Re: [Harp-L] TurboHarp develpment bench - ELX

[Jerry Deall <jdeall@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

James, has one of the most creative mind in the harp world, really great ideas are often expensive to start. 

That being said, at first I thought rather expensive for something that is well covered by a harp and mic in various configurations. But then we don't want to limit the future development of great ideas based on cost. I think all of the points James makes below could be valid for a player on any given day, I say let's see where it goes. I know Harmonica John has said great thing about this set up. 

Let's not limit our possibilities based on current needs and use. 

Thanks Jerry, 
http://www.thebluesambassadors.com/ 

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "James F. Antaki, PhD" <turbodog@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
To: "Arthur Jennings" <timeistight@xxxxxxxxx> 
Cc: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx 
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2011 1:36:48 PM 
Subject: RE: [Harp-L] TurboHarp develpment bench - ELX 

Responding to: Arthur Jennings 

On Friday, January 21, 2011 1:32 PM, you asked: 

"What advantages does this system have over a mic plus processor combo to 
offset its high cost and lack of flexibility?" 

I understand your point, Arthur. My answer is not intended to sound 
arrogant, but consider what Les Paul did to the guitar.... I'd bet that 
people asked a similar question, "why not just mic an acoustic guitar?" It 
basically opened up new vistas for electric music. 

But a more specific answer to your question would be: 
1) Zero feedback. You can turn up your amp to 10, and blow out your 
eardrums. (But dont do this at home!) 

2) The electrical signal is relatively pure sine wave, free of overtones, 
for the most part. So this provides greater control over the timbre of the 
resulting electronic signals. In the analog version, it means you can add 
harmonics as you wish (3rds, 5ths, etc...) 

3) Related to (2) if you are interested in using the harp as a midi 
controller, it is actually possible to process the output (using software) 
to create a midi file. (I plan to demonstrate this in the next few weeks on 
the website.) 

4) In the original version, I had taken advantage of the fact that each reed 
has its own pickup by clustering them in four groups: high-blow, low-blow, 
high-draw, high-blow. These four outputs wer attached to a mini 4-channel 
mixer with stereo output that allowed you to separate the registers so that, 
say, the blow notes went to the left speaker, and the draw notes to the 
right. On the website there is a sound bite of me playing (poorly) a 
chugging rhythm where you can hear the sound bouncing back and forth 
left/right. It adds a spatial element. (I think I'll call it "3-D Harmonica. 
:-) 
Note that the current version only provides one channel output. This 
was in the spirit of making it more cost effective, and based on skepticism 
that many performers would be interested in the above feature. 

All of the foregoing blabbering could have been easily condensed if I only 
had a really good demo to illustrate. Thankfully, Harmonica John has kindly 
uploaded a few videos to Youtube. The most recent one can be found here: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiBnJdwBPkQ 

Thanks again for your interest! 

Turbodog