Breath controller not reacting to dynamics in the 1 - 7 data range

I bought the Solo & Ensemble Strings yesterday and have been very impressed so far, except for one showstopper for me... when in breath controller mode the instruments don't respond in the 1 - 7 range, meaning I can't play at very low dynamics. I'm using the Hornberg hB1 breath controller - it's working perfectly and I tested it today with several other virtual instruments without any problems. Strangely, when I switch to Wind Controller mode the 1 - 7 range responds fine with my hB1. Also, if I use my breath controller assigned to CC11 in keyboard mode then I also have the full 1 - 127 range, but as soon as I switch to breath controller mode it only responds in the 8 - 127 range.

Any ideas, guys?

Comments

  • Do the developers not frequent this forum? Disappointing.

  • Chocobuckle,

    not a showstopper, nor a bug. From the Manual, page 21:

    "BC mode automatically maps the Dynamics to CC2. In addition, it’s now the BC which triggers note-on & off when exceeding or falling below a certain threshold. As in the real instrument, the pressed key only determines the note which will be played. The note-on velocity is related to the steepness of the initial CC2 curve, so that a quickly rising CC2 will trigger a stronger attack".

    In order to be able to trigger note-on & off with the BC, rather than with the keyboard, a certain CC2 threshold must be overcome. This has been set to 8 for the note-on and to 4 for the note-off. The note-on velocity is related to the derivative of CC2 at the threshold level. Consequently, the dynamics corresponding to CC2 below 8 on attacks and below 4 on legato cannot be exploited. If one wants to control the dynamics with CC2, exploiting the entire range, one can deselect "Use Breathcontroller" in the drop down menu and assign dynamics to CC2 in CC remapping 1.

    Giorgio

  • IMHO, this is not pefectly true.

    While with a wind controller, Note-on can only be generated by means of Pressure, as no key pressed is a decent Note specification, with a Breath controller only a pressed key should allow for generating sound. Hence pressing a key with no or very low pressure could allow for a very soft starting a tone.

    -Michael

  • Michael, it depends on the philosophy applied. The BC mode was first conceived to be used with Brass. In this case triggering the note-on when overcoming a certain CC2 threshold made perfect sense, since no Brass emits sound without a certain pressure/air flow.

    This might be less true for Strings, since a slight pressure coupled with bow speed yields a sound.

    For that reason I suggested to use the BC in keyboard mode, assigning dynamics to CC2.

    Giorgio

  • edited October 2021

    I in fact use the Trumpet with the BC, while I can't create a natural feel when using strings with the BC (supposedly because of personal and not for technical reasons).

    With the Trumpet I indeed never felt the BC response as problematic.

    But I also use the SWAM Flute with the BC, and here the impossibility of a soft starting tone (supposedly for the same reasons as discussed here) indeed is not really nice.

    -Michael

  • I have noticed this gap in initial dynamics as well and found it to be a weaker point in the playability.

    I have investigated this with the BC before as I really thought there was a glitch in the settings somewhere.

    At first I thought the breath controller itself might be the problem, but after the testing noticed this CC gap.

    It certainly comes off as "incorrect" as a player and distracting to the performance of the instrument.

    I would highly recommend adding a user controllable threshold that allows the player to go lower, and personally I would set it at value 1, just leaving 0 for note offs. It seems like the instrument should not only be able to play down to that threshold, but the dynamics should extend that low as well. As it stands, it seems like there is a lot of space in between pp and niente, and as we know there is a lot of good music that can happen there.

    Also, as I recall, mapping CC2 to the dynamics in keyboard mode is not a proper solution as a note still actually sounds at CC2 value 0.

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