[Harp-L] Re: Harp-L Digest, Vol 105, Issue 49



Hi David:
Seydel took fourkey tuning off the list of Configurator templates for their 12-hole harmonicas a couple of years ago because fourkey tuning could not fit on their 12-hole harps with brass reeds. With brass reeds, difference in ranges between their low hole #1 and their high hole #12 was too great to fit fourkey tuning. But the Soloist Pro 12 Steel has steel reeds in holes 1-9 and brass reeds in the high holes 10-12, and steel reeds have a higher range than brass reeds of the same size. As a result, the new Soloist Pro 12 Steel is compatible with fourkey tuning.


Now that now fourkey tuning can fit on the new Soloist Pro 12 Steel, presumably Seydel will eventually add it to the standard 12-hole templates again. But until they get around to doing that, yes, you have to enter the notes one at a time; and, yes, that can be frustrating if you are not sure what layouts can fit. That's why I have offered help!

I posted a guide that shows note layouts for 10 different fourkey harmonicas that are feasible in the Configurator for Seydel's Soloist Pro 12 Steel; see
http://home.comcast.net/~rbmy/fourkey12s.pdf
For each of the feasible layouts, I show the notes in rows like the Configurator entry form, so it should not be hard to copy them into the Configurator.


Five of the feasible layouts that are shown in the guide have the third-position tonic in hole 1, and in this pattern you can get a fourkey harp with first-position key of C#, D, Eb, E, or F. (In addition to the first-position key, a fourkey harp can also play the next three major keys in the circle of fifths without bends or overblows. So when the first-position key is F, the fourkey harp can plays the major keys of F, C, G, and D without bends.) The other five layouts that are shown in the guide have the fourth-position tonic in hole 1, and in this pattern you can get a fourkey harp with the first-position major key of F#, G, Ab, A, or Bb.
-Roger



On 5/25/2012 9:11 PM, harp-l-request@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Hey Roger, have you actually tried plugging it in to the Configurator? You pick a reed for each hole based on whatever reeds are available. Sometimes you can try to plug something in and you'll get one or more holes where the pitch you want isn't possible for that hole. They put a lot of other tunings in there for the Solist Pro 12 and they have fourkey on other models, so I'm thinking there may be a reason they don't have fourkey on that one.
?
David Payne
www.elkriverharmonicas.com

________________________________
  From: Roger Myerson<rmyerson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To:harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2012 10:48 PM
Subject: [Harp-L] 12-hole fourkey harmonicas available from Seydel

Seydel recently introduced a new line of 12-hole harmonicas with steel reeds, the Soloist Pro 12 Steel harmonicas.? With Seydel's Configurator, these Soloist Pro 12 Steel harmonicas can be configured in fourkey tuning.? So thanks to Seydel, 12-hole fourkey harmonicas with a range of 2.5 octaves are now commercially available for the first time!
Seydel has not yet added fourkey tuning to the Configurator templates for these harmonicas, but I have posted patterns for instruments in two different layouts, each of which is feasible for the Soloist Pro 12 Steel in enough keys to cover all twelve major keys without bends or overblows.? These 12-hole fourkey patterns can be found at
http://home.comcast.net/~rbmy/fourkey12s.pdf
More information about fourkey tuning is available at
http://4keyharps.wordpress.com/
-Roger Myerson

-- Roger B. Myerson, Glen A. Lloyd Distinguished Service Professor Department of Economics, University of Chicago 1126 East 59th Street, Chicago, IL 60637 Phone: 773-834-9071, Fax: 773-702-8490 http://home.uchicago.edu/~rmyerson/




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