ELECTRIC CRISTALS

The Electric Cristals are based on the Cristal Baschet which is an instrument of French origin, designed in 1952 by François and Bernard Baschet. Cristal Baschets have large resonator cones attached to move large amounts of air to the listeners’ ears, but the Electric Cristals (built in 2020 and funded by Arts SA) rely on the use of contact microphones to transmit sound. Using contact microphone was initially done in order to reduce the size and weight of the instrument for transportation, but an interesting result has been the increased range of timbres available due to the ability of the contact microphones to amplify very quiet sounds. The cristalist (person who plays a Cristal Instrument) produces sound by rubbing wet glass rods, the rods transfer energy into long tuned steel bolts which become excited and produce pitched vibrations. The Electric Cristals I have built are a microtonal and are the only microtonal Electric Cristals in Australia.