Re: [Harp-L] RE: Altered reed shapes

[Michelle LeFree <mlefree@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 Dr. Michael J. Marino, DC writes:
> >  Good points and thoughts folks,
<clippage>
> >  That set aside, as it is not really the subject of interest, my
> >  interest is in finding a "cleaner" sounding reed. By cleaner I mean a
> >  tone response that is sharp and clear in the desired note and lacking
> >  as much as possible unwanted secondary enharmonic tones. There are
> >  desired tones and it is interesting that the reed form used on
> >  accordion reeds seems to re-enforce those as well. Both Hohner ans
> >  Seydel have shown that steel reeds can be produced that will respond
> >  to the amount of force that a person can produce to cause a reed to
> >  sound. What i am looking at is how to bring a bit more of a clean
> >  exact sound to the reed.
<more clippage>

Interesting discussion, Dr Marino.

I just thought I'd mention, though, that I love the sound of the 
harmonica just the way it is. I think that much of the appeal of the 
sound of the harmonica (diatonic, chromatic, tremolo, octave... all 
inclusive) to my ear anyway is due precisely to the overtones that you 
are trying to get rid of. As a result the concept of getting rid of the 
over tones confuses and confounds me.

Getting beyond my personal difficulties, it seems that if you want a 
pure tone you might just use a midi keyboard with a synth voiced like a 
harmonica. Or if you want to stick to the usual harmonica human 
interface, use real-time digital signal processing such as a frequency 
domain filter in your amplified signal chain to remove all but the 
desired primary frequencies. Have you seen Dr. Antaki's "TurboHarp/ELX?"

http://www.turboharp.com/harmonicas_future.asp

Might be worth contacting Dr. Antaki. He's a dyed-in-the-wool researcher 
with many harp-related patents.

Just seems to me that redesigning reeds is the "long way around the 
horn." :-)

Michelle