Re: [Harp-L] Re: horn sounds from the RP355

[Richard Hunter <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Brian Stear" wrote:
<I guess I should have been more clearer. I understand about playing the harmonica horn-like ( phrasing, choice of notes, dynamics, etc. ).
<What I was asking was more in the digital realm. Like a synthesizer can model different instruments with different parameters ( I can play piano <parts, horn parts, organ, etc. on guitar ), I was wondering what parameters, effects, et al I could adjust on the 355 to make it more horn-like.
<
<As far as a mute, I remember seeing Howard Levy use a tin can to great effect.
<
<I donÃÂÂt remember hearing anyone on harp-l talk about horn articulations, but IÃÂÂm game. IÃÂÂll check out YouTube.

Research done by Yamaha decades ago showed that the perceived timbre of a sound was affected most strongly by the attack--the onset of the sound.  Yamaha and other instrument makers used that insight to create instruments that used a sampled attack followed by a synthesized sustain and decay that more successfully created the impression of a "real" instrument.

The Digitech RPs don't contain any sampled instruments.  They also provide no envelope control, i.e. you can't influence the attack stage of a sound separately from the sustain and release.  As per Boris's comments, the player, not the RP, has to shape the attack for something like a trumpet sound; Boris suggested an autowah effect because the autowah has a strong impact on the attack stage of a note.  I've heard many harmonica players emulate trumpet attacks successfully using nothing more than their hands; Sandy Weltman's amazing emulation of a trumpet sound on his recording of Louis Armstrong's "West End Blues" comes to mind.    

An RP user asked me once to make a patch hat sounded like steel drums.  As if! The RP is a multiFX device and an amp modeler; it's not a synthesizer.  Even a full-blown sampled synthesizer won't sound much like a real trumpet if the player doesn't articulate the notes the way a trumpeter would.

Re: the comment above the mute: this is apparently a response to my comment about a trumpet with Harmon mute.  The Harmon mute is a specific device that gives the trumpet a buzzy tone with more high-frequency content.  That's why I suggested an octave-up double.  You'd still need to articulate the notes like a trumpeter to make it sound like a trumpet.

Thanks, Richard Hunter