Harpsichords

[Hobo]

Anyone here got a harpsichord?

 

I was doing a session recently and there was a very old harpsichord there, man I could have played it for hours. It's like the difference between a digital piano and a real one. It just plays you.

 

I love it when this happens, you know how something 'sounds' because you have it on your rompler, but when you get to play the real thing there's nothing in the world like it.

 

Pity they're out of my price range just now but one day.....

[Dick Ward MP Hall of Fame]

I've never even SEEN a harpsichord. I love the sound of it though, I try and mix it into patches wherever I can. Just such a sweet touch.

[Clarke Wyvill]

Yeah, that's me with electric pianos. I've got some decent patches at home, but nothing can replace the feeling and the sound of playing a real rhodes for me. I'm still hunting for a decently priced one that speaks to me.

[mate stubb]

Everyone should get the chance to play a real harpsichord once in their life. The touch is lighter and more delicate than piano, although it gets heavier if you have a two manual instrument with mechanical couplers engaged.

 

A really good double manual French harpsichord with a big case sounds as much better than a sampled patch as a real acoustic piano does compared to a sampled piano. The harpsichord patches just don't begin to capture that lovely resonant singing tone.

[Bridog6996]

I used to play on a harpsichord all the time as kid. My first piano teacher had a harpsichord in her living room, and since me and my brother took lessons at the same time and the lessons were done upstairs, I would almost always spend his half-hour playing the harpsichord while waiting for my lesson. I remember it being very loud, and that there is very little, if any, dynamic control. In other words, don't expect to play softly.

 

Also, there was a drumkit in the room next to the living room, because the piano teacher's husband was a drummer, and taught lessons out of the same house. So when it was time for my lesson, my brother would go bash on the drumset. Obviously, it was quite a noisy house whenever the Healey kids came over!

[Finale]

The only time I had the chance to play one was back around 1986 at the Conservatoire de Québec. I had a friend who worked there as sound engineer and I could get a "free pass" to sample any instrument.

 

If I recall correctly, the harpsichord was a Rousseau. It was green (!) and to sample it, I had to pause several times because a humidifier (or deshumidifier?) went on. Nobody had the permission to turn it off, in order to keep the instrument in optimal condition.

 

That's also the only time I could play on a real modular MOOG. It was probably a Moog 15 or 35, I didn't know much about the modular models back then. But I was so impressed by it, I decided not to try to sample it (waaaay too much possibilities) and just experimented for an hour or so. There was also a blue PPG (Wave 2.3?), but even the best guys at the conservatory didn't have a clue how to make it work. Of course, I couldn't either. Then I went for other instruments, like the pipe organ in its soundproof room, timpanies, etc.

 

I wish I could do that again someday.

 

Imagine, at the time, those samples were done for my incredible 8-bit resolution Ensoniq Mirage.

[Tom Fiala]

It's actually very instructional to play your baroque-era piano stuff on a harpsichord, in addition to being a fun change of pace for a pianist. The lack of sustain and difference in the harpsichord action really shows any irregularities in your technique or uneven playing.