I have the best friends, and Lola is one of them.

Last year, her brother, Tom, found me an old bouzouki in his father’s workshop, Jean, a guitar maker in Tours, France.

A few months ago, I was working on a project and Lola thought that this Electric Mandolin, built by Jean, could be helpful for this project, so she lent me it. The sound of the Mandolin didn’t really fit in the mix, so I decided to sample it for future projects. I asked Lola if I could share this instrument with the Pianobook community as part of the Christmas Calendar, she said yes. So here is the Electric Mandolin!

I sampled it using the built-in microphone, and with a Seymour-Duncan pickup placed just above the strings. The result sounded a bit too bright and monophonic, that why, thanks to the power of sampling, I created the -6 semitones and Stereo signals, made with samples from other notes pitched up or down to the right note.

3 different articulations (Plucked, Fingered, Hammered), 3 round robins, 3 dynamic layers.

Merry Christmas everyone!