[Harp-L] MIDI HARMONICA PERFECTED - The LEKHOLM DM48

[Brendan Power]

There have been several attempts at making a MIDI harmonica over the past 40
years, but none has been very successful. The Lekholm DM48 Digital Chromatic
Harmonica Controller at last gives harmonica players a real playable,
user-friendly way to access the incredible power of MIDI sounds and
functionality.



Swedish biomedical engineer and inventor Erik Lekholm sent me one of the
prototypes to test. Over the past month or so I made some suggestions for
this and that, and he quickly added new menus to do what I asked. That
configurability is impressive in itself, quite apart from all the rest of
it! Here's a video I made showing the stuff I found in this amazing box of
tricks:



DM48 DEMO VIDEO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwgIAFOnJVs



For further information/photos/videos/ordering, check out the DM48 website:



DM48 WEBSITE

http://www.lekholminstruments.com



Brendan

<http://www.brendan-power.com/> www.brendan-power.com

<http://www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic>
www.YouTube.com/BrendanPowerMusic

[Brendan Power]

Richter tuning is standard alongside Solo in the Tuning Editor. So it already is a diatonic version - as well as everything else J



Brendan

www.brendan-power.com <http://www.brendan-power.com/>

www.YouTube.com/BrendanPowerMusic



From: David Brown [mailto:nonid...@gmail.com]
Sent: 30 January 2017 15:38
To: Brendan Power
Cc: HARP-L
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] MIDI HARMONICA PERFECTED - The LEKHOLM DM48



Thanks for posting this Brendan! Any consideration on attempting a diatonic version?

No virus found in this message.
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Version: 2016.0.7998 / Virus Database: 4749/13863 - Release Date: 01/30/17

[Sheltraw]

Hi Brendan

I have been following this nice development and have had some interesting email conversations with Erik. What is responsiveness like compared to mechanical chromatic harp?

Daniel

Sent from my iPhone

[Brendan Power]

To start with it wasn't as good, but recently he added a new menu that gave
a non-linear note attack curve, and suddenly it got really good. What I like
is that you can fine-tune the response in the menus, and now I find it just
as dynamic and responsive to breath pressure as an acoustic harmonica.

Brendan
www.brendan-power.com
www.YouTube.com/BrendanPowerMusic

-----Original Message-----
From: Sheltraw [mailto:macaro...@gmail.com]
Sent: 30 January 2017 22:29
To: Brendan Power
Cc: har...@harp-l.org
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] MIDI HARMONICA PERFECTED - The LEKHOLM DM48

-----

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Checked by AVG - www.avg.com

Version: 2016.0.7998 / Virus Database: 4756/13865 - Release Date: 01/30/17

[Sheltraw]

Nice!

How much of the processing is within the harp and how much is in the interface?

Sent from my iPhone

[Brendan Power]

All tech answers are on Erik's website. Check the FAQ:
http://www.lekholminstruments.com/

Version: 2016.0.7998 / Virus Database: 4756/13868 - Release Date: 01/31/17

[Brendan Power]

It's all Erik's work, I'm just a Beta Tester J

Brendan

www.brendan-power.com <http://www.brendan-power.com/>

www.YouTube.com/BrendanPowerMusic

From: Blunt White [mailto:play...@hotmail.com]
Sent: 30 January 2017 16:16
To: Brendan Power; Harp L
Subject: Re: [Harp-L] MIDI HARMONICA PERFECTED - The LEKHOLM DM48

Huge innovation! Three cheers for Erik Lekholm and Brendon Power for
advancing the harmonica.

All the best,

Blunt White

Stonington, CT



_____

From: Harp-L <harp-l-...@harp-l.org> on behalf of Brendan Power
<br...@brendan-power.com>
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2017 8:11 AM
To: har...@harp-l.org
Subject: [Harp-L] MIDI HARMONICA PERFECTED - The LEKHOLM DM48



There have been several attempts at making a MIDI harmonica over the past 40
years, but none has been very successful. The Lekholm DM48 Digital Chromatic
Harmonica Controller at last gives harmonica players a real playable,
user-friendly way to access the incredible power of MIDI sounds and
functionality.



Swedish biomedical engineer and inventor Erik Lekholm sent me one of the
prototypes to test. Over the past month or so I made some suggestions for
this and that, and he quickly added new menus to do what I asked. That
configurability is impressive in itself, quite apart from all the rest of
it! Here's a video I made showing the stuff I found in this amazing box of
tricks:



DM48 DEMO VIDEO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwgIAFOnJVs

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwgIAFOnJVs>

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwgIAFOnJVs> The LEKHOLM DM48 - Amazing
MIDI Chromatic Harmonica

www.youtube.com

Erik Lekholm's brilliant new DM48 plays like a normal chromatic harmonica,
but gives the player access to a huge range of new sounds and functions via
MIDI c...

For further information/photos/videos/ordering, check out the DM48 website:



DM48 WEBSITE

http://www.lekholminstruments.com

<http://www.lekholminstruments.com/> DM48 Digital Chromatic Harmonica

www.lekholminstruments.com

Introduction. Introducing the Lekholm DM48 digital chromatic harmonica
controller. Twelve independent pressure sensors puts harmonica players in
control of a world of ...






Brendan

<http://www.brendan-power.com/> www.brendan-power.com


<http://www.brendan-power.com/>

<http://www.brendan-power.com/> Brendan Power Harmonica

www.brendan-power.com

Official site. Information, pictures, music clips, and albums. Sound
samples, instructional materials, and ordering information.




<http://www.brendan-power.com/>

<http://www.brendan-power.com/> Brendan Power Harmonica

www.brendan-power.com

Official site. Information, pictures, music clips, and albums. Sound
samples, instructional materials, and ordering information.




<http://www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic>


<http://www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic> YouTube

www.youtube.com

and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.



www.YouTube.com/BrendanPowerMusic


<http://www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic> YouTube

www.youtube.com

and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

No virus found in this message.

[David Brown]

Thanks for posting this Brendan! Any consideration on attempting a diatonic
version?

On Mon, Jan 30, 2017 at 7:11 AM, Brendan Power <br...@brendan-power.com>
wrote:

[Blunt White]

Huge innovation! Three cheers for Erik Lekholm and Brendon Power for advancing the harmonica.

All the best,

Blunt White

Stonington, CT

________________________________

From: Harp-L <harp-l-...@harp-l.org> on behalf of Brendan Power <br...@brendan-power.com>
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2017 8:11 AM
To: har...@harp-l.org
Subject: [Harp-L] MIDI HARMONICA PERFECTED - The LEKHOLM DM48

There have been several attempts at making a MIDI harmonica over the past 40
years, but none has been very successful. The Lekholm DM48 Digital Chromatic
Harmonica Controller at last gives harmonica players a real playable,
user-friendly way to access the incredible power of MIDI sounds and
functionality.



Swedish biomedical engineer and inventor Erik Lekholm sent me one of the
prototypes to test. Over the past month or so I made some suggestions for
this and that, and he quickly added new menus to do what I asked. That
configurability is impressive in itself, quite apart from all the rest of
it! Here's a video I made showing the stuff I found in this amazing box of
tricks:



DM48 DEMO VIDEO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwgIAFOnJVs

[https://www.bing.com/th?id=OVF.QSjDpeKpINhYl1p45deWBw&pid=Api]<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwgIAFOnJVs>

The LEKHOLM DM48 - Amazing MIDI Chromatic Harmonica<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwgIAFOnJVs>

www.youtube.com
Erik Lekholm's brilliant new DM48 plays like a normal chromatic harmonica, but gives the player access to a huge range of new sounds and functions via MIDI c...

For further information/photos/videos/ordering, check out the DM48 website:



DM48 WEBSITE

http://www.lekholminstruments.com

DM48 Digital Chromatic Harmonica<http://www.lekholminstruments.com/>

www.lekholminstruments.com
Introduction. Introducing the Lekholm DM48 digital chromatic harmonica controller. Twelve independent pressure sensors puts harmonica players in control of a world of ...

Brendan

<http://www.brendan-power.com/> www.brendan-power.com<http://www.brendan-power.com>

[http://brendan-power.com/images/india.jpg]<http://www.brendan-power.com/>

Brendan Power Harmonica<http://www.brendan-power.com/>

www.brendan-power.com
Official site. Information, pictures, music clips, and albums. Sound samples, instructional materials, and ordering information.

[http://brendan-power.com/images/india.jpg]<http://www.brendan-power.com/>

Brendan Power Harmonica<http://www.brendan-power.com/>

www.brendan-power.com
Official site. Information, pictures, music clips, and albums. Sound samples, instructional materials, and ordering information.




<http://www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic>

YouTube<http://www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic>

www.youtube.com
and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

www.YouTube.com/BrendanPowerMusic<http://www.YouTube.com/BrendanPowerMusic>

YouTube<http://www.youtube.com/BrendanPowerMusic>

[Richard Hunter]

I followed the link supplied by Brendan to the DM48 website. I think that
this is a very interesting development, and potentially a powerful addition
to the harmonica player's toolkit.

However, I think that most players will find that this instrument must be
approached as a new instrument, not simply as a harmonica with the ability
to control a wide range of synthesizers. Lekholm says as much on their
website. "Compared to an acoustic harmonica, the DM48 is less expressive
in many ways..." Players who've mastered a range of expressive techniques
on harmonica will find that they need to learn a bunch of new techniques in
order to get the most from this instrument. Some players have difficulty
transitioning from diatonic harmonicas to chromatics; I think such players
will find the transition to this instrument to be even more difficult.

That said, this is pretty exciting stuff. Plenty of harmonica players
already double on other instruments, so why not this? The range of new
sounds (and roles for the harmonica player) is potentially infinite. The
tuning editor alone opens up dramatic possibilities in terms of what chord
sequences can be played on the instrument.

21st century harmonica, indeed.

Regards, RIchard Hunter
--
"The Lucky One" 21st century rock harmonica project at
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/richard-hunter-s-the-lucky-one/x/5259889#/
Author, "Jazz Harp" (Oak Publications, NYC)
Latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://hunterharp.com
Vids at http://www.youtube.com/user/lightninrick
Twitter: @lightninrick­­­‪­‪­­­‪‪­­‪­‪­‪­­­­‪­­‪‪‪­‪‪­­­‪­‪­­­­‪‪­­‪­‪­­­­

[Richard Hunter]

Final comment on this (for today anyway): the initial asking price of 650
Euros (well over $700 US) may be a problem for many players. It's a high
price for a MIDI hardware controller; MIDI keyboard controllers sell at
prices well under $100 for a 5-octave controller. Add to that the cost of a
hardware synthesizer and we're well into the $1000-plus range. However,
anyone with an iPad can certainly get a nice software synth, plus a MIDI
interface kit, for well under $100, and that's not an undue burden; though
I suspect that most harp players are much more knowledgeable about the
differences between Seydel, Hohner, and Suzuki harps than they are about
differences between software synthesizers. So there's a learning curve AND
a cost curve to be overcome.

That said, I have little doubt that one of these things is in my future. I
already own a bunch of nice software synths, and they can certainly do
stuff that I can't do with a harp and a Digitech RP.

Regards, Richard Hunter

On Tue, Jan 31, 2017 at 2:57 PM, Richard Hunter <rhunt...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> I followed the link supplied by Brendan to the DM48 website. I think that
> this is a very interesting development, and potentially a powerful addition
> to the harmonica player's toolkit.
>

[Richard Hunter]

Sheltraw wrote:
<Nice!
<
<How much of the processing is within the harp and how much is in the
interface?

As I understand it from the material on the website, the DM48 is a
controller; it is not a self-contained musical instrument. A controller by
definition doesn't do synthesis--it merely sends commands to a synthesizer
(like note-on, note-off, increase volume, etc.), which then applies those
commands to whatever sound is running on the synth.

In other words, the DM48 doesn't make sounds. It controls devices that
make sounds. Photos of the DM48 on the website clearly show that there are
no reeds, or any other kind of physical sound-generating mechanism, inside
it. You won't get a sound out of the DM48 unless and until you connect it
(via a MIDI cable) to a synthesizer. That's part of the learning curve for
this thing.

Regards, Richard Hunter

[Richard Hunter]

The price is certainly reasonable for the initial production runs on a new
device. Plasma TVs cost a whole lot when they were introduced too.

As with any new device, there are risks as well as potential advantages in
being the first to buy.

If I were the developer, I'd sell the works to Suzuki or Yamaha and get a
consulting contract to continue with development. The prices would go
down, availability would go up, and everybody would be happy.

Regards, Richard Hunter

On Tue, Jan 31, 2017 at 3:22 PM, Stephen <subdom...@yahoo.com> wrote:

> The price seems reasonable considering they are buying parts in small
> numbers and building them by hand. On the plus side it seems like firmware
> updates will be supported for the near future. So I jumped on the
> waitlist...but of course there's always a chance that they will make
> improvements that can't be addressed by updates and you'll be left with a
> midi dinosaur when version 2.0 comes out. On the other hand they might get
> tired of making them and then you missed out on the chance to get a really
> unique instrument.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Jan 31, 2017, at 3:06 PM, Richard Hunter <rhunt...@gmail.com>

[jon kip]

Ok, I get it now...this entire MIDI thread was just so BP could come up with this final, quotable, killer sentence....

> You can keep your keyboards Vern - I'd rather put my MIDI where my mouth is.


jon kip
j...@jonkip.com

[Stephen via Harp-L]

The price seems reasonable considering they are buying parts in small numbers and building them by hand. On the plus side it seems like firmware updates will be supported for the near future. So I jumped on the waitlist...but of course there's always a chance that they will make improvements that can't be addressed by updates and you'll be left with a midi dinosaur when version 2.0 comes out. On the other hand they might get tired of making them and then you missed out on the chance to get a really unique instrument.

Sent from my iPhone

[Lew Aldridge]

Hi All

Interesting development and good discussion. I'd love to have one but at this stage of development it's far too expensive for me. While I used Midi keyboards for a number of years I agree that to obtain the expertise to get anywhere the dynamics of a wind instrument takes a lot of practising. However, there is another option, that is, to use the windcontrollers made by Akai and more recently Roland. I have no experience of the Roland but have used an Akai EWI 4000 for a couple of years. Yamaha also produce a controller but it seems to be very much aimed at players who want playing to be as near to a sax/clarinet etc as possible.

The EWI is very easy to learn to play and as well as a midi output it has its own on-board synth. It is fingered like a sax, clarinet or optionally a trumpet, but instead of physical switch keys the fingers just touch contacts. I was able to play reasonable tunes within a couple of hours and BTW I had no previous experience of any wind instrument other than harmonica. Like most MIDI controllers it has transpose functions on the instrument so you don't need to learn scales/arpeggios in each key which makes it easier to get going on the instrument. Akai also do a USB version which plays via a soft synth in a computer and is considerably cheaper.

My rig has evolved over the last 2 years, solo parts are played through a Yamaha VL-70m synth with a Patchman Turbo chip - i.e.on board professionally produced patches which are excellent. This synth was produced especially for wind controllers but unfortunately is no longer in production. However, Patchman produces excellent sound banks for a wide variety of synths and I also use his patches in a Roland XV2020 and they sound very good (Google Patchman for an interesting site). I have set up so that I can pull in the Roland - which can play polyphonic parts e.g. brass sections, via a volume pedal, for ensemble parts.

The EWI is linked to the synths via a CME Widi wireless midi transmitter which fits in my shirt pocket so I can play away from the synths and PA. Easy to set up - just plug in and go. I like to stand at the bar and play while the rest of the band are on stage. It's amusing watching the audience looking puzzled as to why there is no sax player on stage which of course is where the sound is coming from.

While it isn't a harmonica it is much more intuitive for a wind player than a keyboard and may answer the needs of those who are interested in exploring the possibilities of midi.



---
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[Slim Heilpern]

I would just add that you can also get a breath controller that you wear like headphones that will work along side any MIDI keyboard controller. Yamaha used to make one (check EBay) — requires a little unit to translate and merge the output of the breath controller with the MIDI stream (the one I have is by Anatek and called “Wind Machine”, but there are others like it out there, the hard part is probably finding the breath controller itself.

But, the midi harmonica is a nice simple package and is certainly appealing to those of us who’ve already developed chromatic chops. I find that I play a synth differently with different controllers (I’m specifically thinking of the difference between guitar and keyboard controllers).

And Lekholm Instruments has now posted the manual online:

http://lekholminstruments.com/DM48_Manual.pdf

As I expected, you can set up the sensitivity for both volume (expression or breath continuous controller messages) and bending (pitch bend messages). So you could, for instance, turn off the breath-to-expression output and use a continuous controller pedal for that instead, reserving breath pressure for pitch bend only.

However, for my wish list, I think the addition of a little pitch bend wheel built into the controller would be welcome by most players, also a setting that would toggle the program change button(s?) to pull up different tuning presets ;-). Perhaps for the second generation…

There is an existing feature that sounds interesting to me: it can output each hole through a separate MIDI channel — you could have a different patch for each hole, or use it for some pretty cool stereo or surround effects….

- Slim.

www.SlimAndPenny.com

> On Feb 2, 2017, at 1:29 AM, Lew Aldridge <lewis.a...@uwclub.net> wrote:
>
> Hi All
>
> Interesting development and good discussion. I'd love to have one but at this stage of development it's far too expensive for me. While I used Midi keyboards for a number of years I agree that to obtain the expertise to get anywhere the dynamics of a wind instrument takes a lot of practising. However, there is another option, that is, to use the windcontrollers made by Akai and more recently Roland. I have no experience of the Roland but have used an Akai EWI 4000 for a couple of years. Yamaha also produce a controller but it seems to be very much aimed at players who want playing to be as near to a sax/clarinet etc as possible.

> ...