@@casualdiscussionenjoyer3303 I want one sooooo bad, I almost want to start a petition to ask them to bring it back, even if for just a limited run. I love the sound of this more than almost any other melodica I've heard. I've only gotten into melodicas this week, but play a handful of instruments. The sound of the claviola is straight up magical to me. It's almost criminal there are so few!
Someone needs to make this again or something very similar. An incredible instrument with incredible tone. It's tone, size, acoustic nature, and tunability of the pitches, I can't imagine the instrument would fail nowadays.
Interesting! I was expecting it to sound more like an accordion or a melodica, but it turns out it sounds more like a clarinet! It's such a shame they don't make these anymore, it would be great to have another acoustic portable keyboard instrument other than my melodica!
Max Rebo Does anybody makes something similar to this now? I just set an eBay search on the offchance one of these ever sells. The timbre and the pitchbending is something I’ve always wanted out of melodica.
@@Evildandalo Sadly no, although I've been messing around with the idea of building one myself out of a Melodica and some 3D printed pipes and valves. They aren't TOO complicated on the inside. eBay probably isn't your best bet IMO, they seem to come up for sale mostly on music classified sites. Good luck finding one my friend :)
I am currently shopping for a melodica, and to my delight I stumble upon this video. What an amazing instrument! What an amazing instrumentalist! You radiate such musical joy with your playing. Thank you. :)
this instrument sounds so, so cool. Thank you so much for covering these rarer instruments. For composers like me this is such a sweet resource (although, finding someone to actually play will be a challenge)
Probably would be easier to find a goof synth that can make normal keyboard sound like this, if we're talking records. If acoustic only, this is one rare instrument, and must be a real joy to have it. On the other hand, there must be a reason why they are not made by anybody these days. Maybe one day there will be demand for more instruments with acoustic proprieties and we will see things like this Claviola again. Now it's all about keyboards, synthesizers and electronic music, sadly
This is the best sounding instrument in the world. you should cover every song you can think of with this instrument.. love the sound of the claviola! wish they still made these.. amazing sound! much easier than accordion!
Thanks Rory! I think the Claviola is one of the cleverest and sweetest-sounding free reed instruments made. Pitch bending, vibrato... no other keyboard free reed instruments offer such expression so well. On another video I even heard someone getting notes on the draw breath, is that possible? Hopefully your video will help generate the interest to persuade Hohner to bring it back 👍
Hi Brendan, you can get a notes on draw breath, but they are approximately a whole step below the note you're actually playing. So I don't think it was a thing that was actually meant to happen. And those notes sound like a melodica. I think the note is coming directly from the reed, not going through the pipe somehow, which might account for the tonal and pitch diference. So yeah, if you can transpose on the fly, and want a different sound, you could play on the draw breaths. I don't think it's exactly in tuen though, I honestly haven't experimented with that too much.
@@roryhoffman485 Hope This isn't too Inconvenient, But what is the tuning on your chordomonica? I've been trying to figure it out by ear for years with no luck.
You are very good teacher and player...thanks I never saw anyone play this instrument until you today...Gods speed and continued. Unique beautiful music blessings...
@@Koropokel it was a rare/unique instrument seller based in Los Angeles IIRC. Keep at it and set alerts, as Rory mentioned there were only about 100 made, but they do come around! Good luck!
the hohner claviola and the hohner guitarette can't just die! please lets bring them back! It would be a huge loss for humanity if they just disappeared.
As I understand it, the Claviola didn't catch on because it was complex to make and took a lot of assembly time. This translated into a much higher price than the public thought a plastic keyboard wind instrument should cost. I've also struggled with this perception of value, when I was hand making professional grade penny whistles out of PVC pipe. Yes, it's just pvc pipe. But it's pvc pipe that I spent three to six hours of my time turning into a musical instrument. I wanted to charge $40, the public wanted to pay $5. Eventually, I just gave up. I think that if Horner put some R&D into reducing costs through more efficient mass production, and actually advertised the instrument better, they could have made it more popular.
Actually it's also made of metal. A big part of why the Claviola never took off is that Hohner changed management soon after it's initial release, and decided that Melodicas and similar instruments were "out of fashion", and instead focused more on keyboards and guitars.
@@jonnda Lapti Nek, Fancy Man, Galactic Dance Blast, Jabba's Baroque Recital, Jedi Rocks, Droids Cantina A, Droids Cantina B, Rebo's Got The Beat - that's more than 5 😁 The real shame is that people think I have arms 😜
I wonder if you could partially cover the holes on the back with tape, so you can get quarter tones to play the transistor organ parts used on sixties era arabic music
Amazing and unique sound, doesen't sound like anything i've heard, the closest would maybe be clarinet, especially when you did the bends, but not quite :D
What makes the reeds ſound all mellow like that? And why does changing the pipe length bend the pitch. I though reeds like that are tuned to pꝛoduce a ſpecific pitch and that was it. Becauſe if free reeds like that could be bent by changing the tube length, I could foꝛſee a microtonal reedoꝛgan that could both open a reed foꝛ certain notes and then open the same reed but bend the pitch a pꝛedetermined amount, like a ſyntonic comma vp oꝛ down. That way you could get a ton of notes per octaue without hauing a ton of reeds per octaue.
I had to laugh because it somehow looked like you were talking into a microphone all the time :) I mean you actually did but not the way it looked :) Nice Instrument!
Thanks, Rory! My husband and I are musicians in the Rochester, MN, area. My husband specializes in vintage saxophones and has a business repairing instruments (esp woodwinds; cgwrepair.com). He was even more intrigued with your videos than I was (and that's saying a lot!). Keep up the great work!
Bad timing. Hohner got new management just after the Claviola began production, and decided to focus on keyboards and guitars rather than Melodicas and other similar instruments.
@@googleuser3163 turns out their guitars sorta stink. That’s a big bummer that they sacrificed this instrument over something that wasn’t even that good or unique
@@SoggySandwich80 Big time. Even their reed instruments are sub-par now. Modern Hohner Melodicas go out of tune within a few months in my experience...
I play accordion and I find this cool. However learning this with accordion experience would be difficult for me as there are no bellows to push and pull!
Hallo Mister. My name is Chris. I am a professional musician from Greece living in Switzerland and I want to find to buy a Claviola. Can you please help me to find this instrument? It's very important for me. Thex.
There are less than 100 in the world, and many now belong in museums or private collections. To find one for sale is very rare and expensive, it took me many years to eventually find one!
![Hohner Claviola Review: How does Hohner's Rarest Instrument Sound? [sold]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ld-AQ6v3iKU/mqdefault.jpg)
Hohner needs to reissue the Claviola. Guaranteed.
I would snatch one in a heartbeat. No... I'd get two just in case.
IMO, it's guaranteed to sell a lot more if reissued today.
@@orliverse amen
@@casualdiscussionenjoyer3303 I want one sooooo bad, I almost want to start a petition to ask them to bring it back, even if for just a limited run. I love the sound of this more than almost any other melodica I've heard. I've only gotten into melodicas this week, but play a handful of instruments. The sound of the claviola is straight up magical to me. It's almost criminal there are so few!
So sad it's no longer in production. Wonderful instrument.
Надо сказать немцам, стоб снова запустили их производство. Современные мелодики Hohner звучат отвратительно. И они очень скушные.
@@user-uh2di2xo5l а кто их покупать будет? Инструмент конечно классный но можно было бы на заказ такое сделать
not only is the instrument beautiful but rory's playing is incredible
The idea of a polyphonic instrument that perfectly mimics a clarinet is breaking my brain tbh
Someone needs to make this again or something very similar. An incredible instrument with incredible tone. It's tone, size, acoustic nature, and tunability of the pitches, I can't imagine the instrument would fail nowadays.
Interesting! I was expecting it to sound more like an accordion or a melodica, but it turns out it sounds more like a clarinet! It's such a shame they don't make these anymore, it would be great to have another acoustic portable keyboard instrument other than my melodica!
Mark Morabito As a clarinet player I approve and don’t approve this...
@@hirokokueh3541 The Andes uses fipple flute, Claviola is uses reedpipes.
Max Rebo Does anybody makes something similar to this now? I just set an eBay search on the offchance one of these ever sells. The timbre and the pitchbending is something I’ve always wanted out of melodica.
@@Evildandalo Sadly no, although I've been messing around with the idea of building one myself out of a Melodica and some 3D printed pipes and valves. They aren't TOO complicated on the inside.
eBay probably isn't your best bet IMO, they seem to come up for sale mostly on music classified sites. Good luck finding one my friend :)
Sounds like a clarinet and a calliope got hot and heavy one night lol. What a beautiful sound range!!
Ha! When band instruments mate! Agreed, great sound and nice range on this!
You have a gift for making music with cool gems left in the margins. You are respected.
Beautiful playing @ 4:02 ...More please!
Would love to have a Claviola but will have to build one.
if you do, could you make a video explaining it?
I am currently shopping for a melodica, and to my delight I stumble upon this video. What an amazing instrument! What an amazing instrumentalist! You radiate such musical joy with your playing. Thank you. :)
Seems like melódica is a normal piano and claviola that grand piano from shows. O dreams that if i become rich I woulld buy one
I want to play one of these so bad
You will have to build it. I plan to do so.
@@fnersch3367 did you build one?? please answer I need one so bad.
this instrument sounds so, so cool. Thank you so much for covering these rarer instruments. For composers like me this is such a sweet resource (although, finding someone to actually play will be a challenge)
Great playing, fun to see a skillful demonstration of this unusual instrument.
Probably would be easier to find a goof synth that can make normal keyboard sound like this, if we're talking records. If acoustic only, this is one rare instrument, and must be a real joy to have it. On the other hand, there must be a reason why they are not made by anybody these days. Maybe one day there will be demand for more instruments with acoustic proprieties and we will see things like this Claviola again. Now it's all about keyboards, synthesizers and electronic music, sadly
Very interesting. Thank you
wow this sounds way better than I thought it would.
It reminds me the Bawu ! Beautiful !
This instrument is just wonderful. With the cords, it is just so beautiful. I want to hear more man
Sound so beatiful
This is the best sounding instrument in the world. you should cover every song you can think of with this instrument.. love the sound of the claviola! wish they still made these.. amazing sound! much easier than accordion!
Thanks Rory! I think the Claviola is one of the cleverest and sweetest-sounding free reed instruments made. Pitch bending, vibrato... no other keyboard free reed instruments offer such expression so well. On another video I even heard someone getting notes on the draw breath, is that possible? Hopefully your video will help generate the interest to persuade Hohner to bring it back 👍
Hi Brendan, you can get a notes on draw breath, but they are approximately a whole step below the note you're actually playing. So I don't think it was a thing that was actually meant to happen. And those notes sound like a melodica. I think the note is coming directly from the reed, not going through the pipe somehow, which might account for the tonal and pitch diference. So yeah, if you can transpose on the fly, and want a different sound, you could play on the draw breaths. I don't think it's exactly in tuen though, I honestly haven't experimented with that too much.
@@roryhoffman485 Sounds a lot like how playing a harmonica works... it could be done
@@roryhoffman485 Hope This isn't too Inconvenient, But what is the tuning on your chordomonica? I've been trying to figure it out by ear for years with no luck.
The sound slightly reminds me of a Mellotron. Very cool instrument!
Yeah same, was wondering what strawberry fields would sound like on a Claviola
Great video and beautiful playing... it's impressive how this instrument is versatile!
Überraschung > Hab ich noch nie gesehen. Herzlichen Dank für die topp Präsentation! 👌
A remarkable instrument played by one who the skills to make it sing!
just stumbled over your channel. instant sub. keep up the great work!
DAMM! the moment it started to sound it blew my mind!!! Its SO cool!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!
Nice sound! If Finn from "Adventure Time" was a musician, he absolutely play claviola :D
Dig those bends!
Nice, thanks!
Amazing :)
Didnt expect such an lovely sound, dont quite like melodicas but this one if smooth
That's really neat
You are very good teacher and player...thanks I never saw anyone play this instrument until you today...Gods speed and continued. Unique beautiful music blessings...
Oh man. I need this for my experimental lo-fi band.
phantastic!
Great playing and great production you earned my sub
This series is so much fun. Thanks for sharing, Rory!
Great video! I am now suscribed!
Really good video about this instrument, looking forward to watching more of your channel
This is so cool! Thank you for making this video.
I love the sound - so mellow!
I bought one of these for my wife, what a cool instrument! It sounds like video game music.
Thanks for posting!
where did you find one???
@@Koropokel ebay! It was about $3500, so all her birthday presents until about 2046 are the Claviola xD
@@skunkiejunk awesome present!
In which country ?? when I look around here in germany I can't find ANYTHING. I'm going insane!
@@Koropokel it was a rare/unique instrument seller based in Los Angeles IIRC. Keep at it and set alerts, as Rory mentioned there were only about 100 made, but they do come around! Good luck!
Way to cool instrument and tasteful playing as always.
this reminds me of being at the fair ground!
it sounds gorgeous. Hohner if you read this please reissue the claviola
Amazing. You are super-talented! Now I have to find one of these!
This is amazing! You should do soundtracks for movies taking place in the future, or on other planets.
wonderful - i would love to find one of these. Great video, Rory!
I wish these caught on, it sounds good.
Yeah it's like a keyboard clarinet.
the hohner claviola and the hohner guitarette can't just die! please lets bring them back! It would be a huge loss for humanity if they just disappeared.
Excellent, thank you!
Wow! Beautiful sound
Very pleasing sound!
I need 12 hours of this
Amazing! Though your so good, I'm pretty sure you could play a kazoo and make me go "I need that!"
Rory, this is a fantastic sounding instrument ! Bet you could make a rubber band stretched across a wishbone sound like a
million dollars ! ! !
Cheers from São Paulo, Brasil :)
Wow, what a beautiful instrument! I want one now
As I understand it, the Claviola didn't catch on because it was complex to make and took a lot of assembly time. This translated into a much higher price than the public thought a plastic keyboard wind instrument should cost. I've also struggled with this perception of value, when I was hand making professional grade penny whistles out of PVC pipe.
Yes, it's just pvc pipe. But it's pvc pipe that I spent three to six hours of my time turning into a musical instrument. I wanted to charge $40, the public wanted to pay $5. Eventually, I just gave up.
I think that if Horner put some R&D into reducing costs through more efficient mass production, and actually advertised the instrument better, they could have made it more popular.
Actually it's also made of metal.
A big part of why the Claviola never took off is that Hohner changed management soon after it's initial release, and decided that Melodicas and similar instruments were "out of fashion", and instead focused more on keyboards and guitars.
@@googleuser3163 Ahh. Cool band by the way. It's a shame you only had less than 5 tunes that got famous galaxy wide.
@@jonnda Lapti Nek, Fancy Man, Galactic Dance Blast, Jabba's Baroque Recital, Jedi Rocks, Droids Cantina A, Droids Cantina B, Rebo's Got The Beat - that's more than 5 😁
The real shame is that people think I have arms 😜
Those 2 handed chords!!!
One of my favourite instruments but I've never yet seen one for sale when I've looked
I wonder if you could partially cover the holes on the back with tape, so you can get quarter tones to play the transistor organ parts used on sixties era arabic music
🙌🇧🇷
master 🤓
How did that not catch on? I'd buy one in a minute!
What a beautiful sound! Shame there isnt more. :) I want one haha
Amazing and unique sound, doesen't sound like anything i've heard, the closest would maybe be clarinet, especially when you did the bends, but not quite :D
fantastic playing Rory!!
Thank you!
Awesome!
So glad I clicked
That sounds cool! Well played as well.
SI... CONOCÍA QUE ES LA CLAVIOLA. EN MI CASO VI UNA MÁS PEQUEÑA QUE ÉSTA. SALUDOS DESDE ARGENTINA 🇦🇷
Fascinating instrument! How can we increase the following so hohner or someone makes it again?!
My dude!! Solid video! Solid channel! Keep it up!!
Muuuy buenoooo👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
What a cool instrument~ I appreciate the explanation very much! Nice playing :)
Merci beaucoup l'Ami !!!
Hohner, PLEASE remake this thing!!!! 😭
damn this thing sounds amazing
What makes the reeds ſound all mellow like that? And why does changing the pipe length bend the pitch. I though reeds like that are tuned to pꝛoduce a ſpecific pitch and that was it. Becauſe if free reeds like that could be bent by changing the tube length, I could foꝛſee a microtonal reedoꝛgan that could both open a reed foꝛ certain notes and then open the same reed but bend the pitch a pꝛedetermined amount, like a ſyntonic comma vp oꝛ down. That way you could get a ton of notes per octaue without hauing a ton of reeds per octaue.
omg the mellotron flutes from strawberry fields
Hi Rory! Please do a Wendy Carlos cover on the Claviola! 🙏
I had to laugh because it somehow looked like you were talking into a microphone all the time :) I mean you actually did but not the way it looked :)
Nice Instrument!
sweet!
So beautiful. Too bad it's no more😢
wow !!
Thanks, Rory! My husband and I are musicians in the Rochester, MN, area. My husband specializes in vintage saxophones and has a business repairing instruments (esp woodwinds; cgwrepair.com). He was even more intrigued with your videos than I was (and that's saying a lot!). Keep up the great work!
I have been on the hunt for one of these for two years. Anybody have any info on one for sale??
Whoa, you could do some Ligeti Volumina stuff on that thing! Does anyone write for this instrument?
Why the hell did this not catch on, it’s badass
Bad timing. Hohner got new management just after the Claviola began production, and decided to focus on keyboards and guitars rather than Melodicas and other similar instruments.
@@googleuser3163 turns out their guitars sorta stink. That’s a big bummer that they sacrificed this instrument over something that wasn’t even that good or unique
@@SoggySandwich80 Big time. Even their reed instruments are sub-par now. Modern Hohner Melodicas go out of tune within a few months in my experience...
RoryHoffmanMusic It's basically a Melodica that sounds like a Clarinet so I call it the Melodiclarinet.
or mellotron since it sounds like it lol
Hey I really love that first song you cranked out was that an original? Can I find that somewhere? It’s seriously beautiful
what would these go for on the market today?
Yeah it does sounds like a clarinet.
I play accordion and I find this cool. However learning this with accordion experience would be difficult for me as there are no bellows to push and pull!
Hallo Mister. My name is Chris. I am a professional musician from Greece living in Switzerland and I want to find to buy a Claviola. Can you please help me to find this instrument? It's very important for me. Thex.
There are less than 100 in the world, and many now belong in museums or private collections. To find one for sale is very rare and expensive, it took me many years to eventually find one!
Thanks for the tip.
@@chrissterts7931 Perhaps we should start a petition for Hohner to reproduce the Claviola!
That would be a very good idea.
@@googleuser3163 I would sign instantly!
It sounds a bit like the melody line in karaoke tracks but not as cheesy