Meason Wiley & Amber Lepley
Übeldrohne is an electro-acoustic instrument that utilizes four bass strings, motors, and slide levers to create polyphonic bass drones. Combining elements of a traditional electric bass and pedal steel, as well as more unique augmented instruments such as Andrew McPherson's magnetic resonator piano and Trimpin's adapted piano "singer" instruments, the Übeldrone was designed to create low frequency swells and timbres, utilizing felt-tip motor heads to simulate a bowing action. Each motor can be independently controlled, along with the volume of each of the four discrete pickups by the fader section on the front panel. The strings individual pitches are changed by way of four sliders attached to tracks from the inside of the instrument. Each pickup has its own 1/4" output, which can in turn be processed and sent to four independent sources.
