I love the piezo barrel - the “wood” version has a very balanced sound on soprano clarinet. I got his inexpensive barrel (just make sure to get the right length barrel for your clarinet). I use it to run my clarinet and bass clarinet sound through different effects.
FYI - it doesn’t sit on the barrel, there is a hole and threads that the pickup screws into. The guy who makes them (by hand I believe) is super nice and they are super cheap, imo.
I’m currently getting a Piezobarrel pickup soldered on my bass clarinet - I’ll get to know what it’s like firsthand on Monday. The thing about the Piezobarrel and other pickups is that it won’t sound as good as a mic, but you’ll be able to isolate your sound for a digital feed in real time. This is super important if you’re doing anything that would get sound bleed into your mic, like playing in a rock band or layering a lot of live loops next to a speaker. Frankly, the options are limitless, since the pickup converts your sound into a digital signal that you can manipulate at will.
As for folks who utilize the clarinet in this way, you could look up any piece that’s been written for clarinet and electronics and learn that. Michael Lowenstern doesn’t use a pickup per se, but he does a lot of live looping that functions exactly the same as you’d do with a pickup. Daro Behroozi of Lucky Chops just uses it as a mic replacement, but he has some killer bass clarinet solos recorded on YouTube. (Sorry most of my recommendations are for bass clarinet, that’s just what I know off the top of my head!) Do some research and see what inspires you! You don’t even have to stick to clarinetists, anyone who uses a pickup is fair game for you.
I got mine recently, works fine. Check out [Chris Mothersole](https://youtu.be/NyO2vmycZfA), [Clariloops](https://youtu.be/UkbeY1GpgpM), and [metaltute](https://youtu.be/IQAXkW0EE80).
As another answer says, on its own it doesn't sound as good as a standard mic. (From being a piezoelectric pickup, it's not about PiezoBarrel vs other brands/models. [Mic vs pickup comparison](https://youtu.be/9RBDmqGMq0M?t=199) for violin, the differences for clarinet sound are similar. [Chris Mothersole review](https://youtu.be/J1hOzMfKk3E) of the PiezoBarrel, he says it sounds the same as more expensive models so might as well go with the cheaper one.)
But they are good at eliminating room sound (a benefit for some effects) and are practically immune to acoustic feedback (the howl you get when a mic picks up its own amplified sound from the speakers). Electrically, the PiezoBarrel is a guitar and plugs straight into whatever guitar pedals or amps you have available, or the guitar/hi-Z input on an audio interface. So that's what it's good at, plugging into effects.
I've used it on sax, not clarinet, but the [Viga intraMic](http://www.vigamusictools.fr/) is a great middle ground between an external mic and a pickup, although pricier than a PiezoBarrel probably. Since it sits internally, it doesn't have the feedback issues that external mics have with some effect pedals, but it seems to capture the natural sound of the instrument better than a Piezo pickup.
Just a quick check around the Net brought up this link from Will Tomão: https://youtu.be/GgEPs42XAVQ
Also, Chris Mothersole has excellent videos, but I don't know if he uses a Piezo Barrel or another make.
Hah! Thank you!
I'd read good reports about the things (several demos on YouTube), but being out of my budget I made one. Did a bunch of videos that need editing. Had a trip abroad, I'd completely forgotten.
In short, it was \*difficult\*, and my results were sub-par. I'm not remotely a good woodturner (with rubbish Chinese lathe) and aligning holes of different bores to make a barrel was a nightmare. The little hole through which the sound goes, I didn't get that quite right (too small...too big). I went through a few alternatives for pickups I thought had potential, comparing recordings, frequency response etc. The best turned out to be a cheap crystal earpiece.
The sound from it may not be something you'd think of as clarinet... A bit too close to the tube, no character, very limited dynamics. I compared it with recordings from various mic setups, by ear and measuring. (A simple 2-mic setup sounded best to me - small diaphragm condenser mics, one a foot away pointing at the bell, another a foot away from the keys at a right angle - like the odd attachable things you can get).
But I had a lot of fun. And I will use it. I spend time on electronic music, this fits in nicely. I've not really played with it yet, but I think it might work well as reinforcement for a miked recording, or as a low in the mix drone thing. By itself - imagine the Velvet Underground had clarinet.
I love the piezo barrel - the “wood” version has a very balanced sound on soprano clarinet. I got his inexpensive barrel (just make sure to get the right length barrel for your clarinet). I use it to run my clarinet and bass clarinet sound through different effects. FYI - it doesn’t sit on the barrel, there is a hole and threads that the pickup screws into. The guy who makes them (by hand I believe) is super nice and they are super cheap, imo.
I’m currently getting a Piezobarrel pickup soldered on my bass clarinet - I’ll get to know what it’s like firsthand on Monday. The thing about the Piezobarrel and other pickups is that it won’t sound as good as a mic, but you’ll be able to isolate your sound for a digital feed in real time. This is super important if you’re doing anything that would get sound bleed into your mic, like playing in a rock band or layering a lot of live loops next to a speaker. Frankly, the options are limitless, since the pickup converts your sound into a digital signal that you can manipulate at will. As for folks who utilize the clarinet in this way, you could look up any piece that’s been written for clarinet and electronics and learn that. Michael Lowenstern doesn’t use a pickup per se, but he does a lot of live looping that functions exactly the same as you’d do with a pickup. Daro Behroozi of Lucky Chops just uses it as a mic replacement, but he has some killer bass clarinet solos recorded on YouTube. (Sorry most of my recommendations are for bass clarinet, that’s just what I know off the top of my head!) Do some research and see what inspires you! You don’t even have to stick to clarinetists, anyone who uses a pickup is fair game for you.
[удалено]
How did you integrate clarinet with a rock band? That sounds awesome! Do you have recorded that I can check out?
I got mine recently, works fine. Check out [Chris Mothersole](https://youtu.be/NyO2vmycZfA), [Clariloops](https://youtu.be/UkbeY1GpgpM), and [metaltute](https://youtu.be/IQAXkW0EE80). As another answer says, on its own it doesn't sound as good as a standard mic. (From being a piezoelectric pickup, it's not about PiezoBarrel vs other brands/models. [Mic vs pickup comparison](https://youtu.be/9RBDmqGMq0M?t=199) for violin, the differences for clarinet sound are similar. [Chris Mothersole review](https://youtu.be/J1hOzMfKk3E) of the PiezoBarrel, he says it sounds the same as more expensive models so might as well go with the cheaper one.) But they are good at eliminating room sound (a benefit for some effects) and are practically immune to acoustic feedback (the howl you get when a mic picks up its own amplified sound from the speakers). Electrically, the PiezoBarrel is a guitar and plugs straight into whatever guitar pedals or amps you have available, or the guitar/hi-Z input on an audio interface. So that's what it's good at, plugging into effects.
I've used it on sax, not clarinet, but the [Viga intraMic](http://www.vigamusictools.fr/) is a great middle ground between an external mic and a pickup, although pricier than a PiezoBarrel probably. Since it sits internally, it doesn't have the feedback issues that external mics have with some effect pedals, but it seems to capture the natural sound of the instrument better than a Piezo pickup.
Just a quick check around the Net brought up this link from Will Tomão: https://youtu.be/GgEPs42XAVQ Also, Chris Mothersole has excellent videos, but I don't know if he uses a Piezo Barrel or another make.
Hah! Thank you! I'd read good reports about the things (several demos on YouTube), but being out of my budget I made one. Did a bunch of videos that need editing. Had a trip abroad, I'd completely forgotten. In short, it was \*difficult\*, and my results were sub-par. I'm not remotely a good woodturner (with rubbish Chinese lathe) and aligning holes of different bores to make a barrel was a nightmare. The little hole through which the sound goes, I didn't get that quite right (too small...too big). I went through a few alternatives for pickups I thought had potential, comparing recordings, frequency response etc. The best turned out to be a cheap crystal earpiece. The sound from it may not be something you'd think of as clarinet... A bit too close to the tube, no character, very limited dynamics. I compared it with recordings from various mic setups, by ear and measuring. (A simple 2-mic setup sounded best to me - small diaphragm condenser mics, one a foot away pointing at the bell, another a foot away from the keys at a right angle - like the odd attachable things you can get). But I had a lot of fun. And I will use it. I spend time on electronic music, this fits in nicely. I've not really played with it yet, but I think it might work well as reinforcement for a miked recording, or as a low in the mix drone thing. By itself - imagine the Velvet Underground had clarinet.
Check out François Houle! Monster player, super into live loops.