**** OWNERS MANUAL for the Hummingbird Studios H16 digital bending harmonica

and PVS (programmable vocoder synth). ***

Please read and understand the warning under the hardware configuration guide before connecting your new instrument.

The H16 harmonica requires 3 AA batteries or a power supply, the included midi adapter, and any of:

* A MIDI synthesizer, MIDI cable, and amplifier.

* A computer software synthesizer with either a Midi port or purchase of the U2 USB Midi adapter.

* A PVS synthesizer and amplifier.

Welcome to the wild world of Hummingbird Studios musical instruments. Whethar you have purchased a digital harmonica, 6-axis foot controllers, fingertip theremins, or the programmable MIDI router and microtonal synthesizer, you have joined a community with a degree of instant music control never seen before. HS instruments are ready to go out of the box, compatible with most USB/MIDI hardware/laptop synthesizers and effects, or can be programmed with simple settings or advanced instruction sets for new levels of tone control and composition. Be not afeared of it's advanced capabilities. The H16, with chord progression control, also makes popular song composition and accompaniment far easier to play and understand than traditional harmonicas with their quirky limited scales. It's also a great easy way to become familiar with scales.

Overview

HS instruments are built on the MIDI standard. A synthesizer creates and modifies tones independently to send to an amplifier. What it creates is determined by symbolic codes sent by a MIDI controller. Keyboards, drum pads, breath controllers, and effects sliders are all MIDI controllers. HS extends the MIDI instruction set to support synthesizers with either microtonal scales and/or continual notes with portamento/glissando shifting of their pitch. Output of either the H16 or PVS can be reduced to standard MIDI for additional synthesizers or customized. MIDI code is also used to control analogue effects processors for other instruments like guitars. All HS16 and F6 Midi controller output can be customized to live-control guitar effects instead of creating synthesizer tones, making either tool an ideal expansion for electric guitarists as well.

The H16 harmonica has several advantages over conventional harmonicas:

* It can swap keys, scales, and other settings on the fly to adapt to any song.

* Live control allows access to more notes via simple custom chord progressions, which can be played hands free.

* It's timbre is only limited by your synthesizer, allowing you to sound like vibraphones, tubas, or UFOs.

* The HS16 can be played hands-free while playing another instrument i.e. a guitar, drums, or keyboard.

* The combination of controls suits both melodic and chord playing simultaneously.

* Controls can be remapped for mouth or finger control.

* The H16 supports dynamic echo/harmonics (and separate static adjustable odd/even harmonics), giving the same sort of resonant singing and note bending control found in conventional harmonicas to both the PVS synthesizer and any analogue signal (i.e. electric guitar) sent through it.

* Musicians at the HS online community forum can share their settings, tone samples, or MIDI programs, and download them directly from any monitor to the HS16 or PVS without any cable connection.

* The H16 is a customizable controller, allowing your imagination to create new types of instruments, for instance an instrument in which chords are blown, played until cancelled, advanced through a chord progression, and further blowing affects their live harmonic tonality. Most configuration combos can be set through H16 menu options, but advanced configurations requiring rule calculations may also be programmed into the PVS.

The PVS also has advantages over other synthesizers. These include drones, microtonal scales, custom octave ratios, persistent organ tones with pitch bending, and custom sampling.

Hardware overview

* The H16, F6 or F12, and T6 or T30 (optical theremins) can work immediately with any MIDI compatible equipment, including rack synths, effects processors, and Midi keyboard-synths.

* The additional U2 adapter allows immediate connection to any USB port MIDI compatble software/laptop synths.

* The F6 6-axis foot pedal can be extended with the F6L to control 12 midi parameters with both feet. They can be stand alone programmed as effects controllers or tone controllers for other equipment.

* The PVS module additionally supports an external MIDI-input peripheral, an H16 &/or F12, or a T30 as inputs, and provides MIDI AI programming, 16-channel custom-sample based organ tone generation, and echo harmonics of internal &/or external analogue audio streams in any processing sequence. The PVS also has USB MIDI output, making the U2 adapter or other MIDI port unnecessary for laptop synths.

Overview of common playing configurations

* At it's simplest, the H16 emulates the play style of conventional harmonicas, which is to say a single key and single scale mapping at any time, for instance Db minor.

* By itself, plugged into a standard MIDI synth, the H16 plays in impact mode, which is akin to hitting keys on a keyboard, their volume &/or duration controlled by how hard you blow instead of the speed at which you tap a key.

* With the PVS or another organ synth, you can enter chanter mode, which allows extending and modifying notes for as long as you blow them.

* Blow/draws at both sides of the harmonica allow you to step through any chord progression, making Johnny Cash's technique of employing two harmonicas to achieve a standard 1-4-5 pop/rock progression unnecessary.

* The bender wheel or F6 can be assigned a gradual/stepped scale, allowing the entire range of holes to be used solely for chord configuration, while melody/chord progression is controlled separately, for instance in steps with a keyboard or in analogue spectrum with a theremin or foot pedal.

* In a chanter/drone mode, notes may be treated as ongoing actors, and their behavior (pitch/volume/texture relative role) modified on the fly.

* Traditional harmonica timbre is the result of the interplay of reed odd/even harmonics and the resonant singing cavity of the player. Both the odd and even harmonics can independently be assigned to any controller. The odd, even, and singing resonances can be applied to either the synth tone generator &/or an outside audio source, as if one were singing using any tone sample as an alternate for the fundamental tone of their vocal chords.

* Often one finds on a harmonica that a note required by a song is not available in the current scale. The H16 allows one on the fly to temporarily insert a new note into the scale and dial in it's pitch from the current underlying source of microtonal pitches, or entirely from scratch.

* The H16 sends three harmonics modes to other devices which may be used simultaneosly. The vocoder mode amplifies harmonics, and the pitch bender either bends any analogue output directly, or sends MIDI pitch-bend signals to the synth-engine.Using the PVS translator, MIDI pitch-bend signals can also be assigned to any synth texture parameter.

OPERATION OVERVIEW

Controls

The H16 has 14 central holes, 2 side control holes, a 4 button joystick, and a rotary knob with push button. The underside has a reset button and menu mode button. Each hole provides 512 levels of control in each direction for parameters like pitch or assignment to commands like chorus delay. The control holes and joystick buttons may be reassigned in combos, providing 70 instant options or variants of context to central holes, rotary knob, knob clicks, and knob double-clicks. The knob can function either as static directional degrees (like a common volume knob), or indefinitely read as relative movement, speed, and acceleration. Any scalable parameters which can be assigned to the H16 can also be assigned to the F6 or F12 foot controllers, increasing the variables which can be altered live during performance using the PVS synth.

Display

The H16 has four redundant displays: codes indicated with two full-color animated LEDs in combination with sequences of LED digits, text display sent to the 2x16 character LCD of the PVS, and, when the rotary button is clicked, animated text six LEDs tall seen when waving the harmonica. Additionally the PVS may hooked directly to a monitor via an RCA s-video adapter.

Modes

The H16 has roughly three modes: Instant mode, Menu mode, and PVS Menu mode.

Instant Mode refers to the assignments of all the controllers used during live play, for instance key change, odd harmonics volume, or chord progression. All instant mode controller assignments may be modified and stored as controller sets, selectable during live play.

The recessed reset button will restore the H16 to it's factory default settings for Instant Mode.

Menu mode is for programming the H16 between performances, to create novel scales, effect controller maps, and such. It may also be used to establish live modification interpretation of controls during Instant Mode.

PVS Menu mode is the same as Menu Mode, but is used for remotely reprogramming the PVS instead.

Settings

User settings are stored even when the devices lack power. They come as two types: last used state settings, and libraries, thus one may always add libraries, and the harmonica plays exactly as in a prior session until further modified.

Examples of last used state settings include: last set library, key, octave base, scale, chord progression, internal controller assignments, midi output mode, midi controller mapping, and microtonal pitch scale.

Other permanent settings include things like fixed-index/compacted library storage mode.

Libraries

Libraries come in several categories. Live controls are used to select within categories of libraries, or to select an entire combination of libraries. These 'library sets' are themselves user defined library entries. Some libraries are permanently protected from editing or deletion (for instance the major scale, and western pitch tuning). All libraries may be copied for editing.

Libraries are of the following types: set libraries, scales, chord progressions, internal controller assignments, midi controller mappings, sample sets, ADSR sets, note-sample assignments, external-synth banks, and microtonal pitch scales.

Set libraries each include all of the above (except set libraries), as well as the two state settings: key and midi output mode. Any setting undefined in a state library will remain as previously set. It is therefore convenient to define one set library to establish your studio hardware configuration(s), followed by others specific to songs which do not overwrite hardware configurations (like Midi mapping).

The user can copy, insert/paste, delete, or edit libraries of all types. Within each library they may insert/create or delete components, i.e. microtonal pitches or controller assignments.

Bender modes are defined within your internal controller settings and midi controller mappings.

Microtonality

The H16 in combination with the PVS supports three forms of microtonality.

A) Midi3 pitch-frequency sends from H16 libraries to a synth.

B) Vintage 80's synth style 127 note-by-note remapping of the PVS for use with any Midi controller.

C) 127 relative-pitch per octave-fundamental PVS libraries, in any of 127 octaves, where the ratio between octaves is also user defined.

For octave mode, microtonal pitches themselves may be defined as pythagorean ratios relative to the fundamental (including decimal Hz ratios). For vintage keyboard remapping, notes may only be redefined in Hz.

Sampling and tone generation

The PVS is a sampling tone generator. Samples are entered numerically at peak points, and then auto-filled with a choice of ramping between points. Alternatively they may be defined by blowing sequentially in time, blowing linearly across the harmonica (including during live play), or sampled via the audio input jack. The sample may then be retuned to C natural for permanent storage. The pitch of samples does depend on sample length, and thus one could tune a sample to G natural, called C within the synth, for use in building chords from a note.

Sample time is small and meant for variations of saw-waves, semi-circles, and other simple wave forms, not larger sampling like water drops or bird calls. ADSR controls from libraries may be assigned to single samples or sets of samples for each ADSR phase.

Pitch generation is accomplished by expanding samples by upper ratios, then skipping by lower ratios. This one pitch, set to highest C is the one sample used for all pitches of all octaves on the entire synth. However up to four samples may be used simultaneously, each assigned to different notes, or even multiple samples assigned to single notes to achieve chords or harmonics.

Guide to Hardware Setup

If your H16 was sold alone, the Midi is configured for conventional Midi synthesizers. This is the default which the reset button will restore. For some synthesizers however, you will still have to go into the menu and select a default Midi output channel.

If it was sold with the PVS, Midi controllers mappings which optimize use of the PVS have already been selected.

Solo H16 use: Simply plug the Battery/Midi-adapter to the end of the coiled ATM cable, and connect a Midi cable between the adapter and your synth. If you are using a computer software synth, and do not own a Midi port, you will need to purchase the U2 USB adapter or the PVS instead, and connect that adapter to your computer with a standard USB cable.

H16 with PVS (midi Programmable Vocoder Sonar synth with microtonal and glissando control): Plug your coiled harmonica ATM cable into the ATM1 or ATM2 jack of your PVS. You may additionally/alternatively connect an F6/12 or T6/30 to either open ATM jack. If you are optionally/additionally using an external synth, plug that into the Midi-out port. You may need to go into the PVS menu to select the default Midi output channel for your synth. You may additionally plug a PRE-AMPLIFIED guitar or other LINE-LEVEL audio source into the input jack for analogue note bending or harmonic enhancement.

WARNING: The PVS does not supply phantom power for guitars and mics; Plugging one in will fry your PVS and void your warranty. Your audio source MUST be line level, such as that coming from a headphone jack.

Set the switch on your PVS to configure if the harmonics module applies to PVS internal synth, audio input, or both.

If you are using the PVS as your sound source, connect the 1/4" ouput jack to your amp.

If you are using only an external synth, connect the Midi-out of the PVS to the Midi-In of your synth.

If you are using an external synth with the PVS harmonics module, connect the synth audio-out to your PVS 1/4" input jack, and the 1/4" PVS output jack to your amp (you may also use an external synth and the internal PVS synth simultaneously).

Guide to default Instant Mode (live) control usage.

A handy reference card and spare of default instant controller settings has been provided.

Guide to changing settings between songs.

The controls on the H16 are sequential and somewhat 'sticky'; They must be activated in the following sequence:

Menu button (if no further key is pressed, the H16 will revert to instant mode in four seconds. You do not need to hold the menu button however).

Joystick buttons and side holes (button/hole combinations must be pressed/played simultaneously or within 1 second of each other or they will be interpreted independently.) (Likewise seperate button combos should have a 1 second delay between inputs.)

Central holes, rotary knob, rotary click/dbl-clk (these must be activated within 1.5 seconds of joystick/side-holes (four more seconds in Menu mode) otherwise even they will be interpreted independently).

See the seperate enclosed menu guide. Selections are from a tree menu which is subject to change with different operating versions, and are navigated with the controls - usually only the joystick or knob. The LEDs and other displays indicate where you are within a menu. If you are inactive for 20 seconds, you will leave menu mode and lose any unsaved changes.

Other documents pertaining directly to H16 usage:

Guide to creating libraries.

Guide to Midi programming.

Guide to Sampling.

Programming suggestions for optimum ease and/or versatility.

Guide to advanced external synth programming utilities, including use of PVS sysex and external synth banks.

Guide to using 'nD', the AI language for artistic and robotic control. This is the user programmable language utilized by the PVS for manipulating both compositional content and spontaneous intelligent generation of synth textures. 'nD' is micro-device subset of the Nebula language, and has built in commands for several waveform generation and manipulation methods and properties.

For further questions please visit the user forums at HummingbirdStudios.org

ver. 1.2 June 12, 2012

[typo corrections, 10/25/2014]