"Resin", "Wood" and "Metal" are sounds just make you feel the material, not of a real harmonica. Similarly, "Clarinet", "Saxophone" and "Flute" are synthetic sounds, not real sound samples.
| Sound Name | Characteristic |
|---|---|
| Resin | Tone similar to ordinary harmonica. |
| Wood | Slightly softer than "Resin", with a gentle attack and quick release. |
| Metal | Slightly harder than "Resin", with a sharp attack and slow release. |
| Hollow | A feeling of emptiness due to less fundamental part of harmonics. |
| SawTooth | Containing all the harmonics. |
| Stringed | Sharper than "SawTooth", similar to the sound of a stringed instrument. |
| Square | Containing only odd harmonics. |
| Clarinet | Triangle waveform: softer sound than that of a square wave. |
| Saxophone | Woodwind sound close to that of a saxophone. |
| Flute | Close to the sound of flute, or whistle. |
| ScaleCheck | A logical tone for checking the scale of the harmonic editor. |
| SineWave | A pure tone; close to the sound of tuning fork. |
Most are popular tuning names, but some are unique to this app.
B.P represents breath pattern; R: Richter, C: Chromatic, U: Unified
| Tuning Name | B.P | Alteration | Characteristic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Major | R | - | The most common regular 10 hole diatonic harmonica tuning. 2nd position is Mixolydian mode: a great scale for blues and rock music. |
| Natural Minor | R | 3rd, 6th and 7th notes of Major tuning are lowered 1 semitone. | 1st position is Aeolian mode; this allows you to play minor tune intuitively. |
| Harmonic Minor | R | 3rd and 6th notes of Major tuning are lowered 1 semitone. | A variant of Natural Minor: 7th note is raised 1 semitone to work as a leading note; suited for playing minor folk melodies. |
| Jazz Minor | R | 3rd note of Major tuning is lowered 1 semitone. | A variant of Harmonic Minor: 6th note is raised 1 semitone to resolve the gap between 6th and 7th notes. |
| Country | R | Hole 5 drawing (lower side) note of Major tuning is raised 1 semitone. | In 2nd position, major scale containing major 7th note is available along the middle octave: suitable for playing melodies, especially country music styles. |
| Major-7th | R | Hole 5 and 9 drawing (lower side) notes of Major tuning are raised 1 semitone. | In 2nd position, major scale containing major 7th note is available along the middle and upper octaves: more suitable for playing melodies. |
| Major-7th Melody | R | Hole 3 blowing (upper side) note of Major-7th tuning is raised by 1 tone. | The tuning called Melody Maker™: complete major diatonic scale is available in 2nd position; this makes it very suitable for playing melodies and several main diatonic chords. |
| Solo | C | A typical tuning for chromatic harmonica. | Tip: You can play this instrument as a tiny chromatic harmonica with this tuning and the "Slide" feature. |
| Solo High | C | Octave higher than Solo tuning. | It can be used for play like a whistling with the sound close to a sine-wave. | Bebop | U | Spare root note of Solo tuning is changed to minor 7th. | It makes a chromatic harmonica to have unified breath pattern and to get a consecutive chromatic sequence from 6th to root, including minor 7th: suitable for jazz playing. |
| Spiral | U | The diatonic scale is assigned in sequence from blow to draw along all holes. | Also called "Circular": there is no missing note in the major scale, and you can play all diatonic chords of the scale. |
| Spiral Minor7th | U | 7th note of Spiral tuning is lowered 1 semitone | One position off compared to Spiral tuning: 1st position is Mixolydian mode; major scale is in 12th position. |
| Dorian | R | Hole 3 and 7 drawing (lowe side) notes of Major tuning are lowered 1 semitone. | 2nd position is Dorian mode which the player familiar with the 2nd position can easily play with. |
| Easy Third | R | Hole 2 and 3 drawing (lower side) notes of Major tuning are lowered 1 tone. | In 3rd position, scale and chord of the minor tonic in lower scale are available with no bending; very suitable for minor melodies and chord play. |
| Paddy Richter | R | Hole 3 blowing (upper side) note of Major tuning is raised 1 tone. | 6th note changed from 5th makes it easier to play the pentatonic scale. Great for melodic music such as Irish and Celtic music. |
| PowerBender | U | The layout higher than hole 5 has been changed. | Repositioning important notes to drawing side where is easy to bend, so that it reduces the need to use difficult over-blows and gets fluent breath pattern. |
| PowerDraw | U | Restored the allocation of hole 5 and 6 of PowerBender to Richter tuning. | A combination of the good parts of standard Richter tuning and PowerBender tuning. |
| Diminished | U | Eight notes per octave are regularly arranged by the parts of 1W-1H. | Combining the 1 semitone draw bending, it is possible to make all notes of the chromatic scale. |
Notation and various interval expressions.
| Notation | Musical Term | Interval Steps | Semitones |
|---|---|---|---|
| root name | Perfect Unison | 0 | 0 |
| m2 | minor 2nd | 1H (Half) | 1 |
| 2 | Major 2nd | 1W (Whole) | 2 |
| m3 | minor 3rd | 1W + 1H | 3 |
| 3 | Major 3rd | 2W | 4 |
| 4 | Perfect 4th | 2W + 1H | 5 |
| +4 (-5) | Augmented 4th (Diminished 5th) | 3W | 6 |
| 5 | Perfect 5th | 3W + 1H | 7 |
| m6 | minor 6th | 4W | 8 |
| 6 | Major 6th | 4W + 1H | 9 |
| m7 | minor 7th | 5W | 10 |
| 7 | Major 7th | 5W + 1H | 11 |
Notation of each note constituting diatonic chord.
Tip: This can be a cheat sheet for the chord playing with "Interval" notation.
| Diatonic Chord | Base note | 3rd note | 5th note | 6th note | 7th note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tonic | root | 3 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| Dominant | 5 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Sub Dominant | 4 | 6 | root | 2 | 3 |
| Ⅱ minor | 2 | 4 | 6 | 7 | root |
| Ⅲ minor | 3 | 5 | 7 | root | 2 |
| Ⅵ minor | 6 | root | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Ⅶ diminished | 7 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
Root note for position in key from G to F#
Note: In Major tuning, 7th to 11th position has no root note, so these positions are not normally used.
| Key (1st) | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | 11th | 12th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | D | A | E | B | F# | D♭ | A♭ | E♭ | B♭ | F | C |
| A♭ | E♭ | B♭ | F | C | G | D | A | E | B | F# | D♭ |
| A | E | B | F# | D♭ | A♭ | E♭ | B♭ | F | C | G | D |
| B♭ | F | C | G | D | A | E | B | F# | D♭ | A♭ | E♭ |
| B | F# | D♭ | A♭ | E♭ | B♭ | F | C | G | D | A | E |
| C | G | D | A | E | B | F# | D♭ | A♭ | E♭ | B♭ | F |
| D♭ | A♭ | E♭ | B♭ | F | C | G | D | A | E | B | F# |
| D | A | E | B | F# | D♭ | A♭ | E♭ | B♭ | F | C | G |
| E♭ | B♭ | F | C | G | D | A | E | B | F# | D♭ | A♭ |
| E | B | F# | D♭ | A♭ | E♭ | B♭ | F | C | G | D | A |
| F | C | G | D | A | E | B | F# | D♭ | A♭ | E♭ | B♭ |
| F# | D♭ | A♭ | E♭ | B♭ | F | C | G | D | A | E | B |
Position for mode in various tunings.
| Tuning | Ionian | Mixolydian | Dorian | Aeolian | Phyrgian | Locrian | Lydian |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Major | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5nd | 6th | 12th |
| Natural Minor | 10th | 11th | 12th | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 9th |
| Country *1 | *2 | *2 | *2 | *2 | *2 | *2 | *2 |
| Major 7th | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 1st |
| Major-7th Melody | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 1st |
| Solo | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5nd | 6th | 12th |
| Spiral | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5nd | 6th | 12th |
| Spiral Minor7th | 12th | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 11th |
| Dorian | 12th | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 11th |
| Easy 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5nd | 6th | 12th |
| Paddy Richter | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5nd | 6th | 12th |
| PowerBender | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5nd | 6th | 12th |
| PowerDraw | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5nd | 6th | 12th |
1: Country tuning contains different modes in upper and lower of the scale.
2: Upper of the scale is same as Major but lower of the scale is same as Major 7th.
Note: Here is a very brief overview; details may be found in various music theory books.
| Mode | Type | Characteristic | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ionian | Major | Same as the Major scale: bright and very suitable for melodies and chords | "Let It Be", "Mozart’s Piano Sonata No.16" |
| Mixolydian | Major | Includeing minor 7th: great blues scale, heard all over rock, blues, jazz, funk etc. | “Norwegian Wood” |
| Dorian | Minor | Minor scale with major 6th: melancholic but bit a brighter, used in lots of Celtic and Irish music | "Scarborough Fair", "Eleanor Rigby" |
| Aeolian | Minor | Natural minor scale: suited for playing in a minor key | "All along the watchtower" |
| Phrygian | Minor | Including minor 2nd: dark, ambiguous and mysterious, also called Spanish Gypsy Scale | "Hungarian Rhapsody No.2" |
| Locrian | Minor | Including diminished 5th: unstable, dissonant | |
| Lydian | Major | Including augmented 4th: meandering and lack of direction, widely used in jazz | Theme of "The Simpsons" |
A correct sound data and tuning data can be imported via the device clipboard; conversely, the sound data placed on the sound-shelf can be exported via the device clipboard.
You can paste the exported data into another application such as Memo or Mail, and can view, edit, copy and send it.
Note: When editing these data on the device, it is necessary to turn off the "Smart Punctuation" of the device to make it proper:
Settings > General > Keyboard > Smart Punctuation.
When selecting a sound in the settings screen, if valid sound data is found in the device's clipboard, the paste button at the top right of the selector wheel becomes available.
Tap it and a dialog will appear asking if you want to import the data.
Note: Pay attention to the data name. Built-in data with the same name will be overwritten on import.
When selecting a tuning in the settings screen, if valid tuning data is found in the device's clipboard, the paste button at the top right of the selector wheel becomes available.
Tap it and a dialog will appear asking if you want to import the data.
Note: Pay attention to the data name. Built-in data with the same name will be overwritten on import.
The sound data contains following items described in JSON format.
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| name | Name of this sound data. |
| partials | Array of 20 numbers of the harmonic level having the value from -1 to 1. |
| attack | The attack (rise up) time in seconds. |
| subattack | The delay time of higher harmonics in seconds; usually 0 |
| release | The release (fall down) time in seconds. |
An example of the sound data is shown below.
{
"name":"Triangle",
"partials":[1.000, 0, -0.111, 0, 0.040, 0, -0.020, 0, 0.012, 0, -0.008, 0, 0.006, 0, -0.004, 0, 0.003, 0, -0.003, 0],
"attack":0.03,
"subattack":0,
"release":0.33
}
The tuning data contains following items described in JSON format.
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| name | Name of this tuning data. |
| blow | Array of the blowing note number. |
| draw | Array of the drawing note number. |
| blowLift | Array of blowing deviation in cents; usually 0 |
| drawLift | Array of drawing deviation in cents; usually 0 |
Each array in the data structure has the length of 10 same as a harmonica holes count.
The note number of each element is represented by a chromatic offset from note C4; for example: D4 is 2, B3 is -1 and of course C4 is 0.
This application handles the tuning data assuming that key is "C", therefore note number 0 is actually note of C4 when the key setting is "C";
with these in mind, you are free to design any scale you like.
"blowLift" and "drawLift" can be used for fine tuning in cents.
An example of the tuning data is shown below.
{
"name":"Major",
"blow":[ 0, 4, 7, 12, 16, 19, 24, 28, 31, 36],
"draw":[ 2, 7, 11, 14, 17, 21, 23, 26, 29, 33],
"blowLift":[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0],
"drawLift":[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]
}
Note: Extremely out-of-range values in the data will be validated upon import.