Re: [Harp-L] Bass harmonica - chromatic

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Winslow Yerxa wrote:
<I've yet to hear a pitch-shifted harmonica that actually sounded like anything <other than an effect. If you can produce a convincing sound of a bass or baritone <harmonica by pitch shifting, I'd love to hear it.

One reason you may find it effect-y is that you're often, if not usually, hearing some percentage of the original harmonica tone combined with the pitch-shifted tone, as opposed to a baritone or bass harp, where you'll only hear the bass note.  Every pitch shifter I know of includes a control for mixing the original and shifted sounds, and most harp players in particular leave some of the original tone in.  Most of the patches I set up for the Digitechs that use low octaves have the low octave and original tone set at roughly equal levels, because that is a bigger sound that conflicts less with the bass in a band. 

I can easily make a few short solo mp3s of a few different octave-shifted sounds recorded into the computer through the Audix Fireball V.  You can decide for yourself how closely the sounds approximate a baritone or bass harp. Give me a day or two.  

By the way, even if it doesn't sound exactly like a bari or bass harp, I think a pitch shifter on a harp is a great sound. The fact that players like Jason Ricci, Wade Schuman, and Chris Michalek are using pitch shifters in their rigs is interesting, especially given the differences in the kinds of music they play.

Regards, Richard Hunter 



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