What is a Windhowler?

From the user manual:

"The windhowler is capable of producing almost any type of wind sound "live", in varying pitch and indefinite length for ease in cueing to stage action or for recording purposes. Sounds are created by employing the 15 resonators either singly or in combinations up to four at a time while operating the fan unit. The integral variable transformer provides a means of varying the sounds from a whisper to a shriek.”



When we discovered this machine we were literally blown away. We had seen videos of mechanical or hand powered sound effect probs from the early days but this device here is an electrical working machine.

It seems that this magic box has been invented in the 1950´s. You can choose between 15 different resonators and record them solo or in combinations of 2, 3, or 4 at a time. Four different resonator mounting discs are provided with 1 to 4 holes. If you have chosen a set of resonators you can then alter the sound with the big power knob. It is possible to perform very drastic or subtle wind sound effects. But there are also other options to shape the sound. If you put your finger or hand near the resonator hole the sound changes in a very convincing way. Combining these two methods of sound manipulation serves you surprisingly authentic and impressive wind sound effects. We did record a lot of material in multiple sessions and experimented with all kind off techniques to perform the sound. With this Soundpack you get the very best of our recordings carefully edited and mastered.



These sort of wind sound effects literally call for effect manipulation, so we added 20 designed wind sound effect files that were created by using the source recordings only. There went a lot of work into these designed sounds and the goal was to increase the variety of the original recordings even more and to show what can be achieved with only the source sounds.