Introducing the MidiGurdy

The MidiGurdy is a fully electronic hurdy-gurdy that is designed to have a playing-feel as close to an acoustic hurdy-gurdy as possible.

Intended use

The main purpose of the MidiGurdy is to be tool for rehearsal, learning and teaching hurdy-gurdy playing techniques.

Hold and play it as you would do with an acoustic hurdy-gurdy. To hear the produced sounds, attach headphones or connect the instrument to an external amplifier or mixing desk. If you have an acoustic hurdy-gurdy, use the the mechanical features and software settings to change the playing feel and sound to match them to your acoustic instrument.

Attach the instrument to a computer to see a visual representation of your trompette technique. See where you place your coups and check the speed of your crank. Or use the visualisation to teach your trompette technique to others.

The MidiGurdy is also a new electronic musical instrument in it’s own right. You can use it as a MIDI-controller to control external synthesizers or use the built-in software synthesizer with non-hurdy-gurdy sounds.

Features

No maintenance

No acoustic sound production means (nearly) maintenance-free playing: no strings to tune, no cotton to replace, no rosin to be applied to the wheel. Simply pick up the instrument, switch it on and start playing right away.

Realistic control

The crank reacts with high precision to your right-hand technique. A physically adjustable brake allows you to change the required force to turn the wheel. A non-vibrating string inside the tangent box with adjustable tension and the movable sensor tangents on the keys allow you to change the playing feel of the keyboard. And the keys are pressure sensitive, offering many of the sound-shaping possibilities of acoustic instruments.

Extensible hurdy-gurdy sounds

The MidiGurdy comes pre-loaded with a selection of hurdy-gurdy sounds sampled from real instruments. And you can change them or add new sounds to your liking.

Nine strings – in any key or tuning

There are three melody, three drone and three trompette strings you can configure and control individually.

Practice anywhere - in silence

Playing with headphones means you can play even late at night without disturbing anyone. And the smaller form factor compared to most acoustic instruments make it more portable.

Two interfaces

Many of the MidiGurdy features can be controlled via the buttons and display on the instrument itself, but also more comfortably via a Web-Browser when you connect the MidiGurdy to your computer.

Open to all

The MidiGurdy software and sounds are all released under an Open-Source license and new versions will always be free of charge.