Loss of tuning and sudden mute problems
I am playing the Trombone primarily with the EWI-4000s rather than the EWI-USB, because of the much larger range of the octave controllers.
It sounds absolutely great.
Here are some really weird problems that I have experienced and I don't know whether it is Kontakt or a Trombone setting causing the problem or neither. In any case I would appreciate some help in solving the problem.
1 After behaving perfectly well for over 5 or 6 sessions, the Trombone (as well as the Trumpet, now that I think of it) is not in tune so I have to apply a -2 Pitch correction. I checked the tuning of the EWI and it is right on at 440 (the setting on the instrument).
On occasion I have set the Audio sampling to 44khz rather than 88khz, in order to play along with Band in the Box Real Tracks, without any problems most of the time. At first I thought this might have caused this problem, but I don't think so at this point.
Now the pitch is off at 88khz (by -2) session after session. Restarting Kontakt4 or the computer makes no difference. I have checked Trombone Transposition and it is set to zero. I don't know where else to look.
Just now, one of the Trombones is off by -1, while the others remain at -2. It's really weird.
I'm now also remembering that at some point using Kontakt 3 for B. Sax and Trumpet I was able to get a nice unison sound (saved as a multi). Then at some point, the Trumpet got out of tune and stays that way. When I load a new Trumpet into this multi, the Trumpet is still out of tune, while the saxophone is in tune.
2 This is an altogether different problem which others may have also seen. Trombone is playing perfectly and then suddenly switches from no mute to a mute (not exactly like any of the mutes). No matter what other mute I switch to successfully, when I come back to none, it will not let go of the accidental mute. I then switch to another of the multi loaded trumpets and that's ok for a while, then it too, messes up. Switching back to the first Trombone does not cure the unwanted mute problem, only re-loading Kontakt fixes this problem. I have not seen this problem with the Trumpet.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Dan
It sounds absolutely great.
Here are some really weird problems that I have experienced and I don't know whether it is Kontakt or a Trombone setting causing the problem or neither. In any case I would appreciate some help in solving the problem.
1 After behaving perfectly well for over 5 or 6 sessions, the Trombone (as well as the Trumpet, now that I think of it) is not in tune so I have to apply a -2 Pitch correction. I checked the tuning of the EWI and it is right on at 440 (the setting on the instrument).
On occasion I have set the Audio sampling to 44khz rather than 88khz, in order to play along with Band in the Box Real Tracks, without any problems most of the time. At first I thought this might have caused this problem, but I don't think so at this point.
Now the pitch is off at 88khz (by -2) session after session. Restarting Kontakt4 or the computer makes no difference. I have checked Trombone Transposition and it is set to zero. I don't know where else to look.
Just now, one of the Trombones is off by -1, while the others remain at -2. It's really weird.
I'm now also remembering that at some point using Kontakt 3 for B. Sax and Trumpet I was able to get a nice unison sound (saved as a multi). Then at some point, the Trumpet got out of tune and stays that way. When I load a new Trumpet into this multi, the Trumpet is still out of tune, while the saxophone is in tune.
2 This is an altogether different problem which others may have also seen. Trombone is playing perfectly and then suddenly switches from no mute to a mute (not exactly like any of the mutes). No matter what other mute I switch to successfully, when I come back to none, it will not let go of the accidental mute. I then switch to another of the multi loaded trumpets and that's ok for a while, then it too, messes up. Switching back to the first Trombone does not cure the unwanted mute problem, only re-loading Kontakt fixes this problem. I have not seen this problem with the Trumpet.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Dan
Comments
Even though the EWI-4000s is set for A=440, when I measure a played note with an analog tuning meter it is off by the expected amount.
With the exact same Kontakt version and trombone or trumpet etc. the EWI-USB plays right on pitch, so I am forced to conclude that the problem lies with the EWI-4000s, and not any of the music software. However, a complication is that when I play a G while running Band-in-a-Box, which displays each note as it is played on a keyboard strip, it shows that the Thru input note is in fact a G. At the same time of course, the EWI-4000s input is also going to Kontakt and the note that plays is not a G but A or Bb.
I've talked to Kontakt tech support to find out if there was some hidden setting that was transposing the notes. There isn't. I also attempted to talk to Akai EWI tech support -but gave up after being on hold for over 30 minutes. I e-mailed them about the problem about 5 or 6 days ago and still have not received a reply.
Big time PITA.
Dan
(Akai has never answered my e-mail in over 4 weeks time)
http://www.patchmanmusic.com/WindControllerFAQ.html
It's a very, very long single page of information, so I have taken the liberty of summarizing the instructions.
The problem was that the Bend Sensors were out of calibration. There are two little analog knobs under the black access cover (PB A and PB W) that control the bend function.
1 Press Setup button to get into adjustment mode so that the display shows AD (mode).
2 Release the Setup button and you should see LED below the Setup button lit (left side, bottom).
In my case the LED segment on the right, top was also lit up - indicating that the bend sensor was not centered.
3 By gently adjusting the little PB A knob (under the black access cover), I made this second LED segment go out, or appear on the bottom. The pitch is correctly calibrated when the second LED segment is unlit meaning that the pitch is properly CENTERED.
I checked the pitch by using an Audio Tuning Meter, and it showed the pitch was now correct. I played a G and the meter showed a perfect G.
Problem solved. I must have inadvertently moved the PB A knob, when I was adjusting some other parameter with one of these little knobs.
I hope this is useful to anyone else who ever has this problem.
Thanks for reading,
Dan
I thank Matt Traum (Patchman) for publishing an incredibly useful FAQ for Windcontroller players. His custom patches for the Roland JV-1080 are incredibly good (esp Bass Sax, Trombone). The excellent Trombone patch is second only to the Samplemodeling Trombone.
thank you so very much for sharing the results of your thorough analysis. We are of course very happy that this floating pitch issue was not related to our instrument.
You report will undoubtedly help many windconcontroller users.
Best regards,
Giorgio & Peter