Monday, June 10All That Matters

$10 vs. $1000 recorder

by Fenixstorm1


$10 vs. $1000 recorder




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26 Comments

  • Tersphinct

    Her description on “responsiveness” and “roundness” don’t really make sense to me. What I can tell is that the cheap one seems to have some pockets that oscillate in pressure, and those create a background hissing noise. This noise doesn’t seem to have nearly the same volume in the high end recorder. The characteristics of the noise are amplified at the moment of breath, amplifying the perceived attack, although it is entirely made out of noise. I wouldn’t say that this is entirely undesirable, but the classic aesthetic profile of a recorder has a soft attack.

    My guess is that the wood, being softer, produces better seals around certain areas that produce the audible hissing. I’ve always known wooden recorders to be superior, though, so I think a better comparison would be between a cheapo wooden recorder (even if it’s a bit over $10, but certainly under $50) and this $1000 one.

    Reply
  • Ph0ton

    Does the wood “resonance” matter in this context? It’s not acting like a soundboard and is not making any noise itself. I think I could provide some reasonable speculation on what she is referring to though.

    I would think any innate quality of sound in wood has more to do with how it affects the air column temperature and humidity. Depending on the type of wood or plastic, this may not be true, but I would assume the wooden recorder has less thermal conductivity than the plastic recorder. This means the air column is more predictable, not changing wildly as the temperature differences precipitate moisture (or not), changing the speed of sound, and thus changing overtones. I think this is why the wood sounds “rounder,” because the overtones are always tuned with the fundamental.

    Wood should also be able to wick away moisture, or at least provide enough surface area as to not have droplets affect the shape of the air column.

    Finally, as related to the previous two effects, the wooden recorder should be more predictable when played over longer periods of time, maintaining more consistent temperatures and humidity.

    Reply
  • Digital_loop

    Okay… Now what would it take to have an entire orchestra do a song on the cheapest instruments available and then switch halfway through to the expensive stuff???!!!

    Reply
  • pfp-disciple

    I love that she doesn’t insult the cheap plastic one. She said that, before playing the nice one, it sounded fine. That tells me that an amateur musician, just playing at home for fun and learning, would be fine with the cheap model, and maybe even a slightly less cheap model. It makes music performance accessible.

    Reply
  • thermidorthelobster

    $1000 for a concert instrument seems a pretty good deal. Does any other instrument come in at less than that? Triangle maybe?

    Reply
  • Yourbubblestink

    Looks like she put a lot more of herself into the performance with the wooden one. Look at difference in body language and facial expression.

    Reply
  • correcticallytech

    When I was in 6th grade, a woman from the symphony came to talk to our class. She asked us if we could name some woodwind instruments. I said “a recorder.” She said, “A recorder uses magnetic tape. It’s not a woodwind instrument.” Everyone laughed at me. Nobody had heard of a recorder before.

    Reply

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