SWAM Violin + WX5

edited August 2017 in User demos
Hi,



I put together a few Jewish and Ladino melodies, played with the SWAM Violin #1, on a Yamaha WX5 (+GB, on a Mac).

https://dchapiro.bandcamp.com/album/klezmer-ladino-and-other-jewish-music



(I like the expressivity of SWAM, but getting pedals etc., to get more timbre changes as I play the WX5, is still in my todo list - I only care about live playing, not post-processing)



--Dan

Comments

  • edited 12:49PM
    I also am only interested in live playing not in programming melodies. (Even though I am a software programmer in real life :D . )

    I don't use a wind controller but a breath controller and a keyboard.

    I am already rather happy with me playing the Flute. I still need to do an awful lot of practicing with the Cello, but due to the many realtime controllable parameters, this setups provides wonderful "live"-feeling and a lot of fun. Maybe I will post a little demo impro here rather soon.

    With the TEC BBC and the Cello, additionally to the "breath" for expression I use "bite" for bow pressure, "head nod" for pitch bend, "head tilt sidewards" for vibrato speed, keyboard "after touch" for vibrato depth, "Mod wheel" for bow position, "pitch bend wheel up" for O-Tone, "portamento pedal" for bow direction reverse and (of course) "volume pedal" for volume.



    As all important parameters are handled by the right hand and by mouth/head action, I can still use the left hand on the other keyboard to do Piano chords or Double Bass lines (my limited skills notwithstanding :oops: )



    Anyway, the greatest challenge right now is to control the breath action in a way that the Cello gets a decent bowing sound and not a "blown" impression.



    -Michael
  • edited 12:49PM
    Hi Michael,



    It's impressive how much the TEC BC has improved! I like a lot what you play with Boa Sorte. Have you also recorded some of the things you do with the TEC+SWAM cello? (or with the flute?).



    Best,

    Daniel
  • edited 12:49PM
    The Boa Sorte recordings publicly available are nearly three years old and then I just started to use TEC and the SWAM Flute (e.g. in "Night and Day"). Unfortunately our singer needed to move to another town and we have a new drummer, now, so right now we are in a state of reorganizing and decent recordings will not be possible soon.



    Some time ago, In this forum I posted some Flute improvisations done with the older TEC versions, demoing the setup I then used.



    As said, I need a lot of practicing with the Cello, but maybe I will post some impros demoing the versatility of the TEC v2.



    -Michael
  • edited 12:49PM
    I like your version of Night and Day more than all the others I've heard, by far! (the percussion, the phrasing, the singing, the saxo, and the keyboard, and how it all comes together is wonderful). BTW, the flute fooled me, particularly the attacks that sound so realistic, and which I hadn't realized was SM ;-)

    --Dan
  • edited 12:49PM
    Thanks for your nice words !



    Right now we do play this song with another singer and another drummer, but did not do a decent recording. It still is fun !!



    In fact I myself am not totally satisfied with the realism of the Flute in that recording. The combination of Breath and Bite (available with the TEC BBC v1, Bite routed to Style, which sounds simlar to a blowing angle variation) does allow for a great variable attack, but the vibrato still is a little bit synthetic. With the TEC BBC v2 controlling vibrato speed and pitch bend by head movements, this can be improved a lot.



    BTW.: I do have a WX7. with same the "bite" is easier to control than with the BBC, as with the BBC you need to keep the thing stable in your mouth without using your hands, that are needed for the keyboard.



    -Michael
  • edited 12:49PM
    BTW/2:

    A shortcoming of the TEC BBC (even v2) is that the breath sensor is not as fast as that of my 30 years old WX7. Hence doing a diaphragm vibrato might be hard. I myself can't do a diaphragm vibrato, anyway, but with the WX7 I can do a "rrrr" in my throat, and this does result in a vibrato with the SWAM Flute.



    Nonetheless a combination of a TEC BBC with the finger board of the WX7 (I happily could disassemble the WX7, as the breath sensor zero setting is not stable, anymore, anyway) might be a rather prefect instrument for decent wind players (hence not for me).



    -Michael
  • edited 12:49PM
    It's interesting to learn about these differences between the WX and the TEC. I read somewhere that EWIs have a finer resolution of the BC than the WXs, resulting in a smoother response curve, but I hadn't thought about the response speed.

    --Dan
  • edited 12:49PM
    dchapiro wrote: I read somewhere that EWIs have a finer resolution of the BC than the WXs, resulting in a smoother response curve
    IMHO, the resolution of WX7 is great. With the TEC it's even better, as you can define a curve that that tunes the way the sensor input is translated to the Midi CC values (0..127). Unfortunately the TEC does not (yet) support High Resolution Midi (0...16383). But this would not help, anyway, as SWAM does not support High Resulotion Midi, either.
    dchapiro wrote: but I hadn't thought about the response speed.
    When I used the TEC BBC v1, I complained at TEC about the speed, and was told that the v2 would be lot faster, but unfortunately I don't really perceive this. In fact I suppose the hardware is very fast, but they implemented a tunable Filter to prevent unwanted flutter. But you can't set the filter fast enough to allow for an "rrrr".



    -Michael
  • edited 12:49PM
    When all is said and done, I have to admit that for me, the biggest limitation is my own playing ;-)
  • edited 12:49PM
    Same here :oops: :oops: :oops:

    -Michael

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