Help me identify this deep, airy whistle/flute instrument?

[Jahordon]

I feel silly posting a song from a video game, but I've been wondering what instrument makes the lovely, airy sound found here: http://youtu.be/S1i8MEHcX0Q?t=1m1s

Thanks for the help!

[MTGuru]

That's probably a synthesizer. But it's supposed to sound like a pan pipe / pan flute.

[Jahordon]

You're right, it does sound like one. Any idea of where to get a nice, cheap beginners pan flute?

[Nanohedron]

You're right, it does sound like one. Any idea of where to get a nice, cheap beginners pan flute?

Just Google "pan flute" or "panpipes" and you'll find scads out there from super high-end to not so good. But here's one to get you started:

http://panflute.net/

[pancelticpiper]

Here's a real one, being played by an actual human being

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QB8ofYXwSg

The largest size is called toyo.

The next-largest size is called sanka.

Usually they're played in pairs, each person playing one-half of the instrument.

Anyhow you can get extremely high-quality Andean panpipes (zamponas in Spanish, sikus in Quechua) fairly cheaply. I bought a fantastic malta (the higher-sized one) and sanka by Gonzalo Vargas for around $40 each. These instruments are superb.

Here's a guy starting out on the sanka then switching to the malta (which is one octave higher).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_um2xZlgDsU

You can Google these various words and find all sorts of stuff!

[Tim2723]

You need to decide if you want to play Andean or Romanian style pipes (or both!). The Romanian style - like those played by Zamfir - tend to be a bit more costly. For a nice set of Romanian pipes that won't break the bank, check out Brad White at http://pan-flute.com/

Andean pipes are a lovely but very different kind of instrument. They can be had from numerous sources around the Web and are usually very affordable owing to their more 'folksy' construction.

[kmarty]

Uh, I should apologize to all Andean pipes players, because I thought for a long time that Andean pipes (didn't know that name before) are just a toy derived from Romanian style pipes.

[pancelticpiper]

The title was "deep airy flute" so I immediately thought of the lower-pitched Andean instruments, the toyo and sanka.

I've not seen a Romanian panpipe that size (though they certainly could exist!)

Romanian panpipes have all the diatonic notes in a single row, curved so as to be easier to negotiate.

Andean panpipes usually have the diatonic notes divided between two separate small one-row instruments, traditionally played by two different players, but the two rows are often held together (even sometimes being bound together with string) so that a single player can play the entire instrument. Nowadays a third row is sometimes added which has certain chromatic notes.

Here's an excellent video showing a guy playing both rows of a toyo. (I have one just like that!) What's cool about this video is that it lacks the reverb and synths and other stuff than modern Andean musicians are so fond of

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTq-2OjYc-U

Wow... I just came across this great video which shows toyos played in the traditional way, with each musician playing one-half of the scale, and thus playing "in hocket" as classical musicians would call it. These Andean tunes are exquisitely beautiful

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsdVI3fnu3w

[kmarty]

Ah, I didn't look at title well.
I just listened the video in first post and I think that used range is doable using Romanian panpipe like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzZdRytVKZ4