Wind controller synths

[andygabrys]

The akai USB model is less expensive than the 4000. It doesn't have built in sounds. It has trumpet fingering which is what I'm used to but it's not as straightforward enough to just picjk up and play. If you play flute or a reed then I think its going to be easier. For realistic wind parts, particularly if the samples are well formatted for wind controllers, it's an awesome way to go.

Mazz - gotta wonder if it would be great for strings as well? or do you find it easier to play on the keyboard and work / re-record cc's still? (realizing you are a great keyboard player...)

[mazz]

Honestly I think it would work with anything that needs legato phrasing to sound "connected". Since it's so easy in DAWs (at least in DP) to remap MIDI controllers on the fly, the output of the controller could be mapped to whatever the input instrument wants to see.

[Len911]

I got the Ewi USB! I installed the software earlier in the evening, hooked it up, and started playing around. Oh man, this is gonna be fun!

Here's my first experiment using the Sample Modeling trumpet:

http://www.richardemmet.com/Ewi_Does_It.mp3

It'll take awhile to get things under control, but it's not a bad start. I'm sure the day (or night) will come when reverb won't be so essential for masking the flaws.

R

Sounds good already, the first evening! In a couple days maybe you can post a Louie Armstrong song,lol!!

[mazz]

I got the Ewi USB! I installed the software earlier in the evening, hooked it up, and started playing around. Oh man, this is gonna be fun!

Here's my first experiment using the Sample Modeling trumpet:

http://www.richardemmet.com/Ewi_Does_It.mp3

It'll take awhile to get things under control, but it's not a bad start. I'm sure the day (or night) will come when reverb won't be so essential for masking the flaws.

R

Yeah sounds great. Yes, it gets a little too bright in spots. On a soft piece like this (as an ex trumpet player) I wouldn't get that "buzzy" in the bell, but the expression in the phrasing is right on and it sounds like you are breathing which makes the phrasing seem more natural.

I think you made the right choice. Try it on some strings, I think you'll be sold.

[remmet]

Thanks Len and John (sounds like John Lennon backwards?).

Now I'm wondering how to get the other SM trumpet effects - shakes, falls, etc. - from the Ewi. There must be a way to access them.

I played through most of the patches included with the Aria software, and a lot of them weren't bad at all. There were some very decent wind sounds, and the strings sounded pretty good as well. I think the string sounds will be trickier to play than the winds, because it will take a lot of breath control to emulate the steady sound of a bow traveling across a string.

The octave rollers are not particularly hard to deal with, but it will take some practice to get them to work seamlessly.

Thanks so much for the information and suggestions leading up to this purchase. It really opens up a whole new world of possibilities!

Richard

[Len911]

I'm not familiar with SM Trumpet. The pitch bend plates maybe for the falls?

The "Garritan" orchestra never sounded so good,lol! I think that really showcases the ewi and it's possibilities.

[matto]

I think the SM forum has a section for wind controller users. You might be able to find tips/ask questions there if you haven't already done so.

I'm not sure how you would access the features that use key switches from the EWI...especially since SM is one of very few companies that uses velocity sensitive key switches.

I agree the mp3 sounds very nice, especially for a first try. Yes you went too bright overall for this type of piece, and you are 'over expressing' as you're experimenting with the various dynamic gestures, but it certainly sounds very promising...

matto

[remmet]

Thanks Matt! In addition to getting the Ewi, Hollywood Strings is scheduled to arrive today. So I suspect the fun is about to begin!

Richard

[mazz]

As I think about this it seems to me that you'd have to inject those expression switches after the fact. Some of those you might be able to execute simply with breath and key manipulations on the controller itself as if playing the actual instrument itself and the rest you'd have to put in manually after you play the part in.

Another option would be to write out the part and then create a separate "expression" track that addresses the same MIDI channel as your note information and pre load the expressions based on the notation and then they would be triggered as you played the part in. Never tried that, might work?

Another option would be a MIDI organ pedal controller or footswitch controller that can send out MIDI notes like this one: http://www.keithmcmillen.com/softstep/overview

[remmet]

As I think about this it seems to me that you'd have to inject those expression switches after the fact. Some of those you might be able to execute simply with breath and key manipulations on the controller itself as if playing the actual instrument itself and the rest you'd have to put in manually after you play the part in.

Another option would be to write out the part and then create a separate "expression" track that addresses the same MIDI channel as your note information and pre load the expressions based on the notation and then they would be triggered as you played the part in. Never tried that, might work?

I did some editing on the piece (new link below), first by blowing into the Ewi on a separate but same-channel midi track while the original track played in order to create vibrato and other expressive effects. That didn't work at all. I couldn't produce any vibrato, and the other effects seemed to jump from zero to over the top with no way to control them. So it's back to the drawing board using that technique. But then I manually inserted some of the SM controllers at various locations, added a bit of keyboard mod wheel here and there to help with the vibrato, and did some basic data editing to tame some of the brightness. Finally, I changed some of the notes in the trumpet and the strings, and this is what I came up with:

www.richardemmet.com/Ewi_Does_It-v.2.mp3

Richard