Hi my name is John, im a clockmaker by trade im in Liverpool Uk , new to the harmonica, had one in my draw for a few years decided to give it a go & have a bit of fun
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Unreasonable but yes!
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You’ll have all the tool for gapping etc.vwith you know how you could probably customize them!
I’m Ronnie Schreiber and I make the Harmonicaster electric harmonica
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@Wildbravado welcome to the forum David from Hong Kong! I’m so glad you’re digging the content. I’m curious, are you doing the Beginner to Boss course, or just free lessons on the site? Yes, I’ve learned a lot from “stale” teachers as you say! 
You gotta really be motivated to stick with it! ha. Thank you for your kind words. I really appreciate it!
@Chasinmendo - welcome to the community! Thanks for sharing you story. I’m almost exclusively a diatonic player, but so thrilled that more and more chromatic players are joining the forum here! Rock on! 
@Harmonicaster wow Ronnie so cool to have you join us. I’m honored. Been buried in work lately, but definitely looking forward to checking out your electric harmonica in the future. Welcome! 
@Luke
I also don’t love all technology (autotunes, etc.).
I started using the Logic Environment from its very first versions, and I found it extraordinary right away because it allows you to do almost anything with MIDI. However, I struggled with it for months and months in the beginning, about 30 years ago. 
What fascinated me the most is how creative it can be. At the time, Logic didn’t have many features, but you could create your own setups to save time in later sessions. Today, unless you want to create personal and unique configurations, the Environment can be skipped since many features can now be accessed through other windows. Still, it remains a one-of-a-kind tool.
Below is an example of the setup I created for the Korg 03R/W when Logic was running on Windows. It’s still fully functional even in the latest version of Logic.
The strength of the Environment is that it provides all the tools you need for MIDI manipulation, serving your creativity.
For instance, one creative project I worked on involved building a static MIDI sequence where, while playing live with Logic’s timeline stopped, I used an electronic drum kit (although I could have used an acoustic drum kit with triggers). I played the kick drum live, and it would follow and play the entire bassline of a specific song (actually producing the bass sound with the kick pedal). The ride cymbal would trigger chords or melody from the whole score with any sound I wanted. Hypothetically, I could even wear a harmonica holder and improvise live on a diatonic harmonica, but unfortunately, I’m still a beginner with that instrument.
Of course, these are extreme setups that require patient programming. As in the example above, you need to manually create hundreds of objects in the Environment to achieve your goal.
Today, however, with the advent of the Web MIDI API, the same things can be done with just a few steps, pushing creativity even further, especially in education, if you have a solid knowledge of JavaScript and other web programming languages. For example, I have a good understanding of JavaScript, and since I’ve fallen in love with the diatonic harmonica
, I’m refining a web software that simulates a diatonic harmonica in a Synthesia-like style.
In fact, since I had already been working for two years on a Synthesia-style piano project for educational purposes, it was relatively easy to adapt the same MIDI engine and create the graphics to simulate the diatonic harmonica.
The initial goal was to read MIDI files and instantly know the hole correspondences to learn songs quickly with synchronized video guidance and the backing track from the same MIDI file. Then, I realized I could use it for other purposes, such as:
- Providing references for all bends in all keys and creating specific exercises to practice bends while having the correct pitch reference from the MIDI-simulated harmonica.
- Writing scores in Sibelius or MIDI sequences in Logic and automatically generating synchronized audio and video sequences with simulation and graphical guidance.
- Processing scores in MusicXML format and automatically adding the corresponding harmonica hole below each note.
Additionally, the software provides an immediate summary of how many and which holes will be used and how many of them require blows, draws, or bends.
To simplify reading Synthesia-style videos, I didn’t use traditional harmonica tablature but opted for colors that specify, for each of the ten holes:
- Red: Blow
- Green: Draw
- Yellow: Bend -1 (draw)
- Turquoise: Bend -2 (draw)
- Orange: Bend -3 (draw)
- Brown: Bend -1 (blow)
- Blue: Bend -2 (blow)
Below is a link to my Google Drive, where you can download some example videos I’ve prepared.
- Audio-video exercise/reference to check the intonation of the bends on hole 1 and 4 of a diatonic harmonica in C.
In this example, I’ve added a small accompaniment with drums, bass, and piano. - Audio-video exercise/reference to check the intonation of the bends on hole 2.
- My arrangement of a very famous Christmas song in Italy (“Tu scendi dalle stelle” / “From Starry Skies Thou Comest”).
This piece doesn’t have bends, only blow and draw notes, and leaves space for free improvisation at the end.
I’m fascinated by your connection with this instrument, both when you play and when you teach.
I’d be truly grateful if you could watch and listen to the videos I’ve sent you and let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.
Thank you, Luke.
Gerardo