Or is it a tiny curator?
May 13, 2015 6:45 PM Subscribe
What is an octobass?, you may have wondered. The answer: It is a ridiculously huge bass.
Doubly misleading FPP: That looks nothing at all like eight fish.
posted by eriko at 7:01 PM on May 13, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by eriko at 7:01 PM on May 13, 2015 [6 favorites]
This video is one band name after another. Just the bow.
Octobasse Bow
Hardwood Stick
Ebony Frog
Lots of Horsehair
I'm loving this.
posted by eriko at 7:06 PM on May 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
Octobasse Bow
Hardwood Stick
Ebony Frog
Lots of Horsehair
I'm loving this.
posted by eriko at 7:06 PM on May 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
Finally, The Moan of the Blue Whale, as it was meant to be heard.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 7:14 PM on May 13, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by halfbuckaroo at 7:14 PM on May 13, 2015 [3 favorites]
Put down the bow! I wanna hear how it sounds plucked and slapped! It would be awesome to hear an improv jazz rendition of Pink Floyd's "One of These Days" played on that thing...
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:18 PM on May 13, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:18 PM on May 13, 2015 [3 favorites]
I'm all about this.
posted by Toubab at 7:29 PM on May 13, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by Toubab at 7:29 PM on May 13, 2015 [6 favorites]
It's like a Victorian era subwoofer. Now if only there was a way that you could get someone playing this at the back of your carriage so that you can rattle some windows as you drive by.
posted by no mind at 7:41 PM on May 13, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by no mind at 7:41 PM on May 13, 2015 [10 favorites]
Heard with the pit of the stomach, giving new depth to, "The Hall of the Mountain King."
posted by Oyéah at 7:42 PM on May 13, 2015
posted by Oyéah at 7:42 PM on May 13, 2015
Theme song from Jaws played on the Octobass.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 7:44 PM on May 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 7:44 PM on May 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
Theme song from Jaws played on the Octobass
The reason why they were laughing isn't because it sounded bad, but because they could feel it rather than hear it.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:59 PM on May 13, 2015
The reason why they were laughing isn't because it sounded bad, but because they could feel it rather than hear it.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:59 PM on May 13, 2015
Otherwise known as the Extreme Sympatholion, the anti-particle to the World's Smallest Violin.
posted by Devonian at 8:03 PM on May 13, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Devonian at 8:03 PM on May 13, 2015 [5 favorites]
All too short: Nico Abondolo, an actual bassist, on the Octobass.
posted by motty at 8:47 PM on May 13, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by motty at 8:47 PM on May 13, 2015 [2 favorites]
For your musical octopus needs, Octobass! a.k.a. Octoboss a.k.a. Coral Riff, designed as an eight-limbed electric bass. Has one of the best tracks in the rhythm dungeon-crawler Crypt of the Necrodancer.
posted by knuckle tattoos at 10:31 PM on May 13, 2015
posted by knuckle tattoos at 10:31 PM on May 13, 2015
Cool. But also, a strange design. Simply scaling an instrument up past the point of playability is really weird to me, but again I'm not sure how it would be done otherwise. I imagine bass makers only know how to voice an archtop like that in that design. It also seems like the string tension is not nearly high enough to produce a smooth tone with the bow, though I imagine that to increase the tension enough to have a smoother string would mean an even longer scale length and an even more awkward playing experience.
posted by jimmythefish at 10:31 PM on May 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by jimmythefish at 10:31 PM on May 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
Sorry folks, it's an extremely tiny curator, recording on equipment made and designed for extremely tiny people. Here's what a normal person looks like playing it.
posted by mcrandello at 10:52 PM on May 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by mcrandello at 10:52 PM on May 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
Now I want to go get a Suzuki system cello and convert it into a scale model of the thing, just for steampunk-fret-lever uselessness at normal scale. Maybe add a gramophone horn to it, call it the ocstrohhbass.
posted by mcrandello at 10:56 PM on May 13, 2015
posted by mcrandello at 10:56 PM on May 13, 2015
Often accompanied by the hyperflute!
posted by doozer_ex_machina at 2:29 AM on May 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by doozer_ex_machina at 2:29 AM on May 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
BassBassBassBass. (Let it run for 30 seconds.). (This was so much fun in the dorms in college.)
posted by persona au gratin at 2:46 AM on May 14, 2015
posted by persona au gratin at 2:46 AM on May 14, 2015
It's like, how much more low could this be? and the answer is none. None more low.
posted by tommasz at 3:37 AM on May 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by tommasz at 3:37 AM on May 14, 2015 [2 favorites]
Bass! How low can you go?
....no, actually, that was a rhetorical question....
posted by the painkiller at 6:51 AM on May 14, 2015
....no, actually, that was a rhetorical question....
posted by the painkiller at 6:51 AM on May 14, 2015
Something tells me these 2" computer speakers are not doing justice to the majesty of the Octobass.
Considerably larger, although surprisingly much higher pitched: the Earth Harp.
posted by adamrice at 7:36 AM on May 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
Considerably larger, although surprisingly much higher pitched: the Earth Harp.
posted by adamrice at 7:36 AM on May 14, 2015 [1 favorite]
ocstrohhbass?
posted by Confess, Fletch at 8:57 AM on May 14 [+] [!]
Something like this, although a lot of cheap beer could come in handy.
posted by mcrandello at 2:09 PM on May 15, 2015
posted by Confess, Fletch at 8:57 AM on May 14 [+] [!]
Something like this, although a lot of cheap beer could come in handy.
posted by mcrandello at 2:09 PM on May 15, 2015
« Older Ceiling boar is watching you shop | “It's about this little girl who finds a little... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by ZenMasterThis at 6:53 PM on May 13, 2015 [4 favorites]