The daxophone, invented by Hans Reichel, is an electric wooden experimental musical instrument of the friction idiophones category.

Etymology

The dax in daxophone is derived from the German word Dachs, meaning "badger" and referencing the many animal sounds that the daxophone is capable of generating, changed to dax so that the instrument name echoes Adolphe Sax's saxophone.

Construction

thumb|A variety of daxophone tongues

The daxophone consists of a wooden piece called a tongue, approximately 330 mm in length, 30 mm in width, and 5 mm in height, and fixed to a wooden block (often attached to a tripod, but also clamped to a table top), which holds one or more contact microphones.

Another vital part is the dax, sanded into a curved shape approximately 150 mm long and 50 mm tall, with a custom width tailored to the player's hands, and curved on both sides to allow for frictionless pitch changing. Vibrations then continue to the wooden-block base, which in turn is amplified by the contact microphone(s) therein. The timbre is adjusted by where it is bowed, and where along its length it is stopped with the dax. One side of the dax is fretted according to a randomly chosen logarithmic succession. The frequency interval between each fret in the succession will change due to the difference in pitch range between tongues, which is why the unfretted side is more frequently used for playing tonally in known compositions.

Film scores

The 2022 horror film Smile features the daxophone as the lead instrument in its music score.

The 2024 supernatural mystery film The Watchers, directed by Ishana Night Shymalan and scored by Abel Korzeniowski, features daxophone on nearly every track of the score. It is the first time sections of daxophones have been used as an orchestral texture. The daxophones made for this film score were built by luthier John C.L. Jansen, and feature a new type of extended contrabass tongue, developed and built by the request of the composer.

List of daxophonists and discography

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  • Daniel Fishkin
  • You're A Strong One
  • Dark Listening
  • Michael Hearst (born 1972)
  • Michael Hearst Songs For Unusual Creatures (2012) (Urban Geek Records)
  • Hans Reichel (1949–2011)
  • The Dawn of Dachsman (1987, FMP)
  • Shanghaied on Tor Road: The World's 1st Operetta Performed on Nothing but the Daxophone (1992, FMP CD 46)
  • Lower Lurum (1993/1994, Rastascan BRD 016)
  • Yuxo: A New Daxophone Operetta (2002, A/L/L 003)
  • Mark Stewart
  • Kazuhisa Uchihashi
  • King Pawns: Live in Berlin 2006 (with Hans Reichel, Innocentrecords ZEN-006)
  • Talking Daxophone (2018, Daxophone solo series, Innocentrecords icr-23)
  • Singing Daxophone (2021, Daxophone solo series 2, Innocentrecords icr-25)
  • Oneohtrix Point Never (real name Daniel Lopatin)
  • Black Snow from Age Of (2018, Warp Records via Inertia Music)

See also

  • Musical saw

References

  • Hans Reichel's FMP releases
  • Reichel's step-by-step construction of a daxophone
  • Album by American daxophonist Daniel Fishkin, featuring some live-looped daxophone recordings
  • video showcasing the process of building daxophones by Daniel Fishkin
  • The Daxophone - An Acoustic Synthesizer - Audio demonstration by Richard van Hoesel