The Baliset is a 12 string instrument that combines the expressiveness of a guitar and the range of a piano. It is divided into two sections, the treble played with the right hand, and the bass the left. Each side has it’s own discrete output.

The technique used to play is tap and hold. Tapping the string produces enough energy to cause the string to vibrate producing a pitch. Holding the string allows for sustain.

As it takes only the action of one finger to produce a sound on a string, each hand can play chords and/or sequences of notes to create multiple parts, in a similar manner to the piano. Due to the finger being in direct contact with the string several effects such as vibrato and note bending can be produced much like on a guitar.

In addition to standard magnetic pickups this instrument also has 12 piezo pickups (one per string) that send signals to specialized devices that process the sound and convert the signal to midi in order to trigger synthesizers.

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