The latest Drone Ensemble instruments and some serious angle grinding!

In readiness for our seven hour performance at the Boiler House, Newcastle University in August, we are increasing our repertoire of sound-making equipment and are creating some new instruments.

At our Drone session this week we tested out our new purchase - a couple of e-bows. The EBow is a hand-held electronic bow for guitar. This small battery-powered unit replaces the pick in the right hand letting the guitarist mimic strings, horns, and woodwinds with unbelievable sensitivity. The EBow produces a powerful infinite sustain, rich in harmonics for incredible guitar sounds. Unlike plug-in effects, the Energy Bow does its work on the string itself. The EBow produces a magnetic drive field which in effect bows the guitar string. This field emanates from the blue LED end of the DriveChannel and feeds directly into the guitar pickup when brought near it.

We used a make-shift string on a wooden baton, and were able to produce some amazing sounds, so the hope is that when we have created a proper guitar-like structure made from more suitable materials, the e-bows will be even more effective.



The next job was to make some new singing bowls using empty and unwanted oil drums. The first step is a rather nasty job involving using an angle grinder to cut through the centre of the canister. Yes, that is me doing the angle grinding!