Thomastik Dynamo - Michael Explains it All!

foreign I I know welcome back to Michael Explains It All these are the all-new temastic Dynamo violin strings now since I published my first video about these strings and I've read a lot of comments on the YouTube and on violence.com and I've also been taking them to gigs and talking to other vionists there the overarching sentiment that I'm sure you're feeling is oh another set of strings an another another set of strings and just to kind of unpack that a little bit I understand I I can see both sides of this story is that on one hand violinists are not used to there being regular string releases like every year if this was a phone there's an iPhone or an Android phone that comes out every year and we're used to that but strings are kind of this is unfamiliar territory and it also opens up this doubt or uncertainty that are the strings that I'm currently playing actually the best strings for me or is there something better there's got to be something better for me [Music] um no I probably won't use that but the point is that who would also in the same breath drive down the street and look at all the restaurants and say oh another restaurant or like flip through Netflix and be like oh another movie I like look I like Star Wars just want to watch Star Wars till the end of time no I don't think you would say that it's because it's nice to have options doesn't mean that it's the perfect string for everybody just like Star Wars is not the perfect movie for everyone the most impressive but it's nice to have options and I think this is going to be a very popular string set and sort of to set the stage to understand the string and what temastic is going for with the release of Dynamo strings requires just a brief history lesson take it away Professor since the creation of the violin is the strings were made by sheep guts a gut string don't worry the Sheep had very happy lives and they had just eins bad day I never made strings out of there fast forward until 1910 we have the first steel core string that is the loves the steel core string lesser power and fast response however not so worm string we fast forward to the 1970s and a small company named tomastic infel has created the first synthetic core string with the introduction of dominant and it takes the violin World by storm mostly violins loves the dominant strings with the synthetic cord because it sounds like good strings but still has some Modern power fry in the year 2000 we have parasto evaporative green which again takes the violin World by storm the new modern materials of our synthetic core has the warmth but has more focus more Brilliance more overtones than the dominant half and subsequently all the strings have been trying to increase this formula to increase the power the focus the Brilliance the magnificence of the violins so as the professor was explaining there's been a movement from the gut core to Steel cord a synthetic core and ratcheting up the power and Brilliance and clarity but I actually kind of left off there for the professor did not I'm sorry I don't know who he was um sort of moving back that I've seen a lot of people playing Ava proxy Golds and we had dominant Pro and I see still see a lot of people playing avogados that and I think right now we're at a time when people are looking for a little more warmth still an open Sound they still want a quick response they want a big you know soloistic sound but a little bit things are getting a little narrow and a little too clear and Dynamo strings are that there it's it's a gut like sound it has a lot of warmth but it has a lot of richness a wide harmonic Spectrum which sort of does mean that the strings are a little noisier there's a little more bow noise that you're gonna hear in these but it translates into more color and more flexibility in tone not necessarily flexibility in string tension because they're not a low tension string they're still a medium tension string so it's an all-new synthetic core there's new materials and new glue new windings there's a lot of information I'll try to distill it down for you here as I hope to explain it all but one of the things that I can do that I don't think a lot of the videos on YouTube have done yet is destroy almost 500 worth of strings to compare them to passionate strings and Pie strings the other Flagship uh strings from temastic as well as the Larson virtuos which I think has have some similarities so I'm going to get to that and stop rambling well I'm going to ramble a lot later so buckle up one last illustration to kind of give you a bird's eye perspective of the strings is temasek has published a chart with lots of graphs and comparing their strings and that's it's a great chart but you really need like a three-dimensional view of it because it just seeing it is not the whole picture I think if I also wanted to add to it and give you my graph from Broad to focus is that Dynamo strings are the broadest sound moving towards dominant Pro after that pie strings and then Rondo strings as we get more focused so from broad to focus that's what I kind of how I kind of hear these strings so let's let's hear let's hear these strings now [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so good I'm really enjoying playing this set of strings but let's talk about the nuts and bolts on gibbles is grating graph was there a fourth G that I forgot about I can't remember anyways to get started projection very loud the full set of string there it's four soloists it's for professionals this is like uh this is the big a big sound it is a different way of achieving it I've played a lot of Pies on this violin and they really couldn't be farther apart when I play pies it's this like power and strength and tension and when I play the dynamos it's a it's a much Fuller just sort of open set of strings way of getting power for me it feels a little bit like um on dynamos it's like I'm coasting down a mountain at 80 miles an hour versus when I had pies on that's like I'm driving on the flats going hey and and like uh that's in a car duh maybe that wasn't the best illustration but um it's a different both both are loud both are on both cases I'm going 80 miles an hour it just feels like the Dynamo strings are just it just it's a little bit more relaxed it's a little bit lower tension doesn't feel as maybe that comes at the expense of not being quite as Snappy let's talk about color there's still a pretty neutral set of strings I think they lean a little bit more on the dark side um but but pretty neutral and I think domestic also puts them pretty much smack in the middle just like dominance convenient though um I'm gonna mostly agree with them I think they'll be just a little bit darker um that's great all right let's get to what I think is the most significant characteristic of these strings and that is the focus I put them pretty much as far as you can go on the open side some people call this broad or Rich I think of a sort of like a flashlight if you've got if you have a big Searchlight like a mile away this the the light beam is very open it's very broad versus if you have a laser beam a mile away that laser beam is still laser focused and so these strings really just feel very open they feel very almost a little fuzzy I'll get to that later on but it just feels like there's it's a very that Leading Edge of the sound is very wide very I'm gonna say dull but it's not it's it's it's not a like a dull like lack of interesting sound so this is why it's murky do you see murky I'm in The Matrix here let's talk about depth still incredibly deep and I think that's also some of that sort of can connected to the complexity that there's a depth to it and a quality of sound that's hard to just articulate by me talking about it when I think you hear it on your instrument you'll be like oh I hear that is a different sound than what I've been playing um now this is again the response is interesting because it's related sort of with tension yes and these are still a pretty quick set of strings they're probably not the fastest and there are some things you can do to manipulate the sound such as switching the E string if you want more response for the E string as well as how that affects the G string I'll get to that in a minute but comparing them to the strings that I'm gonna play back to back here in a second Dynamo strings really only the D string is the lowest tension of the other of all the other four sets that I'm playing right now really virtuosas paciones they those have much lower strings and if you really even looked at dominant Pro those are even a lower set of strings so it doesn't come all this warmth and depth and breadth of sound doesn't come at the expense of a lower tension which is why at first I was a little skeptical I was like uh I don't I'm not really the biggest fan of like Dominic Pro and um pirastros violino strings that are kind of low tension that's not really for me so dynamos are are are not that still a lot great response the last category is also where I think I'll probably lose some people is because these are pretty far in this sort of fuzzy uh description fuzzy is kind of a mean word to use to describe it it's just that there's a lot of bow noise there's kind of a lot of Fritz Chrysler in the sound and that's not something that most people prefer or pursue even I think a lot of these strings that we've had access to um we're very clean very very clear but it comes at the expense of not quite as much color it's a little bit of a sterile sound so these this is a much different string sound and some people I think will really like it some people not so much one of the things that I think tomastic writes in some other copy that is a little confusing is they say you can modulate the the colors or there's lots of flexibility in the sound and sometimes that's confusing because it's like modulation is like a key Center term I don't think about it and flexibility sometimes means like tension so what are we actually talking about and I think it's it's related to this Clarity that there's lots of color in the string that you can play the same music or play the same notes in different styles and get different different colors out of the string so if I played that Chrysler example um in like a small setting or small room I might play [Music] foreign but if I was in a giant recital or giant concert hall or something you might [Music] [Music] you might have to crank it up a little bit that's a little too aggressive obviously but the point is that you can get different sounds um you know by by just playing by different using different amount of pressure a different amount of bow speed you can get different colors just out of curiosity if I played like um the sauce answers I play that Softly [Music] um oops I miss oops I missed oops I missed and so that I think gives you there's lots of there's lots of color there that the strings have a sort of a wide that's partially what what we're referring to when we say like a wide dynamic range or a wide harmonic Spectrum kind of it's a little bit of a soupiness in that all right enough rambling of the graph I know here's the moment you've been waiting for let's hear how these strings sound compared against three of the other sort of uh similarly priced and similarly tone uh set of strings on the same violin same bow and I'm just gonna switch out the strings and let's get to it thank you [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] thank you [Music] so hopefully that got us one step closer to answering the question of what do these strings sound like in comparison to some strings that have already been around for a while and maybe our strings that you already play I really enjoy them I think there were some interesting things that they were pretty close in sound to the passionate strings the tuning stability of the dynamos was a dream compared to what I just went through trying to get those passione strings that are a gut core stay in tune so I mean eventually yes passionate strings do sort of get a little bit better but the first couple days it's a struggle uh virtuosa strings were also very nice yes they are about half the price as compared to the Dynamo strings right now which leads me into this conversation about sort of An Inconvenient Truth or inconvenient fact is that they are expensive right now they are gonna they're gonna take the place as the flagship the most uh expensive string that temastic has to offer they're about 142 when they launch in mid-march of this year and if you were to throw on that Platinum E string which is adds another about 37 this is like almost a hundred and eighty dollar string set which might be the most expensive string set in the world don't quote me on that but it's I can't think of anything else chalice are also laughing at us right now being like that's not expensive for what a cello set of strings costs however one argument that I'm hearing from temastic is that longevity matters and that these strings are going to last a long time yes they've been in the works for over four years so they have tested this for a little while uh I have not so I can't personally speak to that there is sort of uh quality that is a good indicator and that is when a string starts off having a Metallica metallicy uh sound to it that's directly proportional to its longevity to the longevity of the string of how long it's going to last a good example of that is we love Ava pricey strings because boom right out of the gate they sound amazing they're pure they're clean they're sparkly they also don't last quite as long and so I think the Dynamo strings are have a little bit of that the first couple hours day maybe there is some of that uh metally sound eventually that wears off to that nice open warmth that you'll get foreign [Music] oh good so I know that's a lot of money that's no joke but something I would like to point out is that tomastic has set the price at 142 because it's a new product I can guarantee you these other strings that you're probably comparing to like oh I can get over peroxis for a hundred dollars yeah that's what it's cost right now but I can guarantee you those strings will increase in price too because they have for years they've already more than doubled what they initially came out as so hopefully temastic will keep this pricing where it is for a couple of years and probably those strings that are you know twenty thirty dollars forty dollars less right now are probably gonna creep up and match what Dynamo strings cost is just kind of the way the world it's unfortunate uh but does bring me to the point of who are these strings for if you're a soloist and you're playing recitals in Solo repertoire or you're playing auditions and competing against a hundred other people all playing the same thing for only 30 seconds behind the screen do you need every advantage that you can get you do and so these strings could I'm not going to say that they're going to make the difference for you but if you could give yourself a little advantage and help your violin sound even better then it's probably worth it for more casual players it's also a great set of strings if your violin is kind of in that tight kind of sound if it sounds amazingly that it will open up the sound and give you a little more warmth um it's not it's not going to completely change your instrument of course but it's a small thing that you can do uh as well as with in combination or in concert with other free things you could also do like use more bow um and play beautifully and in tune and uh so I don't know I'm channeling some inner teachers uh I've had when I was your age at Conservatory I practiced 17 hours every day and nobody liked it I know it's a tough balance to justify is it worth spending that much money uh only you can answer that question for you but it's a string that's is versatile it's useful for many different uh you know applications fiddle music classical music doesn't matter if you want just a nice open broad sound with lots of colors then Dynamo strings are very exciting new string I think they're going to be very popular an interesting thing I learned in this process in talking with stoyan the product specialist at temastic was about how even just changing the E string can change the overall sound of your violin you can you can try it in 26 26 2 24 25 27 26 7. five or six each string you can put on the same set with things that you will get five completely different option wow and then if you change the tension of the E string it's going to change the tension over the on the G string as well and so if you were to put on that 8.3 kilogram tension E string the 27 millimeter one that's from the pi set that's going to increase the tension over here and that's going to loosen the tension on the G string so it is going to give your E string more power and more Brilliance but it's also going to take it's going to take away some of that color from the G string it's going to make the G string also more focused a little less color when you kind of even things out with the E string that is included with the Dynamo set there's a little bit lower tension you're going to have a little bit more color on the G string as well you could ask yourself well I spend you know 80 of the time playing high notes on the E string I want the most power and Brilliance for the E string I don't really spend that much time way up here on the on the G string conversely you might feel the other way so there are some some very interesting things that even like a much more affordable E string could change the sound of your set foreign [Music] [Music] I can tell even in that short recording that when I had the dyno E string that lower tension E string or lower gauge E string that the G string had a lot more color it was an open Sound had a kind of a nice fullness and I think my violin responded nicely to it yes it comes at the expense of it has a lot more noise it has a lot more kind of texture in the sound it sounded like a Fritz Chrysler recording or something it was quite nice I'm not saying I'm as good as for expressing don't get any wrong Impressions but when I switched to the Platinum E string that higher tension and higher gauge E string the G string also got more focus it got more attack when I played the sassons it was much more like right there so that those are the differences you can choose accordingly or what's right for you and your instrument all right I haven't seen the time stamp on this one but I'm guessing that was the most rambly Michael explains at all Edition ever so I'm gonna stop rambling the new tomastic Dynamo strings you can get them at fiddlershop.com I've got pre-order links down there or in mid-march you can buy them if you pre-order them we'll send them to you the day we get them from the almighty temastic and do leave me a comment in the description down in there in the comments section I love reading about you reading about you and getting to know you getting to know all about you and your experience in playing the domestic string let me know if you're excited about these and yeah I think that's everything you need to know thanks so much for watching this be well and practice well [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: Fiddlershop

Views: 5,096

Keywords: Fiddlerman, Fiddlershop, Holstein, Fiddlershop Instrument, buy a violin, buy a viola, buy a cello, beginner violin, beginner viola, beginner cello, beginner bass, buy a bass

Id: jVZHbMuCFpQ

Length: 28min 4sec (1684 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 24 2023