I am hoping to find one of you who can explain to me why, when using a breath controller, the EXS strings sound very life like, but the reeds are morphing into bad synth leads. It must have something to do with the settings in the EXS. The instruments are just the standard Jam Pack 4 and they sound quite good played back by the sequencer in Logic. When I play them on the breath controller the timbre turns sour and lifeless. any thoughts, gentlemen? Eli?
Logic Pro 9 Any breath controller experts here?
- Thread starter David51
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Staircase2
Logician
Overblowing In The Wind
Aftertouch perhaps?
Sounds likely - its been a long time since I used a wind controller/breath controller but Im sure they had a feature which worked to allow people to overblow notes like a wind player would. And I think its related to aftertouch messages.
These can be then related to things like filter or modulation.
It sounds like this is causing the problem
Fingers crossed,
Love&Hugs
Aftertouch perhaps?
Sounds likely - its been a long time since I used a wind controller/breath controller but Im sure they had a feature which worked to allow people to overblow notes like a wind player would. And I think its related to aftertouch messages.
These can be then related to things like filter or modulation.
It sounds like this is causing the problem
Fingers crossed,
Love&Hugs
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Staircase2
Logician
Overblown But Not Forgotten
The other thing to check is the velocity curve (I think they had a few preset velocity curves to choose from - although Im not 100% about this)
I seem to recall that when they first came out they seemed very 'on or off' with the sound - Im not a wind player though. The velocity curves effectivly control how sensitive the performance can be in terms of 'volume' for example. (although its important to rememebr that velocity can also be changed to trigger the opening and closing of filters too - as well as other program settings).
That could also potentially explain why some of the sounds sound like synths - because there isnt enough subtlety in the velocity setting to make it sound like a real wind player would play.
Worth a look.
I would also suggest that if/once you have turned off the aftertouch you then experiment with turning it back on and see what kind of effects you can get in your performance - on a wind instrument like a flute it would be good to have it connected to vibrato for example.
Also if the set of sounds youre using has been set up with keyboard players in mind then it may require you to spend some time tailor making them to suit your own style of playing with the EWI in order to make them sound more realistic.
Good luck with that
)
If you havent got the manual then you can probably download it off the Akai website (most manufacturers are good like that now)
The other thing to check is the velocity curve (I think they had a few preset velocity curves to choose from - although Im not 100% about this)
I seem to recall that when they first came out they seemed very 'on or off' with the sound - Im not a wind player though. The velocity curves effectivly control how sensitive the performance can be in terms of 'volume' for example. (although its important to rememebr that velocity can also be changed to trigger the opening and closing of filters too - as well as other program settings).
That could also potentially explain why some of the sounds sound like synths - because there isnt enough subtlety in the velocity setting to make it sound like a real wind player would play.
Worth a look.
I would also suggest that if/once you have turned off the aftertouch you then experiment with turning it back on and see what kind of effects you can get in your performance - on a wind instrument like a flute it would be good to have it connected to vibrato for example.
Also if the set of sounds youre using has been set up with keyboard players in mind then it may require you to spend some time tailor making them to suit your own style of playing with the EWI in order to make them sound more realistic.
Good luck with that
)If you havent got the manual then you can probably download it off the Akai website (most manufacturers are good like that now)
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Stephe, Thanks very much for the suggestions, unfortunately I have tried most of them. A man in Canada wrote some software to add velocity curves to the instrument I play. He kindly sent me a copy, but it is still in the development stage and can only run on a Mac in the Terminal. I tried to set it up but never succeeded in getting it to work, also some very experienced wind controller players told me they didn't think it would work.
As far as I know Logic has no velocity curve feature, not sure how that would work anyway. The Akai EWI has no velocity curves, but an incredible amount of dynamic range, the player must learn to let air escape from sides of mouth when playing, I still need practice on that but have recorded some bits and it sounds good enough for me. I don't expect to be able to really use what I know about wind instruments in Logic, I just wanted to make a CD of my favorite pieces for family and friends. I spent 20 years playing Baroque Bassoon in many groups in Europe, so equal temperament will always sound bad to me since it wasn't put into use until +/- 1850, before that well tempered was used to insure the thirds were pure, any vibrato was limited to a solo passage on one long note, otherwise the vibrato makes the sought after pure thirds false sounding. No one today, except old music specialists, would hear the difference in an equal tempered third and a pure third, thanks to elevator muzak. I have MIDI Monitor so if you want I can post a list of the velocities as I blow more air into the Akai. I think you hit the nail on the head with paragraphs 3 and 5. The EXS should be capable of transforming the Apple JamPack 4 winds to sound natural when controlled by an external MIDI Controller, as I wrote, the sounds that come out when Logic plays the MIDI file with it's sequencer are more realistic, but without any subtle tempo changes it is too mechanical sounding. And finally, yes I had thought to try recording with aftertouch and without,I do have the manual and it's easy to turn the meta data sends on and off.
As far as I know Logic has no velocity curve feature, not sure how that would work anyway. The Akai EWI has no velocity curves, but an incredible amount of dynamic range, the player must learn to let air escape from sides of mouth when playing, I still need practice on that but have recorded some bits and it sounds good enough for me. I don't expect to be able to really use what I know about wind instruments in Logic, I just wanted to make a CD of my favorite pieces for family and friends. I spent 20 years playing Baroque Bassoon in many groups in Europe, so equal temperament will always sound bad to me since it wasn't put into use until +/- 1850, before that well tempered was used to insure the thirds were pure, any vibrato was limited to a solo passage on one long note, otherwise the vibrato makes the sought after pure thirds false sounding. No one today, except old music specialists, would hear the difference in an equal tempered third and a pure third, thanks to elevator muzak. I have MIDI Monitor so if you want I can post a list of the velocities as I blow more air into the Akai. I think you hit the nail on the head with paragraphs 3 and 5. The EXS should be capable of transforming the Apple JamPack 4 winds to sound natural when controlled by an external MIDI Controller, as I wrote, the sounds that come out when Logic plays the MIDI file with it's sequencer are more realistic, but without any subtle tempo changes it is too mechanical sounding. And finally, yes I had thought to try recording with aftertouch and without,I do have the manual and it's easy to turn the meta data sends on and off.
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