Re: [Harp-L] Re: pitch shifter

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Rafael Veggi wrote:
<Richard, thanks a lot for the very clarifying information!
...
<But the big question is: how would my brain react when I hear myself
<playing in Gb while the speaker screams in C?

In technical terms, if you set the pitch shift mix to 100%, the original harp sound will be removed entirely from the signal chain, and what the audience hears from the speakers will be the pitch shifted tone, not the original pitch.

However, as you note, no matter what the audience hears from the speakers, the player will hear the original (un-shifted) pitches too. That's why I wouldn't recommend to anyone that they try to use a pitch shifter on a harmonica the same way a guitarist uses a capo.  A capo affects the pitch of the instrument at its source; a pitch shifter affects the pitch after it's already been generated from the source (i.e. the harmonica).  Conflicts (for the player) are inevitable when the shift is to an entirely different key (as opposed to an octave of the original key).   

This is only a problem with acoustic instruments, of course.  If the harmonica was a purely electronic instrument, you could pitch-shift it to anywhere without hearing conflicting tones.  But then it wouldn't be a harmonica.

Regards, Richard Hunter



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