's skilled at playing the dombra, and he does it quite beautifully
thanks again David - your creativity is a blessing to the world
At 5:39, the sound and overall tone reminded me very much of a four stringed Irish tenor banjo. It’s plunky yet round and slightly dull sound. It’s funny to find parallels in vastly different instruments.
I downloaded it today and am very pleased by the tones. Thank you!
Another amazing video, always a good day when I see your videos in my subscription box :)
As a domrist (i play on 3rd strings domra) myself, i really enjoyed this video, thank you for your work❤
This is awesome! I love what you do🤙🏽🤙🏽🤙🏽
Turkish bağlama. The ğ is silent and just makes the vowel before it long.
So, "bálama" or "bālama"?
You missed the opportunity for a pun where Ekaterina's Domra is missing it's Fourth string, and it only goes up to the Third, and but you'd get to that in a Second, having to mention its history First. :)
Seeing that balalaika unlocked an old memory of a band I heard back in 2009-ish. Katzenjammer. Their lead singer plays a contrabass balalaika. It's HUGE
Thank you for your creative contribution to the musical community!
This year I am graduating from a music school on the Domra instrument. I have exactly the same one as you have in the photo. It's a little painful to see how you play it, because, for example, when playing, not only the hand moves, but the entire arm from the elbow. 😅
But it's very nice to see that someone knows about this instrument! :)
I once learned to play the balalaika
Yay! Sync to host!
Thank you for everything you do.
Thanks for the cool samples & particularly the freebees!
Fascinating. How many times have I heard my wife over the years say "I can't wait to get home and get out of this dombra..."
Man you rock! Thank you very much
I've always loved your free sample libraries but I had no idea you created decent sampler!! Incredible work. And thank you so much for making these plugins free!!
You are amazing! These videos with eastern instruments are so interesting. Thank you.
Your stuff constantly inspires me. Thank you so much for releasing this video and for doing all the work you do!
Yay! Ukraine mentioned not in a war context 😊
IKR
It seems like until 2022 Ukraine was only known to Risk players (Kinda. The territory is European part of Russia, mostly) and Geography geeks. And, well, ex-USSR countries population.
YIPPIE!!!!
@@roma540 We also had Chornobyl disaster, Klychko boxing legends and Shevchenko the soccer player 😄
@@BAHO2d Okay, ChNPP incident is probably a fair point. The other two not as prominent for western general public though I feel like. Sports fans - sure, but not the others.
A shame. There's more to it.
MAN. I AM LITERALLY STUNNED RIGHT NOW. FIRST YOU SAID IT'S UKRAINIAN AND THAN...
ACTUAL GREETINGS FROM ODESSA
It's nice you added that. As opposed to expensive echoboy some free delay plugins that sync are Cocoadelay, NastyDLA, SpaceshipDelay, Valhalla SuperMassive, ValhallaFreqEcho....
SuperMassive is so great
DUde! I literally just got one of these! That exact same one! I got it becaue I'm Ukranian by blood, and wanted to delve into my heritage, and you've just gifted me so much new knowledge! Thank you!
It's literally says that it's russian tf you on about
@@Osutrwaleeaah Russia and Ukraine share some aspects of culture, bordering countries often do this
Respect for an answer like that, I respect both sides a lot, cool af people@@margarinchick
@@Osutrwaleeaah The Domra is not exclusively a Russian instrument, and thw Wiki points out. But at tge end of The Ukranian people are pretty related to the Russians. If I'm not mistaken the Ukrainian split of from Russia many many years ago.
@@OsutrwaleeaahUkraine and Russia share a common cultural heritage.
My instrument! Studied for 5 years. It has its own charm. A pick and lots of tremolo are essential.
I have an early 20th century three-string Domra. Nice instrument. Apparently, it was later discovered that the few references in the literature to the original "Domra" referred to a percussion instrument, so these are probably mis-named. However, since the resurgence in popularity, the name has stuck.
Your vids are always such an unexpected treat, much like your samples! EKATERINA SKLIAR IS MY NEW SHREDDING HERO!
Дякую за чудове відео!
Pretty cool how people have been making these guitar/lute/oud type instruments for so long, and in so many variations.
hell yeah another video with a new instrument + history lesson!
Thanks David! Your work is very inspiring. I've been using Decent Sampler even before i found your channel and it was unexpectedly pleasant to discover that there is a nice person behind the software
Such a joy to watch, every time ❤
The 4 string Fender Electric Mandolin is essentially an Electrified Domra Prima (or Cremonese Mandolin) w/ Steel Strings
Once again, I'm very impressed with decent sampler, between Ben, Cameron and yourself you guys are real are the trilogy awesomeness.
I've built a couple of these instruments. I used the fretboard setup transferred from a Puerto-Rican cuatro, which is possibly half as long again than the mandolin-length version (this is a family of instruments so you'd expect everything from soprano to bass). I've made plenty of four strings, so I opted for a three-stringed variant.
The first one I strung with some left-over strings from an abandoned project, so no idea what they were for (possibly the cuatro). It was okay with mandolin tuning but very taught, so I eventually opted for EAD tuning instead, which is one of the accepted tunings for the three-string, and it sounds quite middle-eastern when played. The mandolin strings I used for the second build wouldn't take EAD tuning, so I opted for a mandolin style tuning of DAE instead. They are great fun to play. Here's Alina Gingertail playing hers ua-cam.com/video/aEadQcDQT08/v-deo.html
Ah, I'll have to try that three string tuning to see how that feels!
I can definitely use a dombra, but the tempo synced delay functionality will be great for the next decent sampler instrument I create. I have a spreadsheet that I use to script the sample layers, so it mostly automates the process. Provided I can generate the samples programmatically. Audacity has great functionality for exporting using tags, so if you can make your samples the same length, the spreadsheet can make the tags as well. Hard to do if you're manually sampling something physical, but I've found it useful for constructing things from a complicated VCV Rack patch, or something from PureData.
Hi Dave,
I recently came across your videos and was really impressed by how meticulously and thoroughly you analyze musical instruments. I wanted to suggest that you also take a look at the dombra, which is another traditional two-string instrument from Central Asia. As an aspiring musician from Kazakhstan, I think it would be fascinating to hear your thoughts on the dombra and how it compares to the domra.
Looking forward to your new videos and reviews!
my new favorite channel. Please continue!
Hey David, I was wondering if you can get hands on with a Biwa, the japanese instrument and possibly make a sample library, it would be awesome
noice!
would you mind making some videos about how you make your plugins?
WOW. MY DOMRA. I mean - I actually learned to play it for 5 years.
The evolution and expansion of lute-family instruments across the middle east and Asia is super interesting! I'd hesitate to call them the same instrument though. There's huge variation in size, tunings, playing styles, existence and placement of frets, etc. across all those instruments (though in adjacent countries they do sometimes vary only in name). They are as much independent instruments as things like Oboe and English Horn, Cello and viola da gamba, etc. in the Western musical tradition.
For the exact reason of you mentioned about not being able to find exact details on the original instrument, your sample libraries are, in my opinion, on of the most valuable projects on the entire internet for humanity. Preserving these traditional instruments, their sounds, tuning keys etc is CRITICAL for fields like anthropology. You deserve a grant from the Library of Congress or someone to be able to do this for life, unimpeded. $5billion for a jet barely better than what China can make for $100m, yeah I think our government can afford a couple of million to support your endeavors for life. NASA gets over $20 BILLION per year, for what? To put more tin cans on rocks in space? Ooohm, we now know the mineral composition of Venus' moons! Who cares, how does that actually benefit humanity? Nothing but an embezzlement scheme anyways to support political donors in the aerospace industry. THIS actually helps us understand anthropology, neurology and cross cultural relations- all things with TANGIBLE benefits for humanity.
Great video. The history lesson was enjoyable, and I'm excited for the new functionality!
Hey Dave, I only just noticed how many subscribers you have now. Crazy! Congratulations
thanks!! I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the growth of the channel
This came at the perfect time for me, I just bought a Balalaika as my 7th instrument. Thanks David!
You did a great work with this instrument and your library sounds amazing. I played the domra in orchestra for 3 years while studying at the College of Music. I think the defining technique for playing the domra is tremolo. Of course, it requires a lot of practice to master perfectly, but it would be nice to also be included in library. Just a small suggestion. Thanks!
Brilliant adding note length delay. It is like using a tap pedal, in a way. I'm glad you solved something you have considered adding to your program for some time!
Another great video! Maybe it's just because I live in Minneapolis, but I can't look at the tone hole on this domra without thinking of Target.
Wonderful - can't wait to try it out. Speaking about coding: Another feature I hope you might consider implementing during a rainy weekend, is the ability of Decent Sampler to remember the interface scaling when you close it and reopen. Best wishes from Oslo, Norway.
i always really apreciate your content is the full package great informative content, great editing and a free library of the insturment? that's just spoiling us thank you.
Thanks from Ukraine ☺️
For an admittedly bleak but somewhat comical depiction of a Skomorokh home, watch the second scene in the classic film _"Andrei Rublev"._
I love these instrument videos of yours. 👍🙂
The sounds/melodies/songs you write (or improv?) are something that so very fits with the style of Samorost.
4 strings - Ukrainian Domra, 3 Strings - Russian Domra. Try researching "Kobza".. Many images of 18th century Cossacks playing these. These are precursors to the Domra.
Nice sampling project.....great way to stimulate cross - cultural awareness. Cheers.
yay I am seeing this at 4hrs after the upload. I'm glad. I'm downloading the new samples for my mpc one thank you
Hi there, David! Thank you for a Decent Sampler. It's a very useful app, as well, as your sample libraries, that you provide. As a ukrainian, I will kindly propose to look at kobza and/or bandura. They are definitely more ukrainish folk instruments than domra :D Good luck
Veeery nice! ❤
As a Ukrainian watching your videos, i feel so happy seeing you now restore a second Ukrainian instrument. Love from Ukraine!! 🇺🇦♥️
I've always strung my mandolin single-course to get a similar sound, I like the distinct pluckiness much more than the chorus-ey double-course thing.
David, are you aware of the new Well Tempering called" Precise Temperament." It is a specific adjustment that is supposedly tuned against A432Hz Scientific Tuning. But what amazing is that it really does SOUND better than equal temperament. Especially when you hears chords changing in time. Robert Edward Grant is the inventor, and he is currently working with a few people around the world to disseminate the tuning instructions for pianos and the note for adapting it on Logic Pro and some other computer workstations.
I just got it contact with them, but the strangest things is that R. E. Grant also has a color that I applied to each note, and I discoed them not beause I know much about tuning, but because I had he EXACT SAME color associations in my mind that were being applied to Grant's notes concerning his new tuning. So, I'm strangely, albeit unexpectedly, part of the tuning crew!
Awesome a musician and a programmer, damn good! 👏👍
Really cool to see those old instruments made into sample libraries. Obviously, domras, as any plucked stringed instruments, are not easily programmable because of how many special playing techniques they use. As a next step, I’d really suggest a baghlama. A very common instrument that characterises the eastern musical tradition well, the microtonal scales, the melodic structure, and the timbre is instantly recognisable. They’re pretty cheap, too, and even the cheap ones sound great.
It's a 4 String Acoustic Mandolin. Even better news I found new tuners for the 60s Choral Fiddle Bass
If you make a new bridge wider on the ends to get more wood on to the surface, and make it as (flat) thin as you can on those feet it would make that instrument sound completely different and wayyyyy louder, i’ve worked on a lot of these old bowl backs.
5:39 sounds sooo coool
Impossible not to love your videos. I especially love the qifteli. Im using it in many of my EDM Tracks, and cinematic Tracks.
Love your videos! Your work has helped me with musical science