Skip to main content

A professor just 3D-printed this nylon alto saxophone, and it doesn’t sound half bad

professor designs 3d printed alto saxophone 3dprint sax assembly
Image used with permission by copyright holder
3D-printing is finally on the cusp of becoming an affordable technology for widespread use. As a result, crafty minds are already throwing just about anything you can think of through the 3D-printing wringer, from headphones to ice cream. A professor at Sweden’s Lund University has used the revolutionary tech to create a visually distinct line of custom-built guitars, keyboards, and drums. Now, Olaf Diegel is giving the alto saxophone a try, and so far he’s had more success than even he expected.

Diegel revealed the initial prototype when he demonstrated the nylon-based alto sax last week in a YouTube video. The instrument sounds like an alto saxophone – sort of – but the nylon body creates a decidedly different coloration than your average brass sax. Its creamy complexion and rubber band-supported keys also cause the instrument to immediately stand out visually from its metallic counterparts.

Recommended Videos

After briefly playing a few runs of notes with his creation, Diegel claims that he initially decided to give the sax a go “as an experiment, really just to see if (he) could print a saxophone.” He goes on to explain that the instrument has a handful of flaws primarily because he designed it like a traditional saxophone. Diegle claims that the piece needs a redesign to make it more friendly to its non-traditional fabrication. For the next iteration, he’ll be integrating all the springs directly into the keys to address air leaks in some of the pads.

Woodwind instruments like saxophones, flutes, and clarinets are incredibly hard to replicate, not only because of the distinct timbres (or the character of the sound) produced by their body styles, but also because of the delicate interconnection shared between all of the keys. The pressing of one key might actually open certain different keys and close others, which means the instrument has to have perfectly balanced pressure “linkages” to ensure the right tone and pitch is produced.

The instruments created by Diegel for his brand, ODD, were designed and crafted using a 3D-printing technology known as Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), which builds the components by spreading a thin layer of nylon powder that is fused in the correct locations for each particular layer of the component. The layer is then dropped down a fraction of a millimeter, and another layer of powder is spread on top of the first. This process is repeated until each 0.1-mm layer, and thus the component as a whole, is complete.

As a disclaimer, Diegel explains in the About section of his YouTube video: “I am not a sax player, so be amazed by what 3D printing is capable [of], rather than by how awful my sax playing might be.”

Alex Tretbar
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Alex Tretbar, audio/video intern, is a writer, editor, musician, gamer and sci-fi nerd raised on EverQuest and Magic: The…
What is spatial audio? The 3D sound experience fully explained
Person listening to spatial audio using Apple AirPods Max headphones.

Since Apple added “spatial audio” to the Apple Music streaming service and the AirPods family of wireless earbuds and headphones in 2021, it feels like you can’t read about new audio products or services without running into that term. And just a few short years later, it’s seemingly everywhere.

This has led to a lot of misconceptions about what spatial audio is, how it works, and why you need to hear it for yourself. People often ask, “If Apple created spatial audio, why are other companies claiming they do it, too?” The answer is that Apple didn’t create it, and you certainly don’t need to own its products to experience spatial audio.

Read more
How to download music from SoundCloud on desktop and mobile
Soundcloud Interface on a Macbook.

If you’re a huge music fan, you’ve probably combed through the many playlists, artists, and albums of your Spotify or Apple Music subscription. But what about all the indie artists of the world? Some music-streaming platforms are better than others at celebrating the
‘unsung gem’ acts, but one of the most reliable forums for new, off-the-grid tunes is SoundCloud.

Founded in 2007, SoundCloud has always prioritized music that’s a bit under the radar. With over 320 million tracks in its library, the platform will even let you download a majority of its songs and albums.

Read more
The best kids headphones of 2024: for fun, safety, and sound
Two kids using the Puro Sound PuroQuiet Plus to watch something on a tablet.

Kid-friendly consumer tech is all the rage these days, so it’s no surprise that there’s an entire market of headphones designed exclusively for young ones. But when we think “kid-friendly,” sometimes we imagine products that are built to be a bit more throwaway than their adult counterparts. That’s not the case with the products on our list of the best headphones for kids, though.

We want our child-tailored headphones to include parental-controlled volume limiters, to ensure our children aren’t harming their eardrums. Pretty much every entry on our list checks this vital box, but we also wanted to point you and yours toward products that offer exceptional noise-canceling, built-in mics for phone and video calls, and long-lasting batteries for schooldays or a long flight.

Read more