Breath Controller Settings
hi there,
i bought a breath controller bc-3 with the box by midi solutions. I have a question. how did you set up the bc-3? converning gain and offset. what are your settings for echo and curvature?
as you can see I still have some problems concerning this item. one more important thing is the behaviour when playing in bc-mode. i can play without blowing into the bc when the manual tells me that note on and off are sent by the breath controller.
would be happy if someone could answer these questions.
thank you,
martin
i bought a breath controller bc-3 with the box by midi solutions. I have a question. how did you set up the bc-3? converning gain and offset. what are your settings for echo and curvature?
as you can see I still have some problems concerning this item. one more important thing is the behaviour when playing in bc-mode. i can play without blowing into the bc when the manual tells me that note on and off are sent by the breath controller.
would be happy if someone could answer these questions.
thank you,
martin
Comments
As far as setup in the samplemodeling products go, just ensure that the Dynamics CC# in the SM software matches the one your BC box is outputting.
mhecker wrote: converning gain and offset
You will need to refer to the manual provided by midi solutions. Gain and offset deal with the BC's responsiveness to your breath and there is nothing in the SM software to set for this nor is there a recommended setting for the BC. This is completely up to your tastes.
mhecker wrote: what are your settings for echo and curvature?
Again, this is up to you. If the default setting of your BC produces a linear output then that should work fine. The Echo setting deals with the passing of midi messages sent from additional controllers and is not relevant to SM software setup.
mhecker wrote: i can play without blowing into the bc when the manual tells me that note on and off are sent by the breath controller
Most BC's plug into keyboards and it is the keyboard that sends note-on/off messages depending on breath pressure. I'm not aware of your product being able to generate note-on/off messages. You will need to seek support from midi solutions in order to find out how this can be done. There is nothing to setup in the SM software to achieve this.
thx again,
martin
No, you were not wrong :-)
As far as The Trumpet is concerned it´s exactly lika that (the saxophones behave different). As soon as you get the proper BC settings (threshold etc.), the trumpet will behave correctly and the notes will be triggered by the breath controller itself.
Peter
thank you for your reply. I will try tonight when I'm home from work. Could you please elaborate how you use your breath controller with the sax-brothers? Because I find it odd to play and just slightly modulate the dynamics by blowing into the BC. It just doesn't feel naturally,
thx again (not only for your reply but also for your fabulous VST's;),
Martin
If, for example, the midi box sends a note-on message but the dynamics (let's say cc11) are still at 0, then 1 second later the midi box starts sending cc11 every 10 msecs starting at 1 and increasing to 100 over a period of 0.5 sec, what velocity sample will The Trumpet play? Will it simply increase its volume without applying a new velocity or will a velocity be determined from a sampling of the initial airflow (cc11 messages)? I'm assuming that the OP's setup is blindly passing note-on messages from his keyboard without waiting and taking into account data passed to it from the BC.
sorry about the late response...
You mean the BC mode, don´t you? If so, no CC11, but CC2 must be applied (which is generated by a Breath Controller anyway).
The behavior of the software is a bit complex, but basically the following happens:
1. Playing an initial (detached) note
The velocity sent by the keyboard does not matter. The tone is not heard, unless the CC2 exceeds 8. At this moment a note-on is triggered. Its Velocity - controlling just the attack - depends on the steepness of the initial CC2 curve. In your example a rather soft initial attack will be triggered, since the slope of the CC2 is rather low (500 ms from 0 to 100), followed by a 0,5 sec. long crescendo from pianissimo to forte.
Steeper CC2 curve going to higher initial CC2 values will trigger a stronger attack.
2. Playing overlapping (legato) notes
In this case CC2 controls just the dynamics, the velocity sent from the keyboard determines the transition between the notes (portamento time), as in the keyboard mode.
Best
Peter