Reddit mentions: The best melodicas

Thanks! Srsly synths are fun but we should all drop $50-100 on some sweet and under appreciated acoustic instruments. They really help to improve musicianship by sort of cross training, and are also often more fun to use on the porch with some friends.

In addition to recorders, did you know you can get an awesome melodica for around $20? Can get a pretty nice ukulele in that price bracket, also tambourines, harmonicas... you get the idea :)

Come to think of it, I should make a front page post about how every synth player should own a melodica. Gimme a bit and I may get around to it.

I'm a big fan of the Performer 37. Mine was nicely in-tune, had great tone and volume, and was comfortable to play. And the included carrying case works great. I found the Performer 37 on Amazon for only $60, in case you're looking for the best possible price.

As a word of warning, If you get the Performer 37, don't be an idiot like me and expose it to a torrential downpour. Tons of water can mess up the case.

I personally own an airboard37 but if you don't want to shell out the 100$ for the fancy paint job and carying case(which I am so glad I did) you can get a performer 37 for 60$. I can vouch that the airboard has awesome action and the special mouthpiece it comes with is really convenient vs the normal tube style the performer 37 uses. I have my airboard 37 for festivals and camp jams and it's one of my favorite instruments. I'm going to subscribe to your youtube on the off chance you actually end up buying one.

Im OP's Brother and i had this proyect made for me, im goin to try and explain every detail of this. (gear list at the bottom)

the background of this proyect is a life full of cables and 4 trips to the car to get all my gear for my live sets (a real pain in the arss considering i needded to set up and set it down after i finished playing) not counting the roadtrips to gigs in other states.

i used to use 2 keyboard stands, 1 mic stand, 1 wood table to put on tom of one keystand and another spare table for my laptop then the gear on top of the wood now imagine all the cables 4 USBs (sometimes the cables not plugged at the correct USB slot, giving me problems 2 minutes before starting), 3 power cables and the audio master output.

2 times each night 2 or 3 times a week. for 2 years, i was starting to get really anoyed at the time someone asked me to play at a gig.

So I decided I nedded something to help me with this endlless carryng of things; after a lot of searching for flightcases and huge money prices i realized those cases would not fit my whole gear and started thinking and deciding what i needed, i got to a conclussion that it was a much bigger proyect for me to make DIY so a contacted a guy that specializes in carry cases, had multimple 1hour+ driving trip to his workshop and back until we got to a design that worked in real life.

i needed to have all my power plugs inside the case so y soldered a power conection (CPU like) with its own fuse to prevent electric blowups unto a 8 slot power multicontact, and had an Active USB HUB 3.0 so all my usb cables are pluged-in in one slot at my laptop (i choosed active hub because the data transfer limitation when the computer gives the electricity to the HUB.

everything is tight inside with hi quality velcro strips so y dont need to worry to desasemble my USB interface, laptop, etc..



Why I choose these gear and case?

As of Right now i have a 2 man band called The Twins MX, we play Live Looping Electro-House-Latin-Funk-ish.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTwinsMX/?fref=ts
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5qLkw7ooTNqARyUTQ7SaY8
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC28yjL0MZoE1_JhIfVGj2JQ
Extra Vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJuQW9kGfsM

we base our shows in Live Looping and building our set up with Bass, Saxophone, drum and percussion Multichanel loops.


the way i have the midi routing is as follows

APC 40 - Channel 1-4 is for looping and controling the Bass
APC40 - Channel 5-8 is for looping and controling the Saxophone
Ableton Push - Channel 1-6 is for the Percucionand beats
1 Kick Drum
2 Snare Drum
3 Hi-hat or similar
4 Drums with effects
5 Shakers
6 Percution

Ableton Push - Chanel 7-8 for live-looping Piano and Synths

Launchey 49 MK2 - for playing piano and synth with effects racks form ableton
(i use the built in functions for ableton of the launchkey to control de 8 knob effects racks)



For the Audio Routing:

I use the NI Komplete audio 6 (works like a charm with the audio Buffering time)

IN - Channel 1 - Bass (tha bassist has his own station with Laptop, Audio Interface, midi controlers, he just sends me his master audio)

IN - Channel 2 - Saxophone

OUT - Master L R - The entire mix (having problem with this as the audio engeenir can not mix multichannel in the PA, im working on sending 2 more Mono channels through Output 3 and 4 of the audio interface).

Monitor Out ( i use this output channel for my headphones and have a metronome with all the mix so i dont get lost in reverberations or time delays of the venue)



The gear im using:
MIDI Keyboard: Launchkey 49 Mk2 https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1140281-REG/novation_launchkey_49_mk2_usb_midi.html

MIDI Controler 1: Ableton Push 1 https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/910791-REG/ableton_86889_push_software_controller.html

MIDI Controler 2: Akai APC 40 https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/598797-REG/Akai_APC40_APC40_Ableton_Performance_Controller.html

USB Audio Interface: NI Komplete Audio 6 https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/768774-REG/Native_Instruments_21066_KOMPLETE_AUDIO_6.html



The Gear the Bassist use:
6 String Bass (to use as bass and as guitar-ish sounds with effects)

Midi Controler: Guitar Wing: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1029887-REG/livid_instruments_lvguitarwing01_guitar_wing.html

Audio Interface: Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB Audio Interface https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1251655-REG/focusrite_scarlett_2i2_2nd_gen_scarlett_2i2_usb_audio.html

Wind Instrument: Yamaha Pianica https://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-P37D-37-Note-Keyboard-Instrument/dp/B002R7U6VM

Floor Pedal Board: Line 6 PODxt Live-Multi Effects https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/357143-REG/Line_6_99_060_0605_PODxt_Live.html


I Will be posting more info if you like just Ask!

Edit:spellingcheks

I love the melodica idea! Definitely this. I play lots and lots of instruments, and this is one of my favorites to just noodle around on - it's so easy to dismiss it as a toy, but it's really capable of a lot of expression, and even virtuosity if you work at it.

edit: This is the one I play: http://amzn.com/B000Y7LVES

It's this one. It's basically one of the cheapest ones out there are still pretty fantastic. There's virtually zero upkeep. Just make sure you blow the condensation out when you're done or if it starts getting very moist while playing (there's a water key on the bottom). This keeps the reeds from rusting.

It's not nearly as touchy about moisture as wooden recorders. Speaking of tenors, which model do you have? My wife has a Yamaha YRT304B and it's serviceable, though I find the keys a bit gummy which makes low F a pain at times. On the bright side, I find that the half-holing is a lot more forgiving on the large recorders, especially for A and above. Virtually ever soprano I've played gets very finicky, particularly for A and above. Literally a millimeter of difference in thumb seems to make the difference between nailing and squeaking, though E-G are fine.

We're going to be at a trade show in a few weeks and try some out, and maybe even look at a bass. Depending on prices and quality, we'd probably to buy a full consort of the same manufacturer if they are consistent enough.

I want to learn how to play a melodica. I've seen so many people use and it fascinates me. I don't know anyone who plays it so it would be a great conversation starter.

Such as this one that can be found on my default WL.

If this is out of your budget don't hesitate to let me know :)

I have a 37-key Hohner and I love it. Looks like it's about $25 more, but I like having more range and I'm really happy with the sound quality.

Last time I had to do this, I threw in a cheap melodica. It's been tons of fun to mess around on it, and it doesn't sound too bad, either. Great choice if you like music.

It is a question of quality. A melodica can be created as a toy, or as an instrument. Kind of like the difference between $.99 harmonica toys and actual instrument harmonicas.

An instrument melodica is actually harder to find than you'd think.
Look for well known brands of actual instrument companies.

Like this!

Not this.

Youtube. I just started learning the melodica myself and youtube has lots of vidoes for learning the melodica, or pretty much anything else you might be interested in.

This is the melodica I purchased. I like it.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003R9PCVI/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00

Lots of things you can do with $25 on Amazon:

Behringer Ultra Vibrato UV300 pedal ($25)

Behringer Ultra Chorus UC200 pedal ($25)

Rock Band 25-key MIDI keytar ($24)

M-Audio SP-2 sustain pedal ($14)

Behringer Ultravoice XM8500 dynamic vocal mic ($20)

Auphonix 6" double mesh pop filter ($19)

Behringer Ultra-DI DI400P passive DI box ($20)

On-Stage single X keyboard stand ($22)

Andoer melodica ($20)

Andoer kalimba/mbira thumb piano ($12)

Big Thunder Tube ($30)

Small Thunder Tube ($8)

Angled Thunder Tube ($28)

Meinl Percussion 8" claves ($6)

Stylophone ($24)

Cables

Cable adapters

100ish dollars

it's a melodica and not a keyboard btw haha

i did it for the portability

i've had piano lessons before but don't really know how to play wind instruments

https://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-P37D-37-Note-Keyboard-Instrument/dp/B002R7U6VM/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=yamaha+p37d&qid=1556589085&s=gateway&sr=8-2

Looks like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Sawtooth-ST-RISE-MEL-32-BLUE-Piano-Melodica/dp/B01K8KRY1O

But maybe not since this model has a name on it and the one in the video doesn't.

https://www.amazon.com/Hohner-32F-32-Key-Piano-Style-Melodica/dp/B002XZFF2I

Yeah, I was thinking of something along those lines :)

Not sure if this is the same one but it might work for you. https://www.amazon.com/DLuca-M37-EVA-RD-Jungle-Melodica-Carrying/dp/B01G7QTQAU/ref=sr_1_15?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1506083385&sr=1-15&keywords=melodica

I think its more skill than melodica. I have played a lot of models and for sound and quality I would say the Suzuki m37. Its quite a smooth sound over the harsh sounding cheaper ones. Also has stayed in tune a lot more than any other melodica I own.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/suzuki-MELODICA-Other-instruments-Melodicas/dp/B000XYFBMK

Sorry, I messed up here it is
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003R9PCVI/ref=aw_wl_ov_dp_1_1?colid=17QM76DV3YCAU&coliid=I2Z9FMHBDO73VZ

I would NOT recomend getting this. This is simply a USB controller, not a great instrument to learn and play on. I would recomend a casio CDP series or a Yamaha p series. Those are both great and affordable keybaords for beginners and they have full 88 weighted keys. In the mean time while you are saving up money for a keyboard, you could always get something like a melodica. Its only 30 bucks, and its definitely an instrument that’s gaining more traction in mainstream music. With it, you can learn fingerings, theory, and chords that all can be directly applied to piano. Give it a shot and if you like it, then buy a piano, but if you dont like it, then its just 30$. Many people may scoff at this suggestion, because usually think melodica is just a toy... Well... someone forgot to tell that to John Batiste, cuz he's been KILLING it on the Melodica every week night on The Late Show with Steven Colbert.