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These last few years François Louis has been working on the conception and the creation of the first prototype of a new woodwind instrument: the aulochrome.

The name combines “aulos”, the most important ancient greek instrument consisting of a reed pipe appearing in identical pairs and “chrome” for chromatic and colorated.

The aulochrome ? a chromatic aulos ? is a new polyphonic and chromatic woodwind instrument. It combines two soprano saxophone bodies and uses a revolutionary mechanism, allowing the keys of both pipes to be played either separately or together over the entire range. Thus, any possible interval can be played chromatically, from the lowest note of one pipe to the highest note of the other pipe.

The double mouthpiece is made of two separate elements placed together. The two tone chambers are different, enabling independent harmonisation in the two pipes. The particular attention to the acoustics of this instrument opens up vast new possibilities to saxophonists.

The aulochrome allows to produce differential tones (virtual bass notes resulting from the difference between the frequencies of the two notes of one interval) as well as additional tones, extending the lower register far below the deepest note determined by the length of the pipes.

Also, a tiny “mistuning” of the unison generates beats. Players can control the rhythm of the pulsations.

All of this creates new tone effects by totally acoustic means.

The conception and the construction of this first prototype of the aulochrome are entirely due to instrument maker François Louis. With the support of the Spes Foundation “Brussels 2000”, Sylvain Cambrelin (represented by Darsa) and Orfeo Borgani and with the collaboration of Fabrizio Cassol.