Strings for Windcontroller
Hello everybody!
Has anyone ever tried the Sample Modeling Strings with a Windcontroller, especially the AKAI EWI?
Are there any recommended Settings?
Thanks and best regards,
Chris
Hello everybody!
Has anyone ever tried the Sample Modeling Strings with a Windcontroller, especially the AKAI EWI?
Are there any recommended Settings?
Thanks and best regards,
Chris
Comments
I tried to play the strings with a Breath controller plus keyboard. (which I very happily use for thje Trumpet and wind instruments.)
IIt always sounded some kind of "blown". Of course as a keyboarder, I am not perfectly trained with my breath.
I now play it with a Roli Seaboard. This feels and sounds a lot more natural.
-Michael
I do not like the Akai EWI 4000s. It’s not that I cannot get a good sound out of it, it is fantastic when you finally nail a part, but the tactile touch sensor nature of the keys and the poorly designed octave keys means lots of mistakes that you sometimes need to re-record over and over again to nail the sound you want.
I just ordered the new Roland Aerophone Pro 30 and am looking to try it out on all the Sample Modeling libraries soon.
String instruments should not be played like brass or woodwinds. The fluctuation of CC2 for strings need to be more consistent and less steeper than normal 'blowing' instruments. It's because moving an arm rubbing a bow invites physically lower attack and release speed than exhaling the air does. Without carefully considering characteristics of string instruments, It always sounds unnatural.
That is why implementing the usual playing style of EWI produces bad results. Blow longer and control your breath slowly. Let the virtual violin player follows your lead.
The Strings have a great sound, but they require a very different playing approach than wind and brass sounds exactly for the reasons others have discussed. I'm working on getting the best sounds I can with the EWi and it is slow going.
I just upgraded to v 1.2 following the instructions, but had to download the full sample package because for some reason I was missing all of the ensemble samples from the 1.1 version. However, the Native Installer Application never showed any change and it still shows v 1.1, but fortunately it does not appear to affect anything and the 1.2 works just fine for me with my EWI-4000s -although limited relative to having all of the fine controls of a keyboard coupled with a breath controller.
Please let us know how it works. It's quite a bit more pricey than the Aerophone 10. Fortunately I have no problems at all with the capacitive touch keys on the EWI's, and if fact had lots of frustration with the octave controllers on the Yamaha, as well as on the Aerophone 10. Maybe once you get used to the EWI's you have to unlearn how you use it, in order to work with the other ones.
Without the sound engines for a lower price it could be interesting....
-Michael
I have now had lots of time to play with the SM Strings and they are superb. I have played Violin etc. with EWI-USB, EWI-4000s, EWI Solo, as well as Aerophone AE-10 and AE-30. The strings play fine with all of these windcontrollers. There is no question that the built-in (integrated) acoustic sounds in the these Aerophones are better than in any of the EWI models, but as you would expect the sample modeling instruments are much, much better. Nevertheless, if you want a virtual harmonica, accordion, recorder, bandoneon (AE-30 only), duduk (AE-10 only) etc. that is any instruments not available from samplemodeling or audiomodeling, then the Aerophones would be a better choice than an EWI. I'm still getting used to what to me is the annoying octave key design of the Aerophones. Some people find the EWI octave key roller design equally hard to get used to.
Here is a link to Violin played on the Suonopuro Virtual Harmonica, and then, the same MIDI file played back with the SM Violin (so it's not as good as if I played the song explicitly with the Violin. Also the recording is a bit tinny. Not sure why. I can't remember if I used the EWI-USB or the EWI-4000s for this recording.
https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?code=kZJH7jVZGoXsowKV1s0DiqGoHIWSohYYmVRV
Another comment about various windcontrollers. Playing the same virtual instrument without any changes except for volume settings I often get somewhat different sound. This probably has to do with things like Expression Curve differences with each model, as well as other settings, and holds true when comparing EWI models with the Aerophones. The Aerophones have some clever additional buttons, levers, joystick (AE-10) which allows for additional control of the virtual instrument expressiveness. For example the Aerophone-AE30, has position-motion control (similar to the TEC Breath Controller) so you can lift or tilt the instrument and program what effect these motions have.
As expected, IMHO, the harmonica sounds like an accordion, and not at all like a blues harp, and while a little more realistic, the strings still sound a bit "blown". That is why I cancelled to use my Breath controller (TEC BBCv2) with the solo violin, but try to get better with the Seaboard. :)
-Michael
Once again you are right. The demo almost always sounds so much better than when I use the software. Possibly limitations of how I configure the parameters and / or my playing skills.