[Harp-L] Octave Pedals for Harp

[Richard Hunter]

Will Jennings  wrote:
<I've used a variety of "octave" FX pedals or modelers within digital
guitar modelers for well <over a decade.
<
<My experience is that most players abuse them rather than rely on the
nuance they can <provide, especially when combined in an FX chain
clusterfrig
<designed to impress with just how much you can make a harmonica NOT sound
like a <harmonica.
<And finding an Octave FX that can handle chording without becoming mushy
and laggy is <very difficult.  Again, less so for guitar than harp.

As per my previous comments, the Digitech RP series devices track very well
on single notes and chords, all up and down the range of the harmonica.
You can hear the proof on my records. Used RPs from the RP150 on up to the
RP360 use the same pitch shifter effect, and you can find them used in good
to great condition for as low as $25.  I haven't heard about a lot of
tracking issues with the Electro Harmonix devices (POG, HOG, etc.) either.
Certainly harp players keep buying them, so they must work for someone.

Regarding making a harmonica sound not like a harmonica: shall we dig
Hendrix out of his grave, and tell him how awful it was to make the guitar
sound like something other than a guitar?  I think not. The modern
conception of a musical instrument is that it can function as a controller
for other devices as well as a sound generator in its own right.  I don't
see why a harmonica can't fill that role as well, or why players should be
rebuked for using the instrument in this way.

Regards, Richard Hunter



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Author, "Jazz Harp" (Oak Publications, NYC)
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