After a considerable pause, Embertone has released the Honky Tonk Harmonica (Kontakt), a virtual harmonica that seems to lend itself rather well to smokey, bluesy performances. (The 'Edelweiss' demo is less convincing, I find, but it does show there's more possible with the instrument than just bluesy stuff.) Have a listen:
"We set out to create a virtual harmonica with a honkytonk soul… stylistically faithful to the country and blues music originating from old-time southern bars of the past. In other words: a twangy virtual harmonica that stands on its own, whether you’re backing up the band, or soloing over it.
Trigger real, sampled vibrato performances for the extra realism, or intimately control our modeled vibrato engine instead. Go between "Normal" and "Bluesy" legato styles, and dig into an array of user controls and specialized articulation to craft a totally legit harmonica performance. We can't wait to see what you can create with this expressive virtual harmonica.
Our scripted vibrato for Honkytonk Harmonica is the best we've done yet... you can control it as an LFO (which is how we've done our past instruments), but we've now added a manual vibrato mode, which lets you control the speed and depth in real-time with aftertouch (or any CC)! This vibrato mode makes me feel more connected to the performance... it's really fun.
And there's a Chugger mode: This mode is always active (you to play Maj/Min triads outside of the instrument range), and you get rhythmic/chord phrases performed by our esteemed harmonica player. These samples are a great way to back up your blues ensemble arrangement!"
Lawrence wrote: ↑Dec 16, 2022 12:41 pm
I bought it without listening to demos.
You are my new boyhood hero Larry!
Ha! Well Bill, thrifty soul though I am, I have spent too long trying to torture the CH Harmonica into a blues bag, so for that price I’ll give it a shot.
Lawrence wrote: ↑Dec 16, 2022 12:41 pm
I bought it without listening to demos.
You are my new boyhood hero Larry!
Ha! Well Bill, thrifty soul though I am, I have spent too long trying to torture the CH Harmonica into a blues bag, so for that price I’ll give it a shot.
Same here. The CH is a great choice for Stevie Wonder/Toots Thielman, etc. but not for blues.
This thing is awesome, worth wayyyy more than $39.
well I guess I have not yet tried to do a Stevie Wonder/Toots Thielman type harmonica part, and now, of course, I guess I have to? (This may be, in part, because I have yet to pick up a chromatic harmonica library???)
I have tried a couple of harmonica libraries over the years, my current favorite being the Bolder Sounds harmonica. But it is a blues harmonica, not a chromatic.
As part of the various winter sales I finally broke down and picked up Fluffy Audio Spaghetti Western. There is a lot to love here, and among the instruments that immediately capture my attention are the blues and chromatic harmonicas and the ocarinas. I'm also impressed with the piccolo trumpet, and I've only scratched the surface.
And then on the heels of that purchase comes this one? Of course I bought it... it is yet another take on the blues harmonica.
Now to find a project that needs the CH chromatic harmonica...
People, it's Toots Thielemans. Not Thielman. We Belgians may not have a lot to offer to the world's music stage, but what we have, we like to see spelled correctly.
Did the graphic design for the Toots 100 commemorative 4LP box-set last year, which includes my favourite photo of Toots, together with Dizzy Gillespie, having a great time:
Back on track, Embertone published a very informative walk-through of the Honky Tonk Harmonica:
Piet De Ridder wrote: ↑Dec 18, 2022 8:22 am
People, it's Toots Thielemans. Not Thielman. We Belgians may not have a lot to offer to the world's music stage, but what we have, we like to see spelled correctly.
Did the graphic design for the Toots 100 commemorative 4LP box-set last year, which includes my favourite photo of Toots, together with Dizzy Gillespie, having a great time:
_
beautiful picture! Loved Thielemans... incidentally, I'm currently working on an opera by a belge composer, B. Foccroulle, who directed the Théâtre royal de la Monnaie in Bruxelles. Very good composer I think
RobS wrote: ↑Dec 18, 2022 11:19 am
I haven't understood if this harmonica can play chromatically or it's diatonic...
My impression, from the video - and the name - is that it is meant to be played as a diatonic harmonica. But until I buy it that is just a guess.
I have the Fluffy Audio Spaghetti Western library. It includes both a diatonic and a chromatic harmonica. I find the diatonic much easier to play, although I have yet to get the same outcome as in the demos<G>.
Lawrence wrote: ↑Dec 19, 2022 6:05 am
I’m having trouble unpacking the .zips. Any illuminations?
Larry, I suggest you use the free program The Unarchiver instead. It's proven to be very useful for me. The basic Mac program seems to have problems with zip files from some developers.
