Instruments are divided into separate classes, so that you can better distinct different didgeridoo sounds and forms, and find easily what is most interesting to you. They are named after more or less mythical creatures, since they are perceived as mythical creatures themselves! Still, all the didgeridoos are very unique creatures by itself, and might be only loosely tied to a class. However, we would like to make an overview of the Duende world.
Here are the classes:
SHAPE
Earth formations depict instrument shapes, and refer to any size. However, these shapes can and do change in differently sized creatures. These are our wind-shapers;
| Great shapes like “Needle Stick” fall into this category. It is a nest of didgeridoos of many many toots, with less volume than their broader fellow instruments, but with some of the cleanest and most gentle didgeridoo sounds. They are very suitable for close miking techniques – partly because canyons also have lower dynamic range. The bass usually has something which could be called synthetic quality (exceptionally fat and strong with less transients). The first toot is frequently something more than an octave parted from ground tone. For example, the Needle didge is an octave and a major/minor third. |
| These instruments are in the most balanced point of the didgeridoo world with all of their aspects equally developed. Their emphasis is on interesting tonal textures and colours, and not so much on the loudness. Because of their strong balance of all virtues, Fjords can be classified as instruments with unparalleled clarity and resolution producing the perfectly clean didgeridoo sounds. Another rewarding quality of the Fjords is the highest level of musicality and ease of control. |
| Volcanoes are very loud instruments. Loudness comes from a big opening, consistent conical shape and wood hardness. With these instruments, by wood hardness and other magicalities, a maker fights to get resonances other than bass – which is always present. Volcano beasts have huge acoustical power for a didgeridoo, however their main aim is to grab as much of a frequency spectrum as possible, to be able to articulate their power. Playability of these instruments, always referring to their length, is incredible! The Regoč class is the breaking point of length, and the playability of instruments longer than 3 meters is a very specific matter which should be addressed from a different point of view. Volcano didgeridoo sounds have an almost tangible space and third dimension, still retaining the superb qualities of Fjords, such as ease of control and musicality. In fact, they can be too easy to play with their sensitivity and subtle distinctions. The best analogy would be to describe them as having an extreme range of options in a normal control room.
Volcano didgeridoos have a warm, full sound, very easy and rich toots, huge power, big sustain. |
| Grotto resonators start conically, and at one point have a more or less drastic opening to another big conical chamber. This chamber acts as a great sound amplifier. The shape is inspired by the Archangel shape, which was the first of Duende to rule the deep world of resonators. These are quite extreme designs. They are very loud, very full in spectrum. Their first toot is lower than what is usual. It can fall as close as one fifth to ground tone. This makes it possible to get an effect of two instruments in one. For example, an A and an E didgeridoo in one body. This can mess up higher toots in terms of impedances, and the instrument can be unusual to play. It is possible to master, of course, but it takes some time to get familiar with the slightly different technique. So these might be described as the creators of didgeridoo sounds with the strongest character. The grotto sound is unquestionably dense and huge. This is an especially successful design for long instruments like Archangels and VOGs.
Grotto resonators are characterized by great warmth, density, power, with low and unusual toots. |
INTEGRITY
| These are very brave creatures – didgeridoos. They chose to be born, alive and playing, in spite of the possibility of imperfections due to the fact that they are first of their kind. A great majority of revolutionary instrument designs at Duende didgeridoo were once experiments… There is no general rule about these instruments, since they include 2 meter didgeridoos as well as 5 meter ones not looking like a didgeridoo at all. They are usually priced lower than the already established creatures, even though most of them are very much unique items. |
LENGTH
| A quite rare creature among Duende didgeridoos. The smallest of the world of Duende, they are generally closest to the classic term “big didgeridoo”. Due to their size, they are more compact, but they pay it off with less sound volume. Their sound is nevertheless designed according to Duende way as much as this small package permits. This means a tendency to strong textures and possibility of rough and – at the same time – full didgeridoo sounds. This texture roughness can be described as an oak tree bark with a little moss on it, as opposed to roughness of metal shreds. The deeper the instruments go, the easier it is to achieve the thickness of bark and softness of moss. Toots in these instruments are usually in contrast to ground tone with their lightness. They have somewhat less toots than longer instruments. And that means 6 or 7 instead of 8 or 9. Backpressure is usually made quite strong. These instruments are not much different in design than common long didgeridoos. |
| The class of Pegasus is a very important class.
It is the origin of didgeridoos like my C, which is in a way the origin of all Duende didgeridoos, and it is in the class of Fjord Pegasus. Fjord Pegasus is a class of smaller, but very powerful instruments. Their main points are a well balanced drone, rich in spectrum, crystal in resolution, but not of high volume. More mid’s than most other Duendes, and easier to carry around ;-) As all Duendes, they have many toots, and toots have somewhat darker textures compared to Macmalić bright toots. Volcano Pegasus is larger in volume and with more bass than its fellow Fjord Pegasus. Here we are dealing with loud warm didgeridoo sounds and not so huge body. They mix qualities of higher (in pitch) didgeridoos like loudness and transportability, with sound fullness of deeper didgeridoos. It is a class of instruments which starts around C# and goes higher. |
| Volcano Yetis were one of the first designs we started to explore in Duende didgeridoo. They reach the size limit that can still be in one piece and relatively easily transported (in a car). So they are big, but still small enough not to be too big ;-)
Their central key is around B. What they do with these, usually called lower keys is they take them to a new level of playability, sound and volume. Imagine a B didgeridoo that is as loud or louder than your loudest F or G didgeridoo and at the same time has enough bass to fill any acoustical chamber. On top of that, imagine it having a spectrum distributed so well that it is able to articulate even the fastest and fullest of sonic expressions. This is it. Yetis are so playable and of such voluminous sound due to their high conicality, so precise and with such a full spectrum due to good proportions of conicality changes and their hard wood. Toots usually fall very close to harmonic series, i.e. an octave, a fifth, fourth… Concluding, any Yeti didgeridoo sounds very warm and rich in overtones. Grotto Yetis are extremely full-bodied and powerful didgeridoos. This characteristic comes from a very long bell – a resonator box which make a large part of the instrument, around half of its length. What also comes from this kind of shape is a low first toot. It can sometimes be as low as a fifth to ground tone. The backpressure of this toot is strong and the sound is very dense and full, so these didgeridoos have an easy to play second didgeridoo inside them. For example, if you have a Grotto Yeti in C, it is possible the first toot is G or A which still sounds as a ‘normal’ didgeridoo, i.e. they don’t have the toot quality of a horn. This opens new possibilities of playing by being able to change your bass note. Every didgeridoo whose interval between the fundamental note and the first toot is minor seventh or less can also fall in this category. Fjord Yetis are a very profound category. They trade their volume for sonic and playing precision. In a way it means less volume, more sound. They offer different tonal qualities and colours. This is the class mostly interested in details of sound. In terms of playability, they are in the higher realms. Contrary to Volcano and Grotto, they can be considered classically well balanced, less eccentric and with less surprises besides their utmost sound quality. Canyon Yetis are the tribe of the Needle Stick. They are inspired by one 235 cm truly slender agave stick. Their central note is around F#. Needless to say, an octave lower than usual. These wands ask for a little more attention than other Yetis while playing for the first time due to their depth and narrow air column. It is the first step to the deep world, and it teaches your lips more finesse. These instruments are loud considering their shape, but cannot even closely compare to other Yetis, especially Grotto or Volcano. However, their reward is in close miking, where they are incredible magic makers. They can make extremely mighty and convincing bass kicks, similar to strong synthetic bass, but 100% natural. Their taper is very responsive to the harmonic tails which are left inside the tube in certain types of playing. Read more about this technique in School of Skills. |
| Regoč is the breaking point of size. Unless they are in two or more pieces, they can be a challenge to transport. They are of great volume and mass. This refers to both their physical appearance and sound.
This is the category where a Duende didgeridoo reaches the length of two didgeridoos, and the volume of possibly many more. Their acoustics goes much beyond description of normal didgeridoo sounds. They can generally be considered two instruments in one, both in terms of volume and pitch. Regočes are deep enough that their first toot sounds like another didgeridoo, even if it is separated from the drone as much as perfect octave. For a bigger Grotto Regoč, it can even be two toots resembling drones. If Regoč is not put in several pieces, you either have a van, truck, roof top, or a big transportation challenge. However, a Regoč monodidge is a true wind monument. |
| Archangels come inspired by the instrument used in my song Arhanđeo svega Čudnog (Archangel of the odd) from the album Kosmopterix. The Archangel prototype was made accidentally. In a search of a good deep didgeridoo prototype, every possible combination of mouthpiece/resonator was tested. What made an outstanding combination was a G (235cm) didgeridoo and the fourth part of a 1027cm didgeridoo from one of my first performances. Both made in black locust, for different purposes. They had to be put together using tape, in quite an awkward joint. But the sound was everything but awkward. Why this shape was received so well was due to the sound volume, the low and full toots, ease of playing, big amount of backpressure and sound clarity which magically remained in spite of the large quantity of bass. This didgeridoo sounds so strong and full that it feels like bringing acoustics of its own with itself, in a way a grand piano does. Due to the resonator size, the sound always remains, nothing can threaten it. Thus, based on this first Archangel, many other instruments were developed. They come in two pieces unless stated otherwise. Archangels usually have two toots sounding like real didgeridoos, and many toots on top of that. |
| The term VOG was invented in discussions about deepest and most powerful didgeridoos I had with didgeridoo player and imaginator Bernard Schlageck. It remained as a description for the biggest instruments we are able to make, with sense, at this moment. This ‘sense’ you must sense to know. What this means is that due to the size and complexity, these deepest world mysteries are difficult to reveal. To make an instrument this big is a challenge by itself. To make an instrument this big with sense is the utmost challenge.
VOG didgeridoos are made as a combination of design from two shorter didgeridoos – the Archangel didge and the 7 meter didge for my song Volvitur in Rota. Still, designs of both are changed, and a new creature arises. It has at least 3 toots with the sound of didgeridoo, therefore it changes the approach to song making on a didgeridoo. Each of the toots carries the volume and the bass power of the underlying fundamental drone, so you can be sure that an E toot doesn’t sound exactly like an E didgeridoo. On various occasions, especially sound checks, these amplified drones shook the grounds of theatres. VOGs are done in a modular way, so that you have 4 pieces in total – assembled with the longer third piece it is a VOG didgeridoo, and with shorter third piece inserted it becomes an Archangel didgeridoo. All supports and necessary stands are provided. |