Best melodicas according to redditors

Thanks! Srsly synths are fun but we should all drop $50-100 on some sweet and under appreciated acoustic instruments. They really help to improve musicianship by sort of cross training, and are also often more fun to use on the porch with some friends.

In addition to recorders, did you know you can get an awesome melodica for around $20? Can get a pretty nice ukulele in that price bracket, also tambourines, harmonicas... you get the idea :)

Come to think of it, I should make a front page post about how every synth player should own a melodica. Gimme a bit and I may get around to it.

https://www.amazon.com/Hohner-32F-32-Key-Piano-Style-Melodica/dp/B002XZFF2I

It is a question of quality. A melodica can be created as a toy, or as an instrument. Kind of like the difference between $.99 harmonica toys and actual instrument harmonicas.

An instrument melodica is actually harder to find than you'd think.
Look for well known brands of actual instrument companies.

Like this!

Not this.

Last time I had to do this, I threw in a cheap melodica. It's been tons of fun to mess around on it, and it doesn't sound too bad, either. Great choice if you like music.

Im OP's Brother and i had this proyect made for me, im goin to try and explain every detail of this. (gear list at the bottom)

the background of this proyect is a life full of cables and 4 trips to the car to get all my gear for my live sets (a real pain in the arss considering i needded to set up and set it down after i finished playing) not counting the roadtrips to gigs in other states.

i used to use 2 keyboard stands, 1 mic stand, 1 wood table to put on tom of one keystand and another spare table for my laptop then the gear on top of the wood now imagine all the cables 4 USBs (sometimes the cables not plugged at the correct USB slot, giving me problems 2 minutes before starting), 3 power cables and the audio master output.

2 times each night 2 or 3 times a week. for 2 years, i was starting to get really anoyed at the time someone asked me to play at a gig.

So I decided I nedded something to help me with this endlless carryng of things; after a lot of searching for flightcases and huge money prices i realized those cases would not fit my whole gear and started thinking and deciding what i needed, i got to a conclussion that it was a much bigger proyect for me to make DIY so a contacted a guy that specializes in carry cases, had multimple 1hour+ driving trip to his workshop and back until we got to a design that worked in real life.

i needed to have all my power plugs inside the case so y soldered a power conection (CPU like) with its own fuse to prevent electric blowups unto a 8 slot power multicontact, and had an Active USB HUB 3.0 so all my usb cables are pluged-in in one slot at my laptop (i choosed active hub because the data transfer limitation when the computer gives the electricity to the HUB.

everything is tight inside with hi quality velcro strips so y dont need to worry to desasemble my USB interface, laptop, etc..

Why I choose these gear and case?

As of Right now i have a 2 man band called The Twins MX, we play Live Looping Electro-House-Latin-Funk-ish.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheTwinsMX/?fref=ts
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5qLkw7ooTNqARyUTQ7SaY8
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC28yjL0MZoE1_JhIfVGj2JQ
Extra Vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJuQW9kGfsM

we base our shows in Live Looping and building our set up with Bass, Saxophone, drum and percussion Multichanel loops.


the way i have the midi routing is as follows

APC 40 - Channel 1-4 is for looping and controling the Bass
APC40 - Channel 5-8 is for looping and controling the Saxophone
Ableton Push - Channel 1-6 is for the Percucionand beats
1 Kick Drum
2 Snare Drum
3 Hi-hat or similar
4 Drums with effects
5 Shakers
6 Percution

Ableton Push - Chanel 7-8 for live-looping Piano and Synths

Launchey 49 MK2 - for playing piano and synth with effects racks form ableton
(i use the built in functions for ableton of the launchkey to control de 8 knob effects racks)


For the Audio Routing:
I use the NI Komplete audio 6 (works like a charm with the audio Buffering time)

IN - Channel 1 - Bass (tha bassist has his own station with Laptop, Audio Interface, midi controlers, he just sends me his master audio)
IN - Channel 2 - Saxophone
OUT - Master L R - The entire mix (having problem with this as the audio engeenir can not mix multichannel in the PA, im working on sending 2 more Mono channels aour of Outpu 3 and 4 of the audio interface).
Monitor Out ( i use this output channel for my headphones and have a metronome with all the mix so i dont get lost in reverberations or time delays of the venue)



The gear im using:

MIDI Keyboard: Launchkey 49 Mk2
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1140281-REG/novation_launchkey_49_mk2_usb_midi.html

MIDI Controler 1: Ableton Push 1
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/910791-REG/ableton_86889_push_software_controller.html

MIDI Controler 2: Akai APC 40
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/598797-REG/Akai_APC40_APC40_Ableton_Performance_Controller.html

USB Audio Interface: NI Komplete Audio 6
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/768774-REG/Native_Instruments_21066_KOMPLETE_AUDIO_6.html


The Gear the Bassist use:

6 String Bass (to use as bass and as guitar-ish sounds with effects)

Midi Controler: Guitar Wing:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1029887-REG/livid_instruments_lvguitarwing01_guitar_wing.html

Audio Interface: Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB Audio Interface https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1251655-REG/focusrite_scarlett_2i2_2nd_gen_scarlett_2i2_usb_audio.html

Wind Instrument: Yamaha Pianica
https://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-P37D-37-Note-Keyboard-Instrument/dp/B002R7U6VM

Floor Pedal Board: Line 6 PODxt Live-Multi Effects
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/357143-REG/Line_6_99_060_0605_PODxt_Live.html




I Will be posting more info if you like just Ask!

It depends on what your goals are. I personally like to recommend this book especially for people wanting to actually understand how to use music theory in a functional and practical context rather than as an abstract examination of a limited scope of music (common practice period style).

I'd also highly recommend getting a melodica. While there's a lot you can learn about theory on paper, I think one the biggest problems modern music students have is studying theory completely in abstract without paying attention to how it sounds. There are times when abstract analysis can lead you to the wrong conclusions where a quick listen could give you much more information. You should ultimately be trying to marry the concepts of how music works and how it sounds.

So that's why I really think taking something like a melodica, which is very transportable, would be invaluable for at least basically playing theoretical examples so that you know how they actually sound. Here is a fairly inexpensive one that would work just fine as a learning tool (and is actually one I've used on gigs).

I have no experience with that model, but I would swear by the Hohner Performer 37. That said, Hohner generally makes solid instruments. The only reason I'd suggest being wary about the one you linked is that a large portion of the price might go towards the fancy color, the nice case, and the harmonica. You might end up with a kinda bad harmonica and a kinda bad melodica. I'd suggest if you want a melodica and harmonica, to get the Performer 37 and a Hohner Special 20. But that said, if you dig the color and like how it looks to you, go for it. Even if it's not the nicest melodica ever, I bet it'll still be a functional instrument. And the crazy colors will make it even more fun to play! :)

Lots of things you can do with $25 on Amazon:

Behringer Ultra Vibrato UV300 pedal ($25)

Behringer Ultra Chorus UC200 pedal ($25)

Rock Band 25-key MIDI keytar ($24)

M-Audio SP-2 sustain pedal ($14)

Behringer Ultravoice XM8500 dynamic vocal mic ($20)

Auphonix 6" double mesh pop filter ($19)

Behringer Ultra-DI DI400P passive DI box ($20)

On-Stage single X keyboard stand ($22)

Andoer melodica ($20)

Andoer kalimba/mbira thumb piano ($12)

Big Thunder Tube ($30)

Small Thunder Tube ($8)

Angled Thunder Tube ($28)

Meinl Percussion 8" claves ($6)

Stylophone ($24)

Cables

Cable adapters

I would NOT recomend getting this. This is simply a USB controller, not a great instrument to learn and play on. I would recomend a casio CDP series or a Yamaha p series. Those are both great and affordable keybaords for beginners and they have full 88 weighted keys. In the mean time while you are saving up money for a keyboard, you could always get something like a melodica. Its only 30 bucks, and its definitely an instrument that’s gaining more traction in mainstream music. With it, you can learn fingerings, theory, and chords that all can be directly applied to piano. Give it a shot and if you like it, then buy a piano, but if you dont like it, then its just 30$. Many people may scoff at this suggestion, because usually think melodica is just a toy... Well... someone forgot to tell that to John Batiste, cuz he's been KILLING it on the Melodica every week night on The Late Show with Steven Colbert.

Yeah, I was thinking of something along those lines :)

I want to learn how to play a melodica. I've seen so many people use and it fascinates me. I don't know anyone who plays it so it would be a great conversation starter.

Such as this one that can be found on my default WL.

If this is out of your budget don't hesitate to let me know :)

Not sure if this is the same one but it might work for you. https://www.amazon.com/DLuca-M37-EVA-RD-Jungle-Melodica-Carrying/dp/B01G7QTQAU/ref=sr_1_15?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1506083385&sr=1-15&keywords=melodica

I think its more skill than melodica. I have played a lot of models and for sound and quality I would say the Suzuki m37. Its quite a smooth sound over the harsh sounding cheaper ones. Also has stayed in tune a lot more than any other melodica I own.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/suzuki-MELODICA-Other-instruments-Melodicas/dp/B000XYFBMK

Looks like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Sawtooth-ST-RISE-MEL-32-BLUE-Piano-Melodica/dp/B01K8KRY1O

But maybe not since this model has a name on it and the one in the video doesn't.

I have a 37-key Hohner and I love it. Looks like it's about $25 more, but I like having more range and I'm really happy with the sound quality.

Youtube. I just started learning the melodica myself and youtube has lots of vidoes for learning the melodica, or pretty much anything else you might be interested in.

This is the melodica I purchased. I like it.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003R9PCVI/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00

Sorry, I messed up here it is
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003R9PCVI/ref=aw_wl_ov_dp_1_1?colid=17QM76DV3YCAU&coliid=I2Z9FMHBDO73VZ

100ish dollars

it's a melodica and not a keyboard btw haha

i did it for the portability

i've had piano lessons before but don't really know how to play wind instruments

https://www.amazon.com/Yamaha-P37D-37-Note-Keyboard-Instrument/dp/B002R7U6VM/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=yamaha+p37d&qid=1556589085&s=gateway&sr=8-2

I love the melodica idea! Definitely this. I play lots and lots of instruments, and this is one of my favorites to just noodle around on - it's so easy to dismiss it as a toy, but it's really capable of a lot of expression, and even virtuosity if you work at it.

edit: This is the one I play: http://amzn.com/B000Y7LVES

I personally own an airboard37 but if you don't want to shell out the 100$ for the fancy paint job and carying case(which I am so glad I did) you can get a performer 37 for 60$. I can vouch that the airboard has awesome action and the special mouthpiece it comes with is really convenient vs the normal tube style the performer 37 uses. I have my airboard 37 for festivals and camp jams and it's one of my favorite instruments. I'm going to subscribe to your youtube on the off chance you actually end up buying one.