Patchset for harmonica and Digitech RP250/350

[lightninrick]

Hi all,

I've released version 1.0 of my patch set for amplified harmonica players using the Digitech RP250/350 amp/effects modeler pedals. (Yeah, I know it's a little unusual. But so is a planet with intelligent life in this universe.) Harmonica players currently using an amped setup owe it to themselves to check this out.

The set includes:
- 21 patches for the Shure 545SD mic
- 16 patches for the Fireball V mic
- 15 patches for the Bottle o' Blues mic
- 10 patches for the Astatic JT30VC mic

The patches are of course optimized for particular mics, but many of the patches designed for one mic work well with one or more of the others also. The Shure 545 and Fireball V patches work well with a wide range of "stick" vocal mics, and the Astatic set works well with other bullet-type mics. The fact is that bullet-type mics just don't have the frequency range to do clean sounds very well, so the sets for the Astatic and Bottle o' Blues are focused on amped tones, while the Shure and Fireball sets include a range of clean tones as well.

Every mic set includes basic patches for blues and rock, plus patches with widely usable effects such as an octave shifter and rotary (Leslie) speaker. I've also created a few patches that are pretty extreme, just to show what can be done with the RP250/350. Within each mic grouping, I've done my best to keep feedback away and make the volume from patch to patch as close as possible. With a good PA or keyboard amp on the back end, the results are terrific.

The patch set ships with a spreadsheet that lists all the patches in the set and gives hints on how to use them, plus a README file containing more information on how to get the most out of the set and the RP250/350.

RP250 users can load the entire patch set as a bulk load in a single step with Digitech's X-edit software (available from Digitech's web site). For RP350 users, the set is provided as individual patches, organized both by amp model and by microphone, and these also can be loaded (in this case one at a time) via the X-edit software.

I have decided not to convert the patch set for use with the RP150, in particular because many of the patches won't work as designed without an expression pedal. If you're an RP150 owner and wish to use the patch set, please contact me offlist.

A license to use the patch set can be purchased for $25. If you're interested in more information, please contact me at turtlehill@earthlink.net.