Re: auto-wah for harp

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

IronManCurtis wrote:
> I like to use effects like salt, lightly and sparingly, 
> to impart a slight variation in my harmonica sound.  A 
> little salt brings out the natural flavor.  Too much makes 
> it unpalatable.

Tim Moyer wrote:
>I'm trying to wipe away any vestiges of the harp sound and leave 
>something that sounds like a synth trumpet.  I'm thinking that an 
>overdriven tube preamp run into an envelope filter, followed by 
>chorus and octave effects will leave pretty much nothing sounding 
>like a harmonica coming out of the speakers...

Effects aren't like salt, i.e. they're not seasoning, although that's one of the things you can do with them.  Effects are instruments in their own right that happen to be triggered by whatever you put into them.  Whether the result is flavorful or not is a matter of taste.  I like a lot of flavor myself, and I say that as a guy who has previously released two CDs of practically unadorned solo harmonica.

I like the sound of a harmonica.  I also like the sound of Jimi Hendrix, and the sound of a five-mouthed extraterrestrial singing a song of praise to ten purple moons in an orange sky.  I'm glad that I've got effects boxes in my collection that make all those sounds when I want them.  

Thanks, Richard Hunter