First unusual instrument video we've been able to film since the beginning of the pandemic. It's good to be back! Thanks for sticking around and being here :)

"He's the master of glass" "You can see right through me" This is the wholesome content everyone loves

"It's a sad song, It doesn't resolve. It's just like: We're sad, the end." -Rob Scallon 2021

I love that the “furious hand washing” segment was used here and in the Armonica, and I can’t tell which one it’s original to. 🤣

I love how you can clearly tell this is the second recording with Dennis. He is so comfortable and trusting of Rob with the instrument.

Now this is the appropriate instrument to play C418’s Wet Hands on.

I can't wait when in 100 years, historians refer to Rob's channel as an archive of weird instruments of days past.

I love a good synthesizer as much as the next guy, but there's something truly special about creating such wild, varied sounds with a physical, acoustic thing

Thus is such an alien sound. It's wild and ethereal, gentle and brutal. There's so much unique potential to this absurd and beautiful instrument.

Man Dennis is such a character, it’s so wonderful to see him presenting this unusual instrument with such passion! This is also one of those gimmicky that actually sounds really cool and like something that could go in all kinds of things.

I really appreciate this gentleman sharing his obviously hard to repair instrument with rob. Such an emotive sound

At 2:24 there's a very breif smile we get from Dennis, I've only seen it a couple of times. It's when someone who has mastered a specific subject to a point where their knowledge is so deep down the rabbit hole, and they see someone naturally just "get it". You can tell Dennis has a fondness for Rob, but that's one of those subtleties where you peek into someone's mind. He sees just how alike him and Rob are.

that guy is like a proud parent, so constantly excited to show Rob every last little thing it does.

Can we take a minute to appreciate Rob's technical ability to be able to play almost any instrument from any era?

This guy's hysterical laugh is so contagious. He enjoys every bit of what he is doing.

Goes between sounding sort of like strings, to vaguely organ sounding, to blaring out really heavy brass at the low end. Really versatile

The way Dennis' eyes light up when Rob explains why he thinks it's like a keyboard; this is why music is an art form over everything else. Only those involved in it truly understand just how deep the beauty and art truly go.

This thing has a real "stuck for a winter in a haunted hotel with a writer who's going insane" feel to it.

I love how excited and unpretentious Dennis is about this thing.

This guy is just the perfect amount eccentric for me. I could spend a lot of time with him.

Love the lower notes where the large resonator kind of joins in with a metallic bark

Cristal Baschet: requires thorough handwashing before use. Truly an instrument of the times.

Now THAT is an instrument of terror. The best part is how it can be made to sound nice, comforting, and innocent, but then instantly and smoothly transition into a sound that induces fear. 😨 I enjoy it. My favorite part was it somehow gave me a feeling of nostalgia like I was listening to an old black and white horror movie.

It is rare that a video actually just leaves me agape but when rob started to play at around 7:30 I was just left speechless. What a unique and gorgeous and breathtaking sound.

This is just one of those instruments that will never be able to sound right when reproduced by a speaker. It's such a thick and resonant sound that you really have to be in person to experience it properly. I've been lucky enough to be in the same room as a small one in high school but it was only a single octave. I'd love to actually be in the room to feel the resonance of that instrument.

2 things: this dude absolutely LOVES what he does and that makes me really happy i was waiting depserately the entire time for interstellar...

I love it so much that this instrument is full acoustic. The whole video feels like a genius sharing his invention with another genius who can understand the whole depth of how fascinating this instrument is both musically and in its engineering. Rare moments that’s worth remembering and living for.

This seriously needs a set of high resolution samples collected from it.

I'm constantly amazed at how musically adept rob is. Its incredible how he basically walks up to an instrument cold, and a few hours later hes playing fairly proficently. Impressive.

i love how quickly rob picks up instruments, always a treat to see how he’s going to use the weird and wonderful things he plays

The sounds you produced with the bow on the metal "speaker" were amazing. They would fit great in a lot of Sci fi movies

Haha, bonkers- I bought a CD, “Cristal: Glass Music Through The Ages” back in the early 2000’s, that Linda Ronstadt (yes, the singer) produced, and Mr James is featured. He plays several different glass instruments, and compositions inspired by Benjamin Franklin’s glass armonica by Johann Hasse (1699-1783) and Mozart to modern pieces- including the piece he plays at the end of the video! Had to find the CD in my collection again! 😊

To be honest, I am really wondering why it is such a rare instrument. It has such a rich sound and could potentionally even be industrially produced for relatively cheap. So many possibilities! Also, it seems to me like the perfect replacement for an organ in a small chapel... with enough supply of holy water

Adding some kind of overhead misting system that's activated with a foot pedal seems like it would be pretty kickass.

It's amazing how this has the sound of organ, tubular bell, flute, strings, and a bit of brass all rolled into one.

It’s crazy how those lower notes sound like a timpani with the resonator, what an amazing unique instrument

I love it when the guy cackles. He's like "this thing is nuts... And I paid for it!! Hahahaha!!"

I thought this instrument would be fragile as heck, but it actually seems pretty resilient.

Just watched the glass harmonica and now this. So fascinating!

I'd love to hear a duet with the theremin, accompanied by a string quartet.

The bow on the large metal speaker gave me chills. It sounds so damn awesome. That's some A grade horror movie material right there. You can sometimes tell when a sound is synthetic and to me that often isn't scary. Almost as it it bypasses my suspension of disbelief. This is incredibly eerie without feeling at all synthetic. I might have to make a sound byte and scare my friends with this.

This is a perfect demonstration of what an analog instrument can do... As much as I like electronics, the inbetweens and odd sounds and extended techniques are the FEEL of an instrument like this is magic

Dennis' performance at the end was absolutely beautiful, ethereal, haunting yet comforting. Bravo 👏

There should be more of these. It sounds amazing, it’s not so huge you couldn’t have one in your house, and there’s no way that it would be harder or more expensive to build then a piano. The only reason I can think for there not being many is that no ones heard of them. But I want one. Really bad

Either C418's Sweden or Erik Satie's Gymnopedie 1 would sound sick on those

The distorted timbre of the deep notes with the metal sheet really tickles my music heart. Epic instrument!

The sheer number of sounds and timbre shifting...it's so expressive and versatile

I am so innately and viscerally moved by the glass and water instruments. Feels like a longing for a long lost memory. I am fascinated by how much this touches my soul.🥰🌟🌟🌟🌟

I don't think a sample pack can do this justice. there's so much potential for sound variations on top of other sounds, it's truly boundless for expression. I want to listen to more aomehow

5 minutes is all it took to absolutely fall in love with Dennis and his humor. What a great dude!

NPR level editing and sound, with your technical skill, touch and love for music makes this series shine. Dennis is the best too!

I love the sympathetic resonance of the low notes where they ring again when he plays the higher notes

You can feel this man’s passion for this instrument, on so many levels. Such a lovely piece to watch. Thanks as always, Rob!

I would love a collab between you and Martin from Wintergatan. Maybe try his modulin. You two are very different, but with the same love to music and both very talented and creative.

I love this. The sound somehow makes me think of a cross between an organ and a steel drum.

16:37 those are some amazing sounds, reminds me of the Reapers in Mass Effect. Definitely has an evil tone. You could fit that into any horror movie I'm sure.

This is my favourite type of video - learning about instruments that I've never even heard of before, let alone what they sound like!

I really loved this guest. He's so passionate and energetic, makes me want to make weird sound contraptions as well.

10:12 THE FIRE NATION IS APPROACHING

When I worked as a machinist, I would cut 20'+ bars of metal tubing, and upon using compressed air to clean the chips out, I discovered the beautiful, deep notes created by different lengths of tubing. Combined with my high school physics lesson on nodes, I always wanted to build a combination organ/tubular bells art installation that I could play with two different keyboards - one to blow into the tubes, and one to strike them. Maybe once I reach ridiculously disposable income, I will pursue this project. I did build wind 4 sets of wind chimes with smaller lengths of narrower tubing, using the node principle to generate a pleasing chord. My mom still has the set I built her, 7 years later.

This guy looks and sounds as delightfully deranged in a super intelligent way like Artie from Warehouse 13

Now this is an instrument fit for Minecraft music if I’ve ever heard one

That tiny jam at 16:45 with the final sound that obviously impressed Dennis is frightening and beautiful simultaneously.

I think that instrument of Cristal, is without a doubt the coolest yet oddest musical instrument I have even seen. Never have I heard of this work of art, that also has sound coming from it. That even sounds weird to say. Beautiful piece of history and sounding art!

I would love to hear RAIN in that instrument.

This guy has so much personality, one of the best guests you’ve had so far, Rob.

Extremely bizarre, but amazingly serene sounding instrument. Almost sounds like strings around 7:20.

That note at @10:04 absolutely hit me in the soul 😱

Rob playing Ravioli on that thing was the happiest i’ve ever seen him

Never have I had an instrument bring tears to my eyes but at 7:19 my eyes got a bit watery. This instrument sounds much more beautiful than I expected.

Dennis James is such an interesting dude. And I love when his face lights up when he see's Rob totally understanding it

I have always liked music that some would call noise or weird..this "glass" man is so FRICKIN incredible.i want to see him in a venue😳😍

This probably sounds so much better in person. One of those sounds that doesn't translate digitally

The way he explains everything with joy reminds me of a child telling their parents about their favorite superhero

It's like a portable symphony in your house. Incredible work of art and a real talent to play. Thanks for sharing!

It was awesome to see Dennis be so into the nasty Sounds rob did on the big speaker to the right 🤘🏻 Also the piece he played at the end was beautiful as heck. Truly an unique sound on that Instrument. And such Variety in Sounds it can produce

Wow ! That actual musical piece that Dennis played at the end of the video was hauntingly beautiful. The fact any note can be played with different articulations is truly a incredibly unique musical instrument.

I love Dennis's enthusiasm for sound here! He reminds me of some of the folks who mentored me in high school doing improvised music, such enthusiasm just for the novelty and emotion of a unique sound, whether traditionally "musical" or not.

10:15 gave me massive Fire Nation vibes

What an amazing tour guide to such a pleasurable musical oddity!

If ever there was an ensemble instrument for horror films, THIS IS IT!! When the lowest notes were played, it had a sound similar to what you'd get if you used the bow on the low strings on a piano. The way it would flange when played hard, sounds like a trombone amplified through a spring reverb in a guitar amplifier. a lot of interesting sounds, with no electronics! I really do like it, thanks for posting.

You consistently do some of the most interesting music-related youtube content. Your videos sincerely feel like you're shooting them to show your viewers something worth seeing. You're not flexing, not clickbait, neither fake nor pretentious. Your genuine enthusiasm for these instruments is contagious. Thank you for raising the bar, Rob!

Watching this after watching the newest video and the interaction at 6:45 is exactly the same interaction as the new video! Even down to your reply of ‘oh that’s going to be hard!’ Haha

I love this instrument so much, it gives me goosebumps in a good way.

it's stuff like this that makes me fall in love with music all over again. this can sound so whimsical and airy but also sinister and foreboding. a truly amazing work of art.

Someone please show this to Christopher Nolan for his next sci-fi epic

The parts of sound effects, specially the section around 16:46 reminds me a lot of the ambient soundtracks used in some really nice horror games like dead space and alien: isolation

this is probably the most interesting sounding instrument I've ever heard, a huge mix of timbres, wine glass, steel drum, gong, timpani, just awesome

16:17 this section is perfect for huge metallic catastrophes, like the sound of being *inside* of a giant ship ramming into something and being torn open. Or having the camera perspective of being inside the ankle of a mecha when it’s ankle snaps and great sheets of metal than tear apart.

Imagine playing wet hands on this instrument. It's so incredibly haunting and interesting to listen to, very cool that you got to mess around with it, I love how enthusiastic Dennis is about it too.

At 5:40 I really thought he was going to say “would you look at that.? Just look at that.”

I always love how excited the musicians in this series are to see you experience them for the first time! It's so inspiring!

10:04 reminded me exactly of Halo 3: ODST’s soundtrack. that hauntingly beautiful oboe is exactly the same note as the first one he plays here.

5:26 This guy’s laugh sounds so much like Joker’s. It’s perfect

Wow, that instrument is crazy and the variety of sounds it can produce as well. Great video

Dennis needs to become a regular, just like Tony Randall was on talk shows. What a sweet, cool guy with such a gift for music, capable of making actual music with anything from a glass table to a window.

As a percussionist and experienced wine glass toucher: our director wanted us to pick up a new technique or new instrument constantly, which will take an undetermined amount of time because WHO KNOWS how naturally and quickly we can learn our part, we've never played that instrument before or with that technique. Meanwhile the band directors believe it's harder for the wind players to learn new music on their same old instruments they always play.

Dennis is such a cool dude, I love how much character he brought and all the cool stories about the instrument. This strange instrument series is always great but this one stands out for sure!

5:46 i think we ca agree that, that is the reaction we all have when watching this right?

Rob, i don't watch your videos too often. But when i do, my GOD i love it. The things you discover and play...