Page 1 of 1

THE OSUMI EFFECT - Extra Bends and Overblows

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2021 7:51 am
by Brendan
Kan Osumi is a young Japanese harp customiser who recently came up with an interesting new way to get a much wider range of notes from a single hole in a diatonic harmonica. He demonstrates it here:

https://www.facebook.com/705774160/vide ... 0991804161

Pretty impressive, and all seemingly coming from a standard diatonic harmonica. There was lots of speculation, but no-one could work out what he was doing. Soon afterwards he made another video showing the secret:

https://www.facebook.com/705774160/vide ... 7582874161

I suggested "The Osumi Effect" as a name for Kan's cool new way to expand note ranges, which he's adopted :) Apparently he has yet to come up with a way to make it work over all 10 holes, but even on just a few selected ones it would still be very useful.

Re: THE OSUMI EFFECT - Extra Bends and Overblows

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2021 9:56 pm
by EdvinW
Thanks for the links!

For blues and similar styles in second position, could this effect be especially useful on hole 5? The 6B tonic is normally a boring blow note, but this way it could be played as an overblow instead. I know this is to already possible on a well set up normal harp, but if the magnet makes it easier or gives you more space to move the OB around it might increase the usefulness of this technique. Also, the normally un-bendable 4D seventh would be more interesting; even if it just barely reaches down to the fifth, it should be possible to transition smoothly from the bent note to the unbent fifth in 4D...

I have some magnets at a friend's place, I must remember to pick them up tomorrow :D

Re: THE OSUMI EFFECT - Extra Bends and Overblows

Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2021 10:54 pm
by EdvinW
Looking at this again: is this really different from the Antaki effect?

It seems the magnet is positioned to affect the blow reed. I'd love to see what note he would get if he were to just blow normally.

With a Turboslide, the blow reed is magnetically tuned down, so even though the draw bends get larger they are still between the notes of the draw reed and retuned blow reed. Also, Turboslides are known to facilitate overblows.

Would a Turboslide with a larger magnet achieve the same thing?

This could be something new and interesting, I'm not saying it's not. I'm just not completely convinced by what I've seen so far.

Finally: Even IF it's not a new effect per se, Osumi still shows how one can easily use it on a normal harp. Using it on hole 5 as I suggested in my first post should still be possible. (though you would loose the note normally found on 5B)

Re: THE OSUMI EFFECT - Extra Bends and Overblows

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 4:44 am
by Brendan
Good questions...

There are some visual differences. The Antaki Tuboslide passes a small magnet above the middle of the blow reed to get a specific blow bend (one semitone normally). The lowered blow allows an extra semitone of draw bend as well.

Osumi's magnet is larger, static, and attached to the rear of the coverplate. From what I hear on his clip, it seems to give him a much wider range of possible bends. He also seems to be able to control their pitch quite well.

As you say, we need to get some magnets and test it! Interested to hear what you find.

Re: THE OSUMI EFFECT - Extra Bends and Overblows

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 4:44 am
by Brendan
Good questions...

There are some visual differences. The Antaki Tuboslide passes a small magnet above the middle of the blow reed to get a specific blow bend (one semitone normally). The lowered blow allows an extra semitone of draw bend as well.

Osumi's magnet is larger, static, and attached to the rear of the coverplate. From what I hear on his clip, it seems to give him a much wider range of possible bends. He also seems to be able to control their pitch quite well.

As you say, we need to get some magnets and test it! Interested to hear what you find.

Re: THE OSUMI EFFECT - Extra Bends and Overblows

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 9:24 am
by EdvinW
The Turboslide magnets are adjustable and can be moved closer to or further from the reeds. Doing this increases or decreases the strength of the magnetic field, and thus increases the lowering effect. You can lower most notes at least a full step. This is also mentioned in the instructions for the Turboslide.

Another way to increase the strength of the magnetic field would be to use a stronger magnet.

The Seydel All Minor also comes to mind. There the magnets are attached to the lid as well. I'll need to find mine when I get home..

Re: THE OSUMI EFFECT - Extra Bends and Overblows

Posted: Thu Feb 25, 2021 8:08 pm
by EdvinW
I've been playing with my Seydel All Minor, which has a magnet over the 2B reed as well. Without the magnets it's in standard tuning, in the key of A.

No totally conclusive results so far.

I've managed to bend the draw note down to one half step below 1D, which is the same distance Kan Osumi demonstrates in the video. My bending is nowhere as smooth, and the note is hard to get going as the blow reed sometimes get stuck on the magnet. The surest way I've found to get the lowest bend is to start bending with the magnet off, and then move the magnet in it's slit to lower the bend while I hold the note. After the note stops playing I move the magnet away before I can get the note going again.

As for the overblows, I "only" manage to go a full step up from the draw note, but the harp is completely out of the box and this is hole 2. Some customising might improve this.

Osumi obviously gets much better and usable results, but any way I've found to lower the "bending floor" also lowers the blow note. To me it rather seems like he's making very good use of a well known but perhaps overlooked effect, rather than having found a new effect all together.

Without knowing what his 2B note sounds like We can't know for sure though.

Re: THE OSUMI EFFECT - Extra Bends and Overblows

Posted: Fri Feb 26, 2021 10:44 am
by Brendan
Ah... Good analysis. Similar to what I showed here a long time ago (from 4:50):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPcxPZGBwQg&t=6s

So are you saying he's basically dropped the blow even further, and is simply doing the in-between bends with embouchure control? If that's so, as you say, it's not really 'new' - as I had thought from listening to his video. He's simply taking this previously-known effect further.