Breath Control of Instruments

[lorne.white]

I purchased a TEC Breath and Bite controller to try and get more expression out of the Sampletank patches. Some other VI have specific expression control for cc11 (pedal) and cc2 (breath).

There doesn't appear to be alot of control in the macros of Sampletank for the woodwinds. Mostly Swell, EQ and Attack.

Any suggestions on how to make ST come alive with Breath?

[DarkStar]

For starters here is a description of those Macro controls (taken from the original Miroslav Philharmonik Sounds Manual):

Macro descriptions
Macros are used in Philharmonik to give instant access to custom sound-shaping performance controls, pre-defined by Sonic Reality, the sound designer of these sounds. These allow the user to modify the sound in realtime through the simultaneous activation of several parameters within the powerful IK sound engine.

Swell Swell, volume expression with a smooth control of the level of the sound ideal for creating interactive swells and other time-based volume performances via a MIDI controller such as expression pedal or modwheel. The default is set to 120 with 0 being the quietest and 127 being the loudest. Default MIDI CC is 12 although in some combis it is also set to respond to CC#11 which is expression pedal.

VSpeed Variable Speed, this controls the velocity to attack amount of the amp envelope. This allows a range of slower to faster attack to be controlled by the velocity. It also works relative to the attack setting of envelope 1 so that the more you increase the attack of envelope 1 the slower it is at the lowest velocities. Increasing the VSpeed makes the attack faster at the higher velocities.

Since real orchestra instruments have variation of the speed of each attack, this parameter can be used for more variation in the performance expression of the sound and you’ll find it used often in “EXP” child presets as well as in performance combis.

The default of this macro is 0 in the parent sound which is “off” with the range up to 127 being the highest. Default MIDI CC is 13 although in some combis such as the “articulation control switches” it is also controlled by Modwheel.

ATPush Aftertouch “Push”, with real orchestral instruments a player can use more force and get a louder sound and often brighter timbre as well. By turning up this macro this can be simulated using a keyboard’s “aftertouch” control (if the keyboard controller has aftertouch which not all keyboards do, check your keyboard’s user manual for details). So, when it is turned up the sound becomes initially slightly darker and can be made to be brighter and louder in your performance using your keyboard’s aftertouch or “pressure on the keys” as you play.

The default is set to 0 which is no effect and from the ranges 1-127 with 127 being the highest you can increase the amount of “aftertouch to filter and AmpliTube”. Default MIDI CC is 14.

VStart Velocity to Start Point, turning up this macro allows the sound to start at a different point within the sample and it gradually plays closer to the true beginning of the sound the harder your velocity. This can be great for timbral variety in the attack of the sound since with orchestral and choir sounds there is often a lot of sonic variation at the beginning of the sample.

Most of the sounds in Philharmonik with the exception of the percussion, piano and some other sharp attack instruments have settings with the necessary compensations for VStart to be used on its own without hearing clicks on attacks that could happen due to playing at various start points. However, if you are experimenting with VStart settings and you hear unwanted clicks on the attack then you can avoid them by adjusting the VSpeed and/or Attack of envelope 1 parameters for a smooth “taper” of the beginning of the sound.

The default setting is 0 which is off with ranges from 1-127 and 127 being the highest for increasing the velocity to sample start amount. Default MIDI CC is 15.

Pitch Pitch, this macro is for real time control of the pitch via a MIDI controller. This is often used for percussion instruments to be able to use the pitch in a different way than the pitch bender which is often spring loaded. Using a modwheel or expression pedal you can simulate the pitch pedal of timpani and other sounds.

Default setting is 64 which is normal pitch and going from 64 to 0 goes down one octave and from 65 to 127 goes up one octave. Default MIDI CC is 14.

The Macros are published as plug-in parameters so that they can be controlled by automation in the host (or mapped to MIDI CC messages *"MIDI Learn"). Several other controls in the ST3 instruments can be controlled directly by MIDI CC messages - have a look at Chapter 6 in the ST3 User Manual.

[lorne.white]

Thanks. Those definitions do help with understanding the possibilities.

[DarkStar]

You're welcome.

Hah, I've just seen that the forum software has auto-corrected the word "ampli tude" (I've added a space to stop it here) to "AmpliTube" in my quote above.