What is a Digi-Gurdy?
Background and inspiration
In 1996 I saw Nigel Eaton play Hurdy Gurdy with Led Zeppelin (Page/Plant tour). Around 2019 I built a Hurdy Gurdy kit – the Nerdy Gurdy, made by Jaap Brand. I have a friend who plays bagpipes and he has an electronic chanter to practice silently with headphones. Hurdy Gurdys are also loud, so I tried to make myself an electronic keybox simulating just one melody string, to learn some tunes with. After showing this on the Hackaday website I was inundated with emails from people wanting me to build one for them. It has gone through many design iterations and in the end I had to turn my hobby into a micro-business!
Do Rock/Metal bands use gurdys then? Some do. Here is a Spotify playlist of bands that use Hurdy Gurdys:
Is there an online community group or anything? Yes, there is a thriving Hurdy Gurdy group on Facebook:
OK, so what is a Hurdy Gurdy?
A hurdy-gurdy is an ancient stringed instrument played by turning a crank and pressing keys. It is similar to a violin, but instead of a bow, it uses a wheel to rub against the strings. Keys are pressed which contact melody strings at different positions (think of frets on a guitar). It also has drone strings which sound continuously. A larger earlier version played by two people was used in churches as it could sound a continuous tone i.e. produce holy music, until the late 1300’s when organs took over. Initially they were fairly crude instruments but during the 18th century they acquired tremendous popularity among the French nobility interested in rustic diversions. During this period very beautiful instruments were made. In this period the buzzing bridge, or dog, appeared as a form of rhythm section which buzzes whenever the crank speed is suddenly increased.
Yeah, that’s all very interesting but did pirates play them? Probably not, more of an urban legend. They definitely play them in the Sea Of Thieves game though and the Netflix series, Black Sails………
The Digi-Gurdy
In 2022 I was invited to give a presentation on how I developed this from a crude 3D printed box of keys and 24 notes to the more elaborate version I have now. See video above.
A problem with Hurdy Gurdys is that they are very expensive due to their complexity and the sheer time it takes to build one. Luthiers often have multi-year waiting lists. In order to make a reasonably priced electronic version, extreme design attention has been paid to the build time and simplification wherever possible. Nevertheless, as a very low volume product, these are still individually hand made (by me) including the electronics and so the price is a fair reflection of this. The woodwork design is by Jaap Brand with whom I collaborate on this project.
Some of my customers are totally into MIDI, Digital Audio Workstations and the like, while others just want to practice with headphones on. To cater for both, it does have MIDI outputs but also an internal audio board with saved sounds for all the notes and a headphone socket.
Do you have your own Digi-Gurdy Facebook group or anything? Yes:
Main features of current version
Features:
- MIDI-out via the supplied USB lead to a synthesizer. Typically it works very well with an iPad running the Bismarck bs-16i app. This also works on iPhones and Android phones too.
- 5 Pin traditional MIDI-out socket. Best used with a Bluetooth MIDI transmitter such as the WIDI-Master dongle (not supplied) to connect wirelessly to a device such as an iPad.
- Internal audio board with headphone socket for those who just want to power it up and practice!
- 4 preset common tunings selectable from a PRESETS menu on first screen after power-up. Useful for getting started quickly.
- 4 slots in which user-set custom tunings can be saved for fast retrieval next time the DG is used.
- Small buttons to engage/disengage strings, volume up/down and other functions, all assignable by the user.
- Large button which turns on auto-cranking, which simulates a constant crank speed if you just want to practice left-hand melodies. Other functions can be assigned to this button if you prefer.
- Volume of each individual imaginary string can be individually set by the user.
- Octave shift up and down buttons.
- Capo on/off button.
- All bearings are ball-races, including inside the crank knob.
- Knob to adjust crank speed that triggers the buzz.
- OLED screen with menus for setting everything up.
- A friction pad acts on an aluminium wheel to simulate the friction of strings on the wheel. This friction is adjustable using the guitar tuner next to the screen. The friction pad is made from thick felt used to protect furniture feet on hard floors, deliberately, so it can be replaced by the user if it ever wears out, which nobody has had to do yet.
- A small cylindrical mobile phone USB power bank is supplied embedded in the left hand end of the gurdy, without the internal battery as shipping anything with a battery is a nightmare. If you buy a suitable rechargeable battery for this it can be used a built-in power supply, useful if using a wireless MIDI transmitter dongle such as a WIDI-Master or the headphone socket. Note: If attached to another device, such as an iPad, via the USB cable provided, it will draw power from that attached device and so this internal battery is not essential right away. Go to the ABOUT page for more detailed info on this.
The crank has continuously been improved. It is still not quite as responsive as a real gurdy crank. This has proved to be the hardest part of a real gurdy to simulate well. 4 buzzes per turn are perfectly possible, see video of Scott making it look easy. If you are going for 8 – probably not.
This was recorded on previous version of the Digi-Gurdy in 2024. The audio has been processed to enhance the buzz, as this aspect is the one I am asked the most questions about.
Quick overview filmed on the previous version of the Digi-Gurdy. The different ways of using it are covered. A more detailed video is available on the ‘ABOUT’ page of this website.
Recent changes to the design: The microswitches the keys previously acted upon have been replaced with a more solid-state system of magnetically triggered switches called Hall switches. In addition it has tangents that act on a dummy string to give a more realistic gurdy feel when playing. Every other aspect of design and use is as before.
Enjoy!
John Dingley