So, what is this then?

[Mr.Gumby]

Saw this up for auction just now, as a 'double flute'

[Cyberknight]

Not sure, but I want it.

[StevieJ]

The notation at the base of fingering charts suggests that melodies can be played in parallel thirds - sixths (inverted thirds) at left and tenths (thirds + an octave) at the right. I'd love to see the other possibilities. But not enough to fork out 160 quid for the privilege.

[Cyberknight]

Just for fun I tried to find more info on this. Absolutely no information on the internet about the instrument, the company, or anything similar.

I did find this interesting metal double flageolet, also made in France; it looks like a similar, but less complicated, idea.

Very unusual (I think) to have a double flute with the bodies in two separate keys. I always thought it would be cool to make something like this, but people who make double flutes tend to make them in the same key.

Honestly, I'm very tempted to buy this (but I will resist!). I'm just so curious about how this would work.

The notation at the base of fingering charts suggests that melodies can be played in parallel thirds - sixths (inverted thirds) at left and tenths (thirds + an octave) at the right. I'd love to see the other possibilities. But not enough to fork out 160 quid for the privilege.

That's possible, but I have so many questions. First, is the second flute really big enough to be a 10th down from the first flute? It doesn't look THAT much bigger, and I don't see how it could play down that far. Perhaps it's only a third lower, but there's a way to break octaves on the smaller flute and NOT in the larger one, so that the notes are a tenth apart? Maybe this could be accomplished by making the smaller flute have a less stable construction so it jumps octaves easier. But then, we'd expect it to be possible to play in major thirds (when the flutes are BOTH in their lower octaves), and it doesn't look from the finger chart like there's a way to do that. Maybe there's a part of the chart we're not seeing?

And if it's capable of playing a 10th apart, I don't see how it could ALSO play a 6th apart. That is, unless it's somehow possible to switch things so that the LARGER flute jumps up the octave and the SMALLER one doesn't. But that seems impossible, if it's ALSO able to do the opposite (break octaves on the smaller flute but not on the larger one).

Also, are the middle things buttons that can be pressed to cover holes on both sides? Or does covering a key on one side cause keys on the other side to be covered automatically? Or are BOTH these things true?

[Mr.Gumby]

Hercule, Paris whistles come up at times, if I remember correctly there have been threads on them here in the past.
They also made celluloid whistles that appear on ebay with some regularity.



Double whistles in some shape or form aren't uncommon either (susato, carbony etc make them) but I haven't seen this set up before.

I have seen some videos of tradional music from possibly the Auvergne or some other part of southern France on double whistles that were absolutely lovely. Can't, ofcourse, find them now.

[Cyberknight]

Hercule, Paris whistles come up at times, if I remember correctly there have been threads on them here in the past.
They also made celluloid whistles that appear on ebay with some regularity.

Ah, I see. I should have looked for just "Hercule" and "Paris" together. I was focusing too much on the "Atlas - U" portion.

I've long wished there was a truly flexible double whistle design. Whistles like the dulce duo seem very cool, but not exactly what I'd want.

What would be absolutely epic would be:

- A whistle with a "chanter" and a "drone/regulator"; there would be one place to blow into the instrument, and then the windway would divide into the chanter and the drone/regulator, which would be side by side, about the same size, and each with their own fipple
- The chanter would be a regular six-hole whistle in D, probably with a conical bore and curved windway to switch octaves easily
- The keys activating the drone/regulator would be situated on the chanter's and would be activated using the fingers that don't normally play (i.e. the pinkies and thumbs); thus, your fingers would only ever be placed on the chanter
- The drone/regulator would have a 1-octave range (D to D); it would be either cylindrical or slightly reverse-conical with a straight windway to force the whistle to stay in the lower octave, even when the chanter switches to the upper octave (is this possible? no idea, but hey, I'm just brainstorming here)
- A mouth-activated switch would turn the drone/regulator on and off; when on, it would play a lower-octave D by default; keys (probably 8 of them) situated on the chanter would be pressed to open holes in the drone/regulator to change its pitch to different notes

Voila! An overengineered monstrosity capable of self-accompaniment. You could play any melody you wanted and use the "drone/regulator" whistle to play individual notes representing chords (much like double-stops on a violin, only arguably more flexible).

The biggest difficulty would be making sure the two whistles could play in tune, regardless of which notes they were playing. And also stopping the drone/regulator from switching octaves. I bet this is possible somehow (heck, the pipes manage this, cuz their regulators don't switch octaves even when their chanters do; but whistles aren't pipes, so perhaps it isn't possible).

[pancelticpiper]

These Native American flutes are essentially giant whistles with drones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD5He0d3IFk

Then there's a quite different approach where you divide the octave between the two hands.

There's plenty of iconography concerning the extinct British double-chanter bagpipe which appears to have been widely distributed from Cornwall up to Scotland.

No instruments survive and no-one knows exactly how they worked but English pipe-maker Julian Goodacre came up with a brilliantly working hypothetical "ancient Cornish double-pipe".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl4uQYGfZ5o&t=17s

I owned one but was dissatisfied with its huge size and troublesome reeds so I cobbled together my own, using Julian's fingering system but employing two ordinary Scottish "practice chanters" which have very reliable stable plastic reeds.

I have several YouTube videos up playing various tunes on them (I receive zero money from YouTube)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4lw8-3Jf9w

Many people asked about the fingering/note layout, so I did a video demonstrating everything.

I think this layout would also work with whistles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EEDTmIydUs

[Cyberknight]

These Native American flutes are essentially giant whistles with drones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eD5He0d3IFk

Then there's a quite different approach where you divide the octave between the two hands.

There's plenty of iconography concerning the extinct British double-chanter bagpipe which appears to have been widely distributed from Cornwall up to Scotland.

No instruments survive and no-one knows exactly how they worked but English pipe-maker Julian Goodacre came up with a brilliantly working hypothetical "ancient Cornish double-pipe".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl4uQYGfZ5o&t=17s

I owned one but was dissatisfied with its huge size and troublesome reeds so I cobbled together my own, using Julian's fingering system but employing two ordinary Scottish "practice chanters" which have very reliable stable plastic reeds.

I have several YouTube videos up playing various tunes on them (I receive zero money from YouTube)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4lw8-3Jf9w

Many people asked about the fingering/note layout, so I did a video demonstrating everything.

I think this layout would also work with whistles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EEDTmIydUs

Don't forget this amazing creation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE_2T8lMrbU

But yeah, I'm sure a variety of these designs would be possible for whistle. I still think my proposal, if it would work, would be superior, because it would allow you to play any tune you want with or without self-harmonizing.

[Mr.Gumby]

Whatever it was exactly, it sold at a hammer price of £200 with an added 26.4% in fees and taxes.

[Moof]

For fans of weird stuff on eBay, I present...

https://tinyurl.com/2wp2s99j



(Having thought about it, might they be the pipes from a miniature organ? They definitely don't look designed to be played by mouth.)