This video captures Natacha Diels noodling on the Birl – a bizarre wooden electronic brass instrument.

The Birl is a creation of Jeff Snyder, of Snyderphonics, makers of the unique Snyderphonics Manta controller. (See our earlier Snyderphonics posts.)

The birl is an electromechancial oscillator – the sound is produced by the rotation of two stepper motors. In the video above, Diels is playing using a setting that produces an effect similar to brass or woodwind multiphonics.

More demos below!

Here’s a close-up of Natacha Diels fingers as she plays the birl prototype, set to the bass register. Fingerings are done with snap-acting momentary buttons with custom wooden caps.

Here’s a closeup of the pulleys on the Birl prototype. This is a 1:1 gear ratio setup, for a strong bass register.