Synchron Harp pedal programming

[Douglas R]

I love just about everything about this harp but would like to be able to program the pedals via Touch OSC, using the same TOSC control I use for another harp. However, the Synchron harp pedal page is not set up accurately: instead of laying out the pedals DBC | EFGA the pedal page has them laid out as if they were a keyboard (CDEFGAB). Furthermore, the tuning is the exact opposite of an actual harp, i.e. on a real harp the pedal in the most upright position = flat string and the lowest position = sharp. Sychron switches these.

If I could program each pedal to respond to its own MIDI CC or Note On command I could at least pick the correct pedal using my current TOSC controller but alas, if I choose Note On or CC# for one pedal they all are assigned consecutive #s. So, I can't assign pedal D CC34 and pedal C CC 35. The software automatically changes pedal C to CC34, D to 35, etc.

Again, love that VSL have so beautifully captured the harp but they have missed the boat on accurately presenting how the harp works and, in the process, made it impossible to program to fit how I work. Any workarounds, fixes, updates that would help?

[ManfredV]

Hi Douglas!

Manfred here, the developer of the Synchron Harp software.
We do have an accurate pedal view for the harp enthusiasts, watch out for the small dots above the keyboard indicator! However, also in this view the CC numbers are always distributed consecutively, starting at the C pedal, and there is no built-in way to change the sequence or assign individual CC numbers. The pedals are exposed as audio parameters, would that help for your use case?

Cheers, Manfred

[Douglas R]

Hi Manfred,

Thank you for this. I was not aware of the pedal diagram. It's helpful but doesn't solve the primary issue which is that, since the MIDI CCs are consecutive starting with C rather than in pedal order, I cannot control the pedal tuning with the Touch OSC setup I'm using for other harps in my template. I did create a workaround whereby a separate diagram in TOSC mirrors the layout of the harp and I assigned the appropriate Synchron CCs. That way I don't go crazy dealing with two different approaches. But I would prefer to have just one TOSC layout that would control all harps.

I'm not sure what you mean by the pedals are exposed as audio parameters. Perhaps a translation issue?

[ManfredV]

Hi Douglas!

I put your wish for adjustable pedal CCs on my list.
About the audio parameters: what I meant was that you can control the pedals not only via CCs, but also via audio parameters exposed to a DAW. But I guess that doesn't help in your particular use case..

Anyway, good to hear that you found a workaround! I'll let you know when I have a built-in solution!

Cheers, Manfred