W.T. Fisher was probably a poor man in the Ozarks, who could not afford a violin but knew woodworking and knew he could make one. So he did. It sounded good, and he was proud. It probably entertained his family and the families of his friends and neighbors. I think it’s fantastic you’ve saved the samples so the sound can be saved and used forever now. It’s something very special, this small piece of American folk instrument. It’s a sound not many people get to hear today.

@error.418

Жыл бұрын

or a teen doing an ambitious wood shop project at some rural high school

@StevDoesBigJumps

11 ай бұрын

I agree, the closest you get nowadays to the classy folk instruments that varied between ratty and competent, but sounded good nonetheless, are box guitars. And people think you're mental for wanting to make your own instruments.

@error.418

11 ай бұрын

@@StevDoesBigJumps I think making your own instruments is a wonderful use of time and great avenue for learning and expressing yourself. Who thinks it's mental? That's so sad.

@StevDoesBigJumps

11 ай бұрын

@@error.418 It's strange, to a lot of the people I've met find building instruments and amps almost incomprehensible. Not just guitar snobs, but also regular people I know, think it requires whatever the touch of a master or some magic factory process to get anything usable. Oh well, it's probably because they don't understand it too well.

@error.418

11 ай бұрын

@@StevDoesBigJumps Sounds like something that needs to be demystified, it's very approachable. Now it's up to us to teach it in a way that's accessible.

Missed opportunity to make the title of this video "W.T.F. made this violin"

@ghostofdayinperson

11 ай бұрын

XD

@mahimarajapaksha

11 ай бұрын

🤓😚😩🤓🤓😕🫠🤬🤓🥺😰😙🤭🥰😜😣🫥😜😞😣😡😜😒😣😰🥵😡🫣😨😡😢😜😨😠😢😨😒😠🫣😨😠😨😜🥵🤔🫠🙁🥵😜🥵🥵😞🥶🥸😥🥶😞😥🥸🥶😞🥶😞🥶😞🥶😞🥶😇🫠🥵😌😒🫠😞😡😝😒🫨🫣😠😒😌😳😝😏😳🫨😢😶😨😡😨😎🫣😨😞😶😨😣😨🫠😒😅😅🫨😝😒🫠😅😒🫠😠😅😒😝😂😠🫠😰☹️😏😡🫠😬☹️😝😬🫣😇🥶🤥😰😏😝😡🤥😏🤓☹️😡😬😊😡☹️😡😬🫠🤓🥺🤭😡😏😍🫠🫣😍🥺😏😍😮😠🙁😍🫠😠😍😒😬🥵😜🙂🫠😨😢🥵🫠🫣😎😍😎🥺😡🥺🤭😡😌🤥😎☹️😜😒😬😜😬🥺😍🫠🥺😇😡😰🤥😜🤓🙁😨😡😜😒🫠☹️😜😮😰😞😡😙🥰🫣☹️😡😜🫣😢😜🙂🤥😢😎😞😬😎😎😍😶

@mahimarajapaksha

11 ай бұрын

Lol I never thought someone will like this chaos

@BigBoots-ms5fq

11 ай бұрын

@@mahimarajapaksha huh

@davidbanan.

10 ай бұрын

@@mahimarajapaksha What?

you are preserving sounds we didnt even know existed. cataloguing and archiving these things is a big deal for me so thanks for your work.

@lunevermeil1400

Жыл бұрын

I wish I had samples of all my family instruments now gone.. sample catalogs are a wonderful gift to humanity

@kevbob

Жыл бұрын

@@lunevermeil1400 seriously. I had a violin my great grandfather made in the early 20th century. I learned on that instrument. In 2015 we left our garage door open and that, a mandolin, most of my tools and a $2000 road bike were stolen. If I could have had a single thing back, it would have been our violin, and the sound is lost forever to me.

@TheUnderscore_

Жыл бұрын

⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠@@kevbob That's actually horrible. I'm so sorry that happened. I guess the best we can do is hope the thief at least used what they stole wisely.

Pretty crazy to think of an amateur in the distant past lovingly making this instrument for themselves only to have its sound captured in a virtual instrument used by countless people here in the present. I'm sure their mind would be blown seeing this. Thank you so much for all of the amazing work you do!

@brianfarrawell3312

Жыл бұрын

My mind is blown watching an hearing this ,amazing,

@johnthemachine

Жыл бұрын

WT Fisher had no idea his instrument would become immortal.

Calmest man in Philly.

@HelicopterRidesForCommunists

Жыл бұрын

Most sane mane

@lordflatworm

Жыл бұрын

Lol.

@drindy5166

Жыл бұрын

So true!!! 💯%

@Brendan-Black

Жыл бұрын

Nerdiest man in Philly too, but he does release some killer samples. 🤓

@matejv2840

11 ай бұрын

Psh

When you were talking about the records you examined, I was surprised you didn't follow up on any of the "farmer" ones. This instrument was obviously made by a farmer. Every detail shouts it. The handwriting is by the Greatest Generation or before.

@sandeec6381

11 ай бұрын

Agreed. My great-grandfather made his own violin, and he was a farmer in the Appalachian mountains.

I had an ex-in-law who was a truck driver, and in his spare time he hand made several violins. I looked him up in the '40 and '50 census and sure enough he was a truck driver and there is no mention of his violins. (No, his last name was Powell, not Fisher.) Good luck on some random family member out there seeing this video, recognizing that violin, and contacting you. BTW: I like that sound of it. Much nicer than I expected.

I work at the said pawn shop and you're a genius

That was really impressive! It looks exactly like what a farmer with no spare money would make to satisfy his/her musical bent. My father grew up on a farm and the credo of all farmers was, figure out how to do it yourself or how to do without it. SO MANY of them were expert engineers, electricians, plumbers, masons, carpenters, auto mechanics and farmers out of necessity. Not only did the locals NOT have to go without, I bet they were thrilled to hear the music that came off that beauty!

Everything about this video has you in it, from the nature of the instrument you found, your happening to have a few violin bridges kicking around the place, your tenacity in trying to find out about the maker and your optimistic investment of time getting it to a playable state, to your choice of "Cassette pong" among the effects presented by the LVX delay unit (which inspired me to google it-excellent). A delightful piece of work.

@DavidHilowitzMusic

Жыл бұрын

Aww, thanks!

@TheUnderscore_

Жыл бұрын

Definitely got me to sub. Incredibly interesting and informative video. All it needs is a little more background music (removing a lot of the overall silence), and this might be my favourite "intriguing instrument"-related video ever.

@traditionalirishmusic9550

11 ай бұрын

What does it sound like without the reverb

Hello David ..I just wanted you to know I have an almost identical violin made by an Alton Frissette in 1974 in Nashua NH... I was impressed that you tried to find WT Fisher. I hope information about him surfaces. I'd also very much like to find out about Alton Frissette. His violin is a work of art and a prized possession.

I love the homemade look of the violin and the sound of the samples. I wish you luck with finding out more about the creator, it would be amazing to have that backstory in more detail. Maybe he was a farmer, who carved his own fiddle for a hoedown?

I love the sound of that fiddle! Feel like I really have to make a boxfiddle. That slightly nasal and distorted tone is wonderful.

@DavidHilowitzMusic

Жыл бұрын

Yes, nasal is a great way of describing it

@seth1482

Жыл бұрын

I wanna have a gourd fiddle myself. Strings rest on a floating bridge, which itself rests on top of a drum head, just like a banjo.

I think the wood type and signature are a path to both localizing and dating the violin. The handwriting style looks more like pre -WWII. The wood looks like - well, I’m not an expert on wood but I’m guessing that it may have been left overs from furniture making. The tuning pegs are probably the most recent addition. That’s not to say that type of tuner wasn’t there from the beginning, just they don’t necessarily last, and may be replacements.

It'd be worth going through some folklore collections of the Ozarks and surrounding areas in the Library of Congress and some colleges to look for a WT (and variations) Fisher as a player, or maybe people referencing him as a fellow musician or source of tunes. There's a few fiddles like that floating around there and on some old vinyl covers I have (no Fishers there though), and the guy from Otava Yo plays a similar instrument.

If only W T Fisher knew his fiddle was heard and digitally) played all over the world. Always grateful for the free DS samples, David.

Everything about this is so wholesome - from the generosity of making the sample format and VST, to the research and documentation of it, to calling it "Decent Sampler" cheers me up. I'll be happy to write to Buckingham Palace and suggest you be granted honourary British citizenship and perhaps be made Sir Dave, keeper of the King's round robins.

As a fiddle fan and mom of a young fiddler, I can say that this may be an ok-sounding violin, but it's actually got a fantastic sound for a fiddle. I would love to hear it played by an old-time fiddler, as I think it would sound absolutely amazing. When people didn't have access to professionally made instruments, they made them from what they could. The Birthplace of Country Music Museum has 2 fiddles built out of, I kid you not, matchsticks! They were actually played on the radio there in Bristol, apparently. And that spirit isn't limited to the rural South of the US, of course. Think of Brian May not being able to afford an electric guitar and building one with his dad, even winding his own pickups.

A word that comes to mind after viewing this is "honesty". WT and David both. And another is yet again "connection". This whole DS project is a model of how digital technologies need not always separate and divide.

My favorite hobby is building instruments and building experimental instruments is the best part of the best hobby. Thanks for posting! From now on I will be sure that every thing I build has a date, name and location on the label or engraved.

@gabrielfkaplan

Жыл бұрын

It would be great if you do videos showing your creations!

@scillyautomatic

Жыл бұрын

@@gabrielfkaplan Thanks for the encouragement! I may do that.

@gabrielfkaplan

Жыл бұрын

@@scillyautomatic please tag me when you do it!

@scillyautomatic

Жыл бұрын

@@gabrielfkaplan Will do!

The depth of care and research that you put into these instruments is remarkable and at the very least entertaining. Thanks for all that you share with all of us.

the World, Humanity at least, DESPERATELY needs more People like You, my Friend... Your work, You MO is remarkable! keep it up!

I like the look of the violin. Sturdy. Rustic. Not half bad for an amateur. It reminds us that art is for everybody. And it sounds nice too.

I found this video strangely touching. The instrument itself has a lovely voice in its way. As a guitarist I don't know much about the violin, so I can't tell if it's your playing or the instrument itself but I found the sound nostalgic and sweet. I'm a little heartbroken by it and I can't explain why. I do hope you held on to it, or at least gave it to someone who will.

I’m also in Philly, so now I 100% HAVE to check out that Pawn Shop you mentioned on South St.

I love your videos because they are relaxing and always have more to them than just sampling an instrument. Thanks for sharing ❤❤

Man! What a work of art. Both, the violin and the sampling process. Thanks for sharing!

David, i am simply impressed by your passion and your ability. I am a big fan of your sample library and I always enjoy working with it. I would like to take this opportunity to say a big thank you for what an incredible job you are doing and that we are all very happy with it. Keep it up, I'm looking forward to your new results. Ralf.

I lived on South St! It was back in the early 90s. Then i lived on Rodman in a brownstone.

this is fantastic, Dave. I was not betting it would sound that good! thanks (again!) for all you do, and all you have done for the sampling community.

You are the best I’ve come across in this particular niche. I love the samples of old instruments and found things that this channel provides. I mean it you are the best! If I had a synth I would definitely get your decent sampler app. Keep up the work and peace be with you🙏

David, your efforts to restore old instruments and share their unique sounds with the world has always moved me. This instrument calls out to me. I'm literally weeping messy tears. There is something about rustic things that gets me right in the core and this is just a beautiful example of that. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

I'm loving the new video format with all the b-roll footage, it looks really professional like I'm watching a documentary lol

God it sounds amazing, i love how soft the sound is, I think the fact that it has so few extreme frequencies gives it such a lovely modest sound.

I just played with this for a bit; I love the sound. Thanks a lot, not just for the library, but for creating Decent Sampler.

Thank you David. Your videos are always such a joy to watch, and the sample instruments you produce are usable and unique. The work and enthusiasm is very much appreciated!

@05degrees

Жыл бұрын

Can’t be overstated! 💯

What an awesome find. 10/10 on the cool vibes scale. Keep it and if you want to get rid of it send it to a folk music museum in the ozarks.

your vids are amazing! they are interesting and wholesome. one of the best series on KZread

Sounds lovely, can‘t wait to try it out! Thank you for all the amazing free instruments! :)

thanks so much...again

A lovely instrument! Im glad you took the time to try to discover who it was who had made it. I do hope this reaches the individual or their family!

Thanks for providing Decent Sampler. I don't record my music but I wanted to refresh my piano skills and the sound the application reproduces is amazing. Feels like I'm able to play an instrument that I would never by able to afford. So thank you kindly for providing and maintaining this wonderful tool.

Maybe, just maybe the name was a joke meant only for people in the 21st century. WT Fisher. It would have been too obvious to carve only WTF. "Fisher" was just to make us work for it. Maybe.

The first time you played it, it sounded so beautiful! It has some mysterious tone to it that I love

What a lovely video, and an utterly charming instrument! And -- just an aside -- but in an era of videos that are bloated to twice the necessary length by repetition, digressions and self-indulgence, *thank you* for respecting your viewers' time and making videos that tell us _just enough,_ and leave us wanting more. I wish more content creators understood that doing this is a gift to the viewer.

Im thankful for every free instrument you made, this is awesome ❤️

Your videos helped inspire me to create my first sample-based instrument using a friend's kalimba recorded with a Zoom H1. With only seven notes, it was an easy instrument for an initial effort and turned out better than I'd hoped for. Notes are mapped in the same layout as the real instrument and I'm working on a song that uses it.

Very Eno sounding going through the pedal. Great work Dave

Another great story, and I was actually shocked at how nice that sounds. Great work as always.

Great work David, thank you 🙏!

Good one David! Thanks for sharing this.

I adore your sample libraries

You always have an engaging new adventure to share. Bravo

Thank u so much for always putting out incredible content

We feel a great amount of nostalgia and sadness in this video Thank you for your appreciation for the violin maker and for trying to find any information about him

I actually teared up it made my bones cold as soon as he started playing

Mate, you are bloody brilliant. I love what you do.

God, seeing things that were lovingly created by passionate ppl from past eras makes me weirdly emotional, lol. It's incredibly sweet of you to name the sample library after him, despite his true identity being lost to time.

Fantastic, amazing to think that the sound of W.T. Fisher will live on. Thanks for the sample pack x

Literally the definition of contributing to society. Thank you David.

Fascinating! When you started playing, I thought you were editing in the sound of a normal violin as a joke; I had no idea it would sound so good. I love seeing violin makers break from tradition! coming from the world of guitar, I think it's a bit of a shame how every violin looks mostly the same. I hope you're able to track down more info about Fisher and I'm looking forward to an update video if and when that happens.

An old TV might be cool to do a scope mod to, basically driving the tube directly with an audio signal so you get a visualizer.

I'm glad I came across your channel. The vibes and talents in your vids are excellent ❤

Great job! The sound reminds me very much of a Rebec which I built at an Early Music Workshop that I attended back in the '70s. The Rebec is a medieval three stringed bowl-back fiddle that was/is popular around the Black Sea in Europe. Although I sold the one that I built decades ago, I can still remember its hollow, haunting tone, evocative of another time and place, and which I hear echos of in your fantastic pawn shop violin. :)

turn the tiny tv into an oscilloscope!

Thank you for bringing this instrument to our attention, and making this library specially for us. I must give it a whirl!

Your videos bring me a lot of joy. Thank you.

THank you David, much appreciated. I think it's fantastic.....

My grandfather who was a musician his whole life, from piano, piano tuning, violin, guitar etc. He was also great in repair of instruments, students/parents would come to him for repair work etc. When I was a kid, he started dabbling in making, violins and violas. He made several over time. When he died my father and uncle inherited everything since my grandmother passed before my grandfather. But His instruments have been turning up, some my uncle pawned!!!! (long story) But this reminds me of that. :)

Love your videos, what a lovely find. 🙏

Got goosebumps from this …..resurrection of a treasured artefact….thank you

You know I clic the LIKE button the moment the video starts... right? You know this channel is sooooo good, you gotta do it!!

So many would dismiss off hand or see a wall hanger as stated. In Australia old instruments turn up in rubbish or become reporopsed, when preservation and reusing them saves lost sounds. Thans for a beautiful video, so much more than I initially expected

Very cool🎻✨ Beautiful playing👍🏻✨

A mystery 🤔 … yeah! What about the pawn shop? Do they have a record of who brought it in and could they ask that person where they acquired it? And then follow the trail … ?

Thanx for Vid & Sounds! Both great ✨🙏✨

Such a fun and beautiful story! Thanks a bunch.

Fantastic Video! Thank You so much!

the story of art, you did it, bro! it is a wonderful labor

This is so wonderful--enough to make me comment on KZread for the first time. Thank you for doing this. I'm just getting into sampling, with the motivation for instrument and music preservation. So it's inspiring to find your work. Looking forward to more.

Great job, love your work.

"It's a Beautiful Day in Philadelphia" sounds like a sitcom

Thats really cool that you bought back that mans art. I have an old violin and I can't help but wonder about the players who etched their own marks into with sweet and friction how much emotion went into playing it over the centurys.

I really like its timbre with its thicker tone. Amazing find

You are on my hero personal list! Thanks for the free instruments I know it cost time to sample it 🙏🏻

Lovely instrument. Sounds great. You are very lucky.

Even though its age and worn out look, it still manages to sound like beautiful instrument, great work man!

sounds amazingly well for what it looks like, and just well overall.

i didn't know you were from (or at least frequent) the philly area. love finding local youtubers

Hi David! I love your channel! Thank you for all that you do! I have a quick question for you if you don't mind. I am very new to the audio world and wanted to ask if you have a tutorial on how to use your incredible sound libraries. Do your libraries work with a full sized keyboard or is the Arturia smaller keyboard ideal? Thank you for your time, happy Wednesday! :D

That fiddle sounds absolutely beautiful.

Wow! That was unexpected violin sound, beautiful and nostalgic!

Such a lovely little story. Thank you ❤

Friendly reminder for everyone watching to set notifications to All! I just realized I had it set to Personalized and I don’t want to miss a single video this guy makes :)

Excellent, as always!

Fascinating content as always.

Thank you Fisher & Hilowitz.

I’m a fan of the work of the scholar Greil Marcus, and this instrument was definitely from the invisible republic. Preserving it is a public good. I wish our libraries museums and institutions were as meticulous in preserving instruments in this fashion

Looks like the violin I picked up a few years ago, in very similar fashion. I am going to dig it out of storage and take a peek inside to see if I can find any names on it :)

W. T. Fisher was right-handed; that's about as much help as I can be. I hope you'll keep us updated as you learn more!