Welcome on the website of VOLKER - the funky melodica. A lot of brain work and programming effort was put into this instrument. Although you can download the files for free, consider it as TRADEWARE: if you find yourself enjoying this instrument, I would like you to fill out a short POLL about the quality of the instrument and your music production method.

Right now I am working on my bachelor thesis with the (coarse) subject "virtual wind instruments". Before I begin diggin deep into the reproduction of a much more complex instrument than a melodica, I wanted to check if there is a demand for my approach and maybe get some feedback for further developments. So I chose one of the simplest wind instrument and recreated it based on two guidelines:

1. real time playability: one patch, no articulation key switch and mouse clicking terror while you want to make music.

2. detailed reproduction of noises: although there are some virtual instruments which offer noise samples, I didn't experience any satisfying reproduction of noises yet. Since wind instrument produce a lot of noises, the careful reproduction of those sounds is essential for a convinving result.

In order to achieve these guidelines, intense programming and scripting as well as detailed sample recording has to be done, but the result is maybe the most complex digital recreation of a melodica ever made. (I admit a melodica is not a violin, so there aren't that many competitors...)

I hope you enjoy the instrument! And don't forget the poll...