From Wendy Carlos to the Swingle Singers, artists have proven over and over again that great music is great music, regardless of instrumentation. (Music historians would be just as quick to point out that most Classical performances don’t really match the original instrumentation, anyway.) So, since it’s Monday and we’re due for a distraction, we have from reader Jack Stratton a delightful rendition of Bach on TalkBox. (BachBox?)

Something’s in the air, as our friend Synthtopia also shares novel instrumentations. Here, it’s Ravel:

Trois beaux oiseaux du paradis by Maurice Ravel – performed by thereminist, Randy George and the Gaudete Brass Quintet. download video in High Definition at: http://bit.ly/GBQRGM

Finally, I can’t embed the videos, but the wonderful Glockabelle – recently seen tearing through Classical favorites on her Casio VL-5 at Handmade Music NYC, confirmed on glock for our next event – has a terrific lineup of videos on her blog, recorded in her kitchen. Glocks, more Casios, and a keyboard with meow sounds. There’s music by the greatest composers of all time, and there’s a bit of punk, too. Public service: if it any moment in this week you find yourself grumpy, come back to these videos.

http://glockabelle.blogspot.com/

And, yes – it’s easy to dismiss novel instrumentation, but not if you talk to people who actually play the instruments. I do always slightly dread the association of Theremin and Halloween, one which I think doesn’t befit how lovely the instrument sounds. But music is all about novel instrumentation, and actually enjoying what you play. Great music works on different instruments.

We now return to our regularly-scheduled programming.

Ted Pallas sends along this terrific video of a hacked hardware crossfader, created by John Beez, that slides up and down on rails. Slide the crossfader itself vertically, and you change the pitch. It’s always fascinating to see this kind of solution — a bit like the keyboards that added pitch bend by letting you move the keys in latitudinal motion.

And, for a little extra something, he adds a talkbox, too. The only problem with the talkbox: a tube in your mouth is not the world’s most flattering physical interface.

From the description:

This is the first public view of the Fretless Fader system I designed for use with the Controller One (posted February 22, 2009). With this you can cut and change notes through 2 octaves without taking your hands away from the vinyl and fader. Big thanks to Gizmo at skratchworx.com for the feature! Stay tuned for an in depth look in the next vid.

Check out my band – Blount Harvey
http://www.myspace.com/blountharvey

Seen other attempts to do similar things? Let us know.