Thanks for the nice comments on my poor playing. If there was any meter involved I'm unaware of it--I just had a drone going in the background for reference and played some short phrases. I'm still really struggling with the fingerings, and those huge ring keys on the bottom holes are tricky, so I took everything really slow.
The Remenyi actually feels softer and more "closed" when playing. The second register is really lovely, but below G1 things get tough. I thought it might be a leak, but the worst note is E1, which wants to break up an octave when you go soft, except with a really loose embouchure. D1 is also a bit squirrely--doesn't want to speak at first, but it plays fine once it gets going. No problems in the notes below that. I have gone so far as to seal every tonehole with a pad in case I missed something, but it is the same. I guess it is a bore issue. It's not fatal, but it takes some care in the lower notes. If you play loud and brassy in typical tárogató style no problem at all.
The Remenyi is a single octave key, which means that it already starts getting a bit hissy on E2, Eb2 wants to go sharp, and D2 is useless with the key. What works well, and apparently is the recommended fingering even with 2 octave key systems, is to halfhole LH1, in which case Eb is a tiny bit flat, and D is great. The limit with octave key alone is Bb3, but I've found some great altissimo-type fingerings up to D, with intonation really locked in. But they are awkward, and will take some practice to get them under my fingers.
In the first register, the Remenyi is pretty loose and free in the shortest tube notes, especially C2. Slight embouchure changes will send it flying, so I have to be aware to keep my embouchure in the right place. If I am a bit pinched it won't affect the upper register so much, but as soon as I hit C2 I know that I am off the track.
But that all said and done, it is not as bad as many old sopranos that I have played, even good ones, and I really love the sound.
The Stowasser is surprisingly good and stable from top to bottom. The four ring system has larger holes in the top joint, lower down, so the pitch is more stable in the short tube notes, at the expense of a certain delicacy I find in the Remenyi. What drives me nuts is the double octave key--I keep forgetting to move to the second one on the higher notes and then I am screwed when I reach for anything above A. But it will play up to C3 pretty well with normal fingerings when I get it right, and I'm not fumbling for those altissimo fingerings. It has to be said, though, that the altissimos, since they are overblows of long tube notes basically, are more stable.
The two horns do not have interchangeable mpcs, since the Stowasser is sax style and the Remenyi is clarinet style. The Remenyi has its own mpc. All those sound samples were played with the same reed. I did some refacing work to get them all around .75. The Stowasser and the Gerber for the Remenyi must have been around .55 when I started.
Lance, you might be interested in my experiences with the Stowasser mpc. It is clarinet style, with the tenon, and thus the beginning of the cone, on the mpc itself. Even with the tip opened it was weak and honky sounding. I compared it to the Scaunas, which was custom made by the tárogató player and mpc wizard from whom I bought the horn. Much bigger throat, like 20% bigger. Figuring I had nothing to lose, since the Stowasser had been deemed unplayable by him, I opened the throat way up and voila--much bigger sound, much easier blowing: something to work with. It did seem, however, to raise the playing pitch about 20 cents pretty much across the board. Sorry I did not take more methodical notes. Pulling out on the cork worked OK, but then the A2 started to get balky. But putting a thin reducing disk at the end of the throat with an opening about 90% that of the throat brought everything together beautifully, I can keep it partway off the cork for 440, allowing me to tune up to 444 if necessary, and the A is good. Funny stuff. I think that some things need to be explored vis-a-vis small adjustments at the end of the cone truncation--big changes can be had there.
For the techies: the two horns have quite different bores. The Remenyi starts life at 10mm at the top, and has a semi-angle of about 6.5 degrees. The Stowasser is smaller at the top: 9.5mm, but expands much more quickly: cone semi-angle of 8 degrees. Those are pretty big differences, and they do play differently, but they both sound like tárogatós...
