That looks very sweet. Especially if you're not already using a DAW like Logic or Pro-Tools. A generous gift to the harp playing community. It would be really great if a version was available as a plug-in. ---------- Bone's music videos
I had the same situation and wrote to John as follows: Thankyou. I downloaded the app twice for my iMac and both times, I received a message that said the app was corrupt; would not open and to put it in the Trash. I hope this is useful to you? Owen
He responded as such:
Thanks, Owen.
That seems to be Apple’s way of discouraging 3rd party developers from choosing not to release through them. (To be fair, though, it’s also a stated security measure).
David Barrett was actually the first to discover that message a couple months back, and it’s what he’s referring to on the Bluesharmonica.com download page when he says:
(If you receive a warning message you may need to go to System Preferences > Security > Allow apps downloaded from: “Anywhere")
Let me know if you try that and still have any issues installing the app.
And thanks for pointing this out; I’m sure it is a problem others may need clarification on!
- John
John Shirley - Professor of Music Mass Lowell
I tried again as described and the app tried to load but told me I had to get a legacy version of Java which I decided wasn't worth the effort. I'm hoping this kludgy software can be improved so it's easier to work with and I don't need a software background to understand what I'm doing. Also the investment for the Jam interface is expensive and I'm not sure if my microphone will work with it. Too many variables for me.
This is a really nice piece of work. Packed with features and definitely worth any little bit of setup effort for home recording, practice amped technique, or just playing around with different sounds.
If this software could be put into a pedal that would fantastic, but I expect it's too niche.
Thank you Prof. Shirley!
EDIT: I've explored a bit further and it's got many features. One great one IMO is that when you record the play back, you can switching between hearing the raw input signal and the output from the 'amp'. If you ever wondered which bits of your sound are your down to your acoustic technique, and which bits are provided by the amp - here's a way to settle that conclusively.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Jul 10, 2016 7:31 AM
Thanks for checking out the app. I wish I could promise that it would just take a double-click to install for everyone, but that’s not the way of computers: …too many variables between systems.
Compared to the commercial software solutions available to accomplish similar ends, The Blue Dadi may or may not be more difficult to install (I’ve had commercial app installs that take the better part of a day and multiple calls to tech support), but it is more straightforward to use than most (esp for blues harp students) and is certainly more cost effective….
;-)
In terms of flexibility of interfacing, The Blue Dadi excels. It can work with any audio interface you have installed, including your computer’s own built-in version, and any microphone that’s properly connected and gain-staged (just like an amp, PA recorder or other audio device). It can even work with the built in computer mic but you’d need to be extra careful to avoid feedback (and you’d certainly want to change the effect parameters to find a decent tone).
Anyway, here are the things you may encounter on install:
- On a Mac, some may find the install as simple as double clicking, and others may find they need to go through one or two two further steps: 1) change the security preference (as noted above) and 2) install a particular version of Java (I included the Java install file in the Blue Dadi "other" subfolder).
- PC users may also find it works straight away, or find they need to install a particular .dll file from Microsoft (something like MSVCP120.dll). If that’s the case, the system will request it and the file can be found through the Microsoft site.
I got all manner of warning messages from Kaspersky, my internet security software when I installed on my Windows 10 laptop. But I told Kaspersky to accept the changes to my registry, etc. and The Blue Dadi now runs without hitch.
Now I have to figure out how I want to use it. I don't record much solo playing in front of my computer. I can see how I could lay in a track over another recording in Audacity. Say, record a track over a backing track. That would be good for reviewing or assessing my playing. But it seems to me that would be a pretty limited application of The Blue Dadi (TBD).
It would be of greater interest to me to be able to use it in a live setting, say in a band on stage or in a studio situation. I could use TBD through my laptop into a PA instead of using an amp or my little antique Digitech RP50 with Richard Hunter's patches. I could record an entire set at the same time as using TBD features. I could save presets for the sound profile I want to use for the different songs we play and switch to them in TBD on the fly.
So John, is this realistic scenario for how you envision TBD in use? If so, how would you characterize the differences, pluses and minuses of TBD versus my HunterSounds-equipped RP50? What other approaches might you envision for your little software gem?
Lastly, you've piqued my curiosity. What does "DADI" stand for?
Thank you both for your generosity in gifting us with TBD and for helping us understand how best to use it.
Michelle
---------- SilverWing Leather - Custom leather creations for musicians and other eccentrics.
I’m glad you got The Blue Dadi installed and that you’re thinking about its possible uses for your needs.
Also, thanks for your great questions and observations!
(and, btw, congrats on getting your great cases into the Rockin’ Rons catalog!!!)
A number of people have asked about how well The Blue Dadi may work in a live situation and all I can say is “I’m not sure… it’s not what it was intended for.”
The Blue Dadi v1d was written and configured to get good blues/rock harp tone for use in practice and basic recording (solo or overdubbing on a jam track), as well as for mixing that recording. This makes it well suited for students and folks who like to make/share home recordings of themselves.
Personally, for getting good tone in a live situation, I would still reach for something more robust and intended for that use… like an amp, a Digitech RP or a pedal from Lone Wolf. I say that mainly for two reasons:
1) The Blue Dadi, and its presets, have not been optimized to resist feedback through a PA.
2) Personal computers are notoriously “temperamental” compared to dedicated, fixed platforms.
That said, it may be possible that people find TBD works well in live situations, especially if they build their own presets to that end. If people do write presets that work well live, or any other presets they really dig, please consider sharing and send them my way (attach the “BDadi_v1a.maxpresets” file located in the Blue Dadi folder to an email to john_shirley@uml.edu). Refer to the user manual, and tutorial videos on Bluesharmonica.com, for more on naming and saving user presets.
Regardless, I’m glad you and others have expressed an interest in varied applications and feature sets. It gives me something to consider for the future….
— As for other approaches people may choose to take, I’ll offer a note on the extended use of The Blue Dadi for recording:
Warning: Geek Speak below! The following is intended for those who are “into” computers and doing mutli-track recording work on them….
;-)
In a studio situation where more complicated multitrack recording, layering and/or editing is called for, The Blue Dadi’s recording features will certainly not cut it: you will need to use a commercial DAW (like Audacity, ProTools, Cubase, Logic Pro, etc…). While that negates the need for the recording portion of The Blue Dadi, it may still be very useful for getting your harp tone!
Like most amps on the market, DAWs are not specifically geared towards getting good blues harp tones all on their own. For instance, Audacity is a great program (and also available for free) but it’s feature set does not include effects made to achieve those bluesy harp tones without further devices or software (like a pedal, amp or amp emulator plug-in).
The Blue Dadi, however, can be used in conjunction with most any DAW by using Rewire or Soundflower to bus audio between programs. This will allow you to send audio back and forth between the two applications, making The Blue Dadi act like a plug-in for the main DAW, allowing you to sculpt harp tone in TBD while using your multitrack DAW for the more complex recording, editing and mixing tasks. In this setup, your recorded harp tone would not be final: you could change it at will!
That’s a very exciting and unique, if very techy, use of The Blue Dadi I know some will take full advantage of!
Finally, as for your curiosity about the name, be careful what you wish for:
DADI = Digital Audio, Dynamic Integration
Again, very nerdy… but it does describe a bit about my design approach, especially as it relates to the programming of the tone sculpting algorithms.
For DAW integration you could look into a java vst wrapper to make it more user friendly. There's a couple around, but not sure how up to date they are.
VST is pretty much the standard, and while you can do rewire/soundflower etc it's not as simple.
When faced with a new bit of software, peoples' first reaction is often to say how they'd like it different before really exploring what it can do. Understandable, but you'd be missing a trick because for those of us practising amped harp at home, sitting in front of a computer, recording our progress, playing solo or to backing tracks, this is...
- Available now and it works - Has an amazing harp-specific model. Far, far better IMO than the guitar-oriented Digitech RPs. - Free!
That said, please John can you crowd-fund a development to put it in a pedal for live use :) There's probably a tiny, niche market but hey.
Any slight complications with using it with your setup? User interface not exactly as you'd like? Just compare with the effort, time, expense of experimenting with old amps and component swaps.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Jul 13, 2016 11:02 PM
Hey John, Would love to go to SPAH but unfortunately unable to attend. I think Conor is doing a session on tech for learning harp, which should be interesting.
Happy to chat about Harp app development anytime!
Drop me a line via my contact form I'll ping you back. Lets get together virtually to bounce ideas around.
Thanks for the detailed reply and the kind words, John.
In spite of your caveats I am still interested in using TBD both for practice sessions and live performances.
I need to sit down with the manual and videos to assess the degree of difficulty in making my own presets. I've done a fair amount of programming but mostly for numerical analysis, not this sort of thing.
I'm not sure of the practical impact of TBD's current lack of feedback suppression anyway. You seem to be sensitized to it. Do you have experience that warrants that? I have an original Audix Fireball mic' which is very much feedback resistant on it's own. Plus stage placement has a huge impact on feedback. Just where you stand can make all the difference regardless of which mic' is used. A new preset may not be necessary. I'll just have to try it.
A TBD plugin for Audacity would be incredibly cool. Being able to twiddle your sound post hoc in a multi-track setting would be very exiting. I've never even heard of Rewire or Soundflower though. I sense a steep learning curve for which I just don't have the time, but I'll have to look into it. [It seems a natural extension of your work to do this for TBD but you've already been too generous. Maybe Komuso can give you a nudge in the right direction? Maybe even make a smart phone App for it? ;^) ]
Bottom line, this is a very exciting development that I think has the capacity to change the way we create, record, and manipulate the way we sound. I see far broader potential for it beyond recording yourself practicing.
I love out-of-the-box thinking. (Although paradoxically, you're taking all this possibility out of one box (the amp or amp emulator) and into another (the computer)). I love it!
Kudos, John and please keep us informed of any future developments (hint, hint...).
Michelle
---------- SilverWing Leather - Custom leather creations for musicians and other eccentrics.
Last Edited by mlefree on Jul 15, 2016 4:04 AM
1. Record your dry harp track in Audacity as normal. 2. Save just the dry harp to a .wav file. 3. Load into The Blue Dadi and re-dadi it. 4. Save the dadi'd track to a .wav file 5. Import into Audacity, where you can treat it like any other part of the mix.
There's a huge range of sonic tools you can use to manipulate harmonica in a DAW, such as Guitar Rig
Also a variety of other signal processing VST's ranging from free to expensive and anything in between.
It takes a lot of effort to develop, deploy, and support software (despite the current narrative that it's easy to "just make an app with one click!") so deciding which way to go with development depends on a lot of factors.
It's true, and I've tried quite few plugins and found some useful settings. I think The Blue Dadi is the best I've heard, partly for subjective reasons - it sounds particularly good to me. Partly though for objective reasons: the choice of features.
As usual, MBH threads go off on a tangent. John has written the TBD aimed at playing along to backing tracks, getting a great amped-harp sound, and recording it. That's how I practice, and I expect so do a lot of other people.
It's also got enough flexibility to use in a DAW for the (I expect) very few who want to do serious recording. Compared with other aspects of studio recording, it's trivial to use.
On the beginner's forum there's a lot of discussion about the best choice of 'my first harp amp'. Often not for gigging but for playing at home. Here's a simple and free way to learn how to play amped without buying a fancy tube amp which, let's be honest, will turn out to be a white elephant in most home settings. Or alternatively a small modelling amp that is quite good, but doesn't really sound like a Champ or Bassman despite what the dial says.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Jul 15, 2016 10:30 PM
...that said, if you are considering future developments please put it in a pedal for live use!!!!
Just the amp model, not the recording bit.
I'm sure that's very difficult to do, not so much technically as practically, and a whole different game. On the plus side you'd be free of installation issues!
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Jul 16, 2016 4:35 AM
Making a pedal is possible with full bore computers in micro formats now available, but ultimately driven by customer "willingness to pay".
Do a crowdfunded project and see what people will be "willing to pay" and pony up in advance? Doing a successful crowdfunded project is non-trivial in itself, though, from what I've read.
Alternatively, we all have computers in our pockets called smartphones, which is an easier pathway than doing a custom hardware project.
eg: https://www.positivegrid.com/bias-mobile/ and http://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/cat-view.php?C=family-amplitube are generalist amp simulators which some people use in live performance.
Smartphone an easier path I'm sure, but I'd want an actual pedal, for use outside the home. With the model running on dedicated microprocessor.
Maybe there's a market, maybe there isn't. Who knows, maybe it'd get taken up by guitar players. That would an interesting turnaround.
I'm sure it would all be difficult, challenging and fun. I'd have though it would be much easier than CNC machining custom combs from all kinds of materials, but someone is happily doing that.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Jul 16, 2016 10:23 AM
I appreciate the feedback and encouragement in relation to The Blue Dadi and will consider your suggestions and requests as I figure out where I want to take things next.
fyi: there will be a number of seminars and events directly related to this area of discussion at SPAH in San Antonio.
- As Paul/Komuso mentioned, Connor Frontera will also host a table at the Filisko Teach-In that will focus on technologies to aid in learning harmonica including HarpNinja, The Blue Dadi and Audacity…. I will be stopping by the table now and then to participate and answer questions about The Blue Dadi.
- I am also giving a seminar on getting blues and rock tone with OSX, Windows and iOS applications, entitled “Can your Computer or Phone Really Get TONE?” Catchy, huh?
- Similarly, Bob McFarlane is giving a seminar on creating tone through special effects (pedals) and invites people to bring their own along.
- Bill Dulin is giving a seminar on making computer generated backing tracks.
- Randy Landry from Lone Wolf Blues Co. will be there to demonstrate and sell his pedals.
I'm sure there will be others, as well as lots of people interested in discussing these topics outside of the seminars, demos and sales floor....
If you are keeping a list of requests for features - an export to mp3 would be very useful.
Some of use can't get to San Antonio. Is it on the District Line? Wouldn't it be great if they recorded some of those seminars.
Last Edited by MindTheGap on Jul 18, 2016 1:44 AM
