[Harp-L] Richard Hunter's patches for the Digitech Rp355

["Bradford Trainham" <bradford.trainham@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

So last weekend, I bought Richard Hunter's newly updated patches for the RP
series.  The zip file he sends you is very well organized and the directions
in his ReadMe file (which he !!strongly!! Encourages you to !!read!!) were
very easy to follow.
This won't matter to everyone, but I was thankful that the Digitech software
one uses to load the patches , X-Edit is accessible enough for those of us
who can't see to allow me to load the patch set without any trouble.
So I loaded up the archive that has the patches sorted by amp model,
connected the RP355 to my Fender keyboard amp, apologized to the cats for
what was about to happen... And began checking out the patch set. 
Some three and a half hours later, when nature's call over-rode !!all!!
Enthusiasm for this patch set, it occurred to me that this was the best $25
I've spent on harp-related accessories in a while, maybe ever. 
There is something here for just about any harmonica context I can think of
and many I would have never thought of.
And I've only scratched the surface so far. 
Now, at this point in my harmonica evolution, I haven't exactly logged
hundreds of hours playing electrified harp.
In fact, I don't even have (yet) the Audix Fireball V he recommends as mine
is the Fireball without the volume control. 
He has designed the patches, generally speaking not to assign the RP355's
expression pedal to control the volume, but instead, to control different
levels of various effects and now that I've played around with the patches,
I think that was a good decision. 
There are varying blends of delays, reverbs, choruses, "rotaries" and, of
interest to me, the use of envelope filters.
He's got one application of the envelope filter that absolutely captivates
me as it gives you a wah-ish effect controled by the intensity of your
breathing, that is, the harder you draw, the more "wah-ish" the sound
becomes.
I quickly established that you could develop a nice funky rhythm using this
one and all I needed was for the Temptations to magically appear such that I
could help them out with Papa was a rollin' stone or some other such wah-wah
intense song. 
But seriously, I really like this one. 
I'm still getting to know the patches and where they are as I can't read the
names while I'm playing them, but so far, I think I like, in terms of the
amp emulations, the BlackFace Twin patches and the Digitech Matchless
patches he uses. 
These really talk back and you get a warm, credible, room-filler of a sound.
(Just ask my cats.  They found the room so full as to have to leave it for
another room.)
Other intriguing patches give you a perfect fourth that you can shift down
and I really liked what I was getting, especially in third, fourth, fifth
and (of course) twelfth positions with these patches. 
Some others I like are the de-tune patches which allow you to get a double
note just a tiny bit out of tune, creating a fat, sometimes almost
accordion-esque sound. 
As I say, I'm a relatively immature electric harp player, but I can already
tell I'll be spending a lot of time with these patches.
Thanks to Richard for making this patch set available at such a reasonable
price and for providing such good documentation for installation and use.
Brad Trainham