The X-Harp was dreamed up and developed by a harmonica player who wanted more than just a harp. It was not created to replace or even simulate a standard harmonica. It does not have reeds like a harmonica and has a totally different feel and response. Although, We (me and my brilliant engineer) were not the first ones to think of this concept, to my knowledge, we are the first ones to bring it to completion.
The X-Harp prototype can be tuned like a harmonica (diatonic) or can be custom tuned to whatever the player desires. This takes it to a whole new level of playing experience. The prototype changes keys and sounds through cables hooked up to a PC and a MAC (Garage Band). The videos above give you an idea of the potential that the Xharp has.

We are now back at the drawing board to develop the production model the Xharp V-2. Which will able to switch between keys with the push of a button and allow the X-Harp to play along with other musicians regardless of chosen key, making it a great “jam” instrument. As far as sounds go the sky is the limit. It will have a full blown sound module on board with over 100 different instruments or you can use it with any MIDI sound device or computer supporting MIDI control. Also, both internal and external MIDI sounds can be played at once and mixed together to create totally brand new patches. For instance, you could choose an onboard flute patch and blend it with an external violin sound. Air pressure also controls dynamics allowing for a more soulful expression using your breath. The X-Harp is really a brand new stand alone instrument allowing the player to create and develop their own sound and style. It also comes with a mic stand adaptor allowing guitarists and keyboardists to play hands free. The X-Harp is in the prototype phase please check back for updates and availability. We have also submitted a project funding request to www.kickstarter.com and will keep you posted on when it goes "live".

Break out the Champagne ......We're now live on "KickStarter". If you're not familiar with Kickstarter you should check it out. It could change the course of history for many cool projects that would never see the light of day. Click link below.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/936712270/xharp-midi-multi-breath-controller or Click on photo below

Thanks for listening.

w.

Email: info@xharp.com

A note from our engineer:
Hi, I'm Dee.
I've been working in the electronics industry since about 1979, and I've worked on just about everything from 2-way radio equipment to projection televisions, watthour meters and automated test equipment. About a year ago, Wayne asked me if I knew anyone who might be able to help him build an all-electronic harmonica. I jumped at the opportunity.

At that point, he had been working with a MIDI computer chip, and that enabled us to build an instrument that responded fairly well, however, changing keys required sending System Exclusive messages, and breath dynamics required a voltage controlled amplifier applied to the entire audio signal. This also meant that note volume could not be controlled individually.

In the end, our prototype was still a very playable instrument, but we felt we could do a great deal better. We made a list of things that we wanted to improve. These included:

Increasing the number of notes to 22.
Individual dynamic control of each note.
A touch-screen display.
The ability to change keys on the fly.
The ability to modify tuning and create tunings on-board.
On-board generation of sounds with headphone and line-out.
MIDI-Out for use with Garage Band and off-board synths.
Rechargeable built-in battery, providing enough power to last at least a few hours.
Easy to re-charge or provide external power via USB.
Firmware that can be upgraded in the field.

The design challenges are substantial. We needed a low-power but fast processor, with the ability to read multiple analog inputs. To build the software in a reasonable amount of time, we needed a high level language, but we also needed fast and efficient code, so we chose the Cypress PSoC 5, which we program in C.

The next challenge was finding a way to generate sounds on board. There are a number of ways to do this, but we found a MIDI Codec built by VLSI. It provides easy access to 128 different sounds.

We wanted to provide an intuitive user I/O and found a back-lit 3.5"high resolution color touch-screen display with an integrated touch screen sensor. We'll be integrating this into the system design.

We needed a way to charge the internal battery, so we're providing a USB port that will charge that battery. But the USB port will also allow for in-the-field firmware upgrades, as well as the ability to save and upload settings.

What does this all mean? It means that we are creating a versatile instrument that is flexible and upgradeable - an instrument that is easy to play, but responsive enough to satisfy the virtuoso. From an engineering viewpoint, this thing just rocks.