----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 10:23
PM
Subject: Re: MIDI wind controllers
Yeah, interesting thread. I use an old WX7. I like the fact that it has
moving keys on it. As someone who played sax before, that feels more familiar.
I tried an older EWI with the touch switches and it felt REALLY WEIRD to me.
But maybe you can get used to it. People who use the EWI say that once you get
used to the weird keys, it's possible to play faster than on a controller (or
a real horn!) with moving keys.
Regarding the CC7 (volume) and CC2 (breath) messages: in MIDI there
is no difference between these other than the ID number of the controller. But
IIRC (don't have the WX7 handy), you can either have it send just CC2
or BOTH CC2 and CC7 (depending on a DIP switch setting). When it's
sending two messages every time, it might be slower. But CC2 by itself is
going to be the same speed as CC7 by itself.
I saw an EWI4000 at NAMM last January and got to hold it, but wasn't
allowed to blow on it. It looked pretty cool. It is nice having the synth
built in and the sound editor on the computer. Kind of like a mini-Nord
Modular.
For creating synth patches, I highly recommend setting the patch up so
that the breath pressure increases the cutoff of the filter and the amplitude
of the sound at the same time. This makes a HUGE difference in giving it a
more organic sound and adding to the expressiveness. All the pseudo-horn
sounds I do with the WX7 and Continuum are just analog-style waves with a
breath-sensitive filter and amplitude like that. Some of them also have more
static filters in line afterwards to try to sound like the body of a sax or
brass mutes. Most of this stuff should be possible with the EWI. I dunno if
the patches that come with it are any good. That is always a crap shoot!
Anyway, here are some of my suggestions for programming wind
sounds:
A lot of the Continuum examples I did use very similar patches, since the
Continuum acts like a polyphonic wind controller. Finger pressure is used
instead of breath pressure. I've been getting nice results by using the
Continuum to drive old analog synths with very similar patch setups. Like in
the ContinuMoog examples here:
Try it, it's fun!
Mark Smart