question regarding midi, breath controllers

[LauraBlack]

Hi,
I'm considering a purchase of GPO. Would someone mind answering a couple of questions?

I only have one midi tone generator so I'm limited to 16 tracks of midi in Sonar 4.0.2; will I be limited to 16 tracks if I use GPO? Must I buy another tone generator to open up another 16 tracks?

Is there enough expression using the mod wheel on solo winds and brass to sound realistic? Would a Yamaha breath controller provide more vibrato, etc.? If I used a breath controller, are there instructions in the GPO manual about how to modify CC's, patches, etc. to be able to use it?

Many thanks,
Laura

[Godfrey]

I only have one midi tone generator so I'm limited to 16 tracks of midi in Sonar 4.0.2; will I be limited to 16 tracks if I use GPO? Must I buy another tone generator to open up another 16 tracks?

Laura,

Thanks to the world of softsynths (of which GPO is only one example), you're not limited to only 16 tracks of MIDI! You can add any of the softsynths that came with SONAR (or other commercial synths, or one of the dozens -- if not hundreds -- of free ones) and treat it as another MIDI tone generator, with as many additional MIDI channels as the softsynth will support. You can even add multiple instances of them in the same project. You're really only limited by the CPU power and memory in your computer. Check your SONAR manual for information on the synth rack, or on adding softsynths to audio tracks.

Is there enough expression using the mod wheel on solo winds and brass to sound realistic? Would a Yamaha breath controller provide more vibrato, etc.? If I used a breath controller, are there instructions in the GPO manual about how to modify CC's, patches, etc. to be able to use it?

The mod wheel works great for adding realistic expression. The advantage of a breath controller is that if you're "tonguing" the notes as you play, the breath data will shape the ends of the notes as well as the overall volume level:

And if I remember correctly, the brightness of the instrument is also affected by breath control.

The documentation for the update does explain how to use a breath/wind controller, but the short version is: use the X-Custom instruments, select CC2 for the slider, and move the slider to set the sensitivity (the further it is to the left, the more it's affected by the breath controller).

[LauraBlack]

Godfrey,
Thanks very, very much for your clear answer. I've always used Cakewalk products since Pro Audio 9, but as I upgraded, I never used the softsynths because the sounds that came with Project 5 were all percussion and bass audio clips that I would never use. But, the midi orchestral instruments are so artificial, I finally decided to look for better sounds and found GPO - I loved the sounds - just what I was looking for.

Your answer has motivated me to sit down with the Project 5 manual knowing I can use GPO as my sound source.

Once again, thanks very much,

Laura

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