Are Breath Controllers Really Needed?

[Joanne Babunovic]

Listening to some of the nice sax,clarinet, and flute samples, wondering if wind controllers add that much value to increasing realism?

Thanks,

[Alan Russell]

Joanne,

I don\'t use any breath controllers or wind controllers..It\'s all fingers..

Now once a score is delivered you can always go back and turn the Mod wheel or bender when need be.

Alan Russell

[lex]

Me neither...it\'s all mouse, keyboard and knobs on my AN1x [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Alex

[A_Sapp]

I used to use a breath controller quite a lot for woodwind solos. They seem to bring some life to the solo tracks. Actually, its impossible for me to be as expressive with a foot expression pedal than a breath controller.

[Nick Batzdorf]

It\'s really a matter of preference. I like the breath controller a whole lot, and I like the EWI even more. But not for everything, and so far my EWi is practically hardwired to a Yamaha VL1 synthesizer.

Breath controllers are like every other one - KAT pads, weighted and unweighted keyboards - they all have their place. If you grew up playing a wind instrument (and my first instrument was recorder), you\'ll like the breath controller. It certainly is a very musical way of adding expression, but it\'s not the only one.

[JonP]

Couldn\'t live without one. They\'re fantastic for woodwind and brass. For strings I tend to use a mixture of footpedal and ribbon controller. The latter helps effect a really good vibrato, although it takes quite a bit of practice and subtle movement to achieve.

[Bruce A. Richardson]

Originally posted by Joanne Babunovic:
Listening to some of the nice sax,clarinet, and flute samples, wondering if wind controllers add that much value to increasing realism?

Thanks,

<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">Hi Joanne,

I sometimes work with a wind controller, sometimes not. There\'s a whole routine connected with rigging an instrument to respond to wind control, and some instruments respond better than others. VSL legato performance instruments, for instance, are divine with a wind controller.

However, there can be some zipper noise with extremely fast dynamic changes. This is something that\'s being studied on the programming end, I believe, so hopefully there will be improvement.

Nick\'s comment is right on...if you\'re a wind player, then you will really respond to a wind controller. It\'s a great experience. If you\'re not a wind player, it\'s not a mode of expression you\'ve developed, so you might now find it that intuitive. There\'s a fair amount of coordination involved.

[MikeGraybill]

How difficult are breath controllers to setup? I\'ve been wondering about using it with VSL, but didn\'t even know if it would be a compatible match, and it\'s kinda exciting to hear it is. Could you possibly elaborate on the setup process, Bruce? Not asking for a step-by-step, just a general idea of what one would have to do.

Thanks - mike

[Bruce A. Richardson]

Originally posted by MichaelAngelo450:
How difficult are breath controllers to setup? I\'ve been wondering about using it with VSL, but didn\'t even know if it would be a compatible match, and it\'s kinda exciting to hear it is. Could you possibly elaborate on the setup process, Bruce? Not asking for a step-by-step, just a general idea of what one would have to do.

Thanks - mike

<font size=\"2\" face=\"Verdana, Arial\">In general, you need to link attenuation to CC2, then reduce the volume response to velocity (Linear/Low) setting.

In multi-velocity samples which have not been wave-normalized and attenuated in the editor, the setup is a bit more difficult and can involve normalization of the waveforms and reprogramming the instruments. Thank Tascam for not caving to idle threats, so that you have the ability to do this. Some folks would like to see your access to waveforms eliminated. Unfortunately, that eliminates lots of flexibility--reprogramming for wind controllers among the rest.

[Isabella Rowlins]

Joanne,

I once bought a breath controller and found out it only works with Yamaha keyboards. The sweet guys in the store were so kind to take it back and gave me a footswitch in return.

So remember to check whether you keyboard can actually use it or not.

Isabella Rowlins