Product Reviews: Altus AL Flute

I bought an Altus AL a few weeks back and after playing on it loads both in private practice and at work in my job as a pro player I feel ready to leave a review. The scale these are built to are Wibb's (Bennett Scale) and for my taste there is no better, the ease of tuning I find second to none when fitting in with the instruments around me. Mine is at A=442. The tonal qualities available though are what really make these flutes extraordinary. The silver alloy used is relatively impure, with many precious metals including gold and platinum in the mix. This is based on the silver alloys used in the french flutes of yesteryear from the Louis Lot factory which has proven so elusive to modern manufacturers but gave those instruments such a superb tonal pallet to play with. From darkness to brightness with everything in between, the AL is making phrasing so much fun as I can express myself in ways many other flutes I have played on just won't allow, and my colleagues have complimented the sounds enough for me to know that it isn't just in my imagination. Another wonderful feature I'm finding is the fluidity of tone between notes. The mechanism is truly brilliant, maybe unnervingly silent even when flying around very fast passage-work. For anyone who wants the tone colours similar to the old French flutes but want a modern machine with keywork that won't let you down, I can't recommend enough that you try one of these. My model in full is B-foot, E-mech, semi-offset G, Heavy-wall, with shellacked pads and the standard cut headjoint.