TeControl Breath Controller and Leap Motion

Tell Your Friends about Gear that you love

Moderators: admin, mdc, TAXIstaff

User avatar
ecurb
Impressive
Impressive
Posts: 156
Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2016 5:37 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Sydney Australia
Contact:

Re: TeControl Breath Controller and Leap Motion

Post by ecurb » Sun Jul 30, 2017 4:30 am

Kolstad wrote:Wonder if it is useful to get the one with the bite or just the regular one, any experiences? I think there is also one where you can assign additional CC's when you move the head to the side and more, but I can't remember the company. Maybe a japanese one..
Hi Kolstad,

I haven't honestly made much use of the bite yet. I expect I will when I get more used to it. I have played with using it to kick in flutter-tongue or growl effects and it works quite well for that... seems kind of like having after-touch on a keyboard, isn't really suited to fine degrees of control but works fine for broader changes or just switching things on or off.

As far as head movement tracking, I reckon you're thinking of the TecControl deluxe version again here, it tracks that stuff as well and as far as I know is the only one that does. Though their cheaper version only tracks breath.

From what I found there seem to basically be four options for breath controllers now,

1. The old Yamaha BC3s, if you have one or can find one. As I understand it however they actually end in a specialised breath control plug which you won't find on most keyboards nowadays, so you're likely going to need to use some sort of MIDI or USB adapter with them (not 100% on that, can anyone else confirm?)
2. There's also a company called MRTAudio that's made a clone of the old Yamaha one and sells it complete with a MIDI conversion box.
3. There's TecControl with their two options.
4. There's one by Hornberg which I think's the one jonnybutter was referring to, it does look very nice build wise (real wooden mouthpiece!) and has some pretty cool looking mapping options for customising attack and release curves and that sort of thing. Though it is a lot more expensive.

Those were the options I found when looking for one anyway, there may be others... oh, and you can even find a few DIY projects for building them yourself if you're really keen :-) Not sure how they'd measure up of course. I went with the TecControl in the end because it seemed to have both the best reviews and the best price, plus the head movement and bite stuff. YMMV of course and I'd definitely recommend researching them all.

Cheers
Bruce.

User avatar
remmet
Serious Musician
Serious Musician
Posts: 1726
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:25 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Portland, OR
Contact:

Re: TeControl Breath Controller and Leap Motion

Post by remmet » Sat Aug 19, 2017 5:30 pm

I have the TeControl (basic unit) and an Akai Ewi. The TeControl is a whole lot easier to use, but as has been mentioned, it is limited to controlling one parameter at a time. It's also a bit fragile. At one point, the rubber tubing snapped (not a good choice for a bungie cord), but the company was nice enough to send me a replacement tube.

The Akai Ewi is a full-fledged controller with extensive realtime control of many parameters. However, it takes a lot of practice to play smoothly on it. Prior facility on a wind instrument is helpful. Here's a demo I found on YouTube featuring some of the built-in sounds. I have an earlier version, but I assume this one will also control compatible VSTs in in your DAW. And it's wireless!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u1GS4R_EfI

Richard

User avatar
mojobone
King of the World
King of the World
Posts: 11837
Joined: Sat May 17, 2008 4:20 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Up in Indiana, where the tall corn grows
Contact:

Re: TeControl Breath Controller and Leap Motion

Post by mojobone » Sat Aug 26, 2017 8:57 pm

ecurb wrote:
Kolstad wrote:Wonder if it is useful to get the one with the bite or just the regular one, any experiences? I think there is also one where you can assign additional CC's when you move the head to the side and more, but I can't remember the company. Maybe a japanese one..
Hi Kolstad,

I haven't honestly made much use of the bite yet. I expect I will when I get more used to it. I have played with using it to kick in flutter-tongue or growl effects and it works quite well for that... seems kind of like having after-touch on a keyboard, isn't really suited to fine degrees of control but works fine for broader changes or just switching things on or off.

As far as head movement tracking, I reckon you're thinking of the TecControl deluxe version again here, it tracks that stuff as well and as far as I know is the only one that does. Though their cheaper version only tracks breath.

From what I found there seem to basically be four options for breath controllers now,

1. The old Yamaha BC3s, if you have one or can find one. As I understand it however they actually end in a specialised breath control plug which you won't find on most keyboards nowadays, so you're likely going to need to use some sort of MIDI or USB adapter with them (not 100% on that, can anyone else confirm?)
2. There's also a company called MRTAudio that's made a clone of the old Yamaha one and sells it complete with a MIDI conversion box.
3. There's TecControl with their two options.
4. There's one by Hornberg which I think's the one jonnybutter was referring to, it does look very nice build wise (real wooden mouthpiece!) and has some pretty cool looking mapping options for customising attack and release curves and that sort of thing. Though it is a lot more expensive.

Those were the options I found when looking for one anyway, there may be others... oh, and you can even find a few DIY projects for building them yourself if you're really keen :-) Not sure how they'd measure up of course. I went with the TecControl in the end because it seemed to have both the best reviews and the best price, plus the head movement and bite stuff. YMMV of course and I'd definitely recommend researching them all.

Cheers
Bruce.
The Yamaha BC3 has an eighth inch TS plug. If you don't have a compatible keyboard, MIDI Solutions sells an adapter for about $165 give or take shipping. MRT Audio's offering would be the cheapest way to go, if you don't already have a Yamaha BC, and it can apparently drive up to three MIDI channels, which might be handy.
The Straight Stuff; Roots, Rock & Soul

http://twangfu.wordpress.com
http://twitter.com/mojo_bone

Len911
Total Pro
Total Pro
Posts: 5351
Joined: Mon Dec 07, 2009 4:13 pm
Gender: Male
Location: Peculiar, MO
Contact:

Re: TeControl Breath Controller and Leap Motion

Post by Len911 » Sat Aug 26, 2017 11:31 pm

From what I found there seem to basically be four options for breath controllers now,
The fifth option is diy, Arduino and Raspberry pi projects. The sky might be the limit, or the kind and quality of various sensors. i suppose if you go that route, you may decide you want something beside breath as a midi controller and opt for finger sensors or sensors on your hands and just wave your hands,lol!?
https://soundcloud.com/huck-sawyer-finn
Not an expert on contemporary music

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 10 guests