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I just bought an Akai EWI4000S, which I'm enjoying a lot with my Ketron SD-2's sax and other patches. But it sure would be nice to be able to control dynamics -- e.g., if the Ketron understood a MIDI breath controller message. I also own a Roland SD-50, but that doesn't appear to be work, either. I'm under the impression that a Yamaha Motiff XS might do that trick, but $1300 is a bit more than I'd like to spend right now. Are there any other synth possibilities? Or perhaps, any boxes that convert breath data to velocity, and would work with the AKAI?

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I do not own the SD-2 but I did look up the midi implementation chart for it, it’s in your manual, and saw that the SD-2 does recognize CC11, expression and pitch bend. If you set your EWI4000S breath control for CC11 instead of CC2 you should be able to control volume with it. Set you bite control to pitch bend and you will have your vibrato.

I hope this helps.


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MarioD gave you the SHORT answer - before my long winded diatribe response below:


===
First, I KNOW a BC-3 is NOT on par with a WIND controller (like the AKAI mentioned) just answering mail about Motif's

The Motif ES had ( has) a built-in breath controller (BC 3) input jack (a mini 1/8 " stereo input jack). I had an ES7 and still have a BC-3. The BC-3 worked well with ES on patches that were made specifically to respond to those controller inputs. However, the XS and XF DO NOT have this direct input jack anymore (I now have a XS7 I traded ES for XS). So for the XS7 I have to use a MIDI Solutions Breath Controller (MSBC) interface. The BC-3 1/8" "stereo" cable end plugs into the MSBC box , which then converts the BC-3 data (that itself is nothing more than a breath pressure sensor data stream) into standard MIDI data that is in-turn output on a standard 5-pin MIDI DIN cable. Then that info gets to my XS7 (and my other synths ) via my MIDI patch bays. Patches on the XS7 (or on any of those synths) that are built/tweaked to respond to that kind of CC input sounds the SAME as it did on ES-7.

It's not ONLY which CC the MIDI synth will and won't respond to - it is what a particular PATCH (or program : e.g., Trumpet, Flute, Nylon Guitar, SAW Lead, PAD, Glockenspiel ) is/can be built to do when it gets ANY CC (1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11,33, 34, NRPNs, etc.) - within reasonable limits of course.

In other words, how can that synths patches/program parameters be creatively built to respond to any given CC and WHICH CC's can that synth and its parameters be programmed to respond to.

Now back to your AKAI - it outputs a lot more than a BC-3 over a standard MIDI cable. So the AKAI should work with any synth (even SW synth) it will just work better (easier to program a "wind" type patch - trumpet, flute, sax, etc. ) if those modules respond directly to CC 2 (and/or 34).

Good luck
Larry

Last edited by Larry Kehl; 07/16/12 08:02 PM.

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If you want to emulate acoustic and acoustic/electric instruments like sax, trumpet, guitar, etc., you have only one great choice, the Yamaha VL70-m.

I've been playing wind synth since the 1980s and have played my WX7, WX11s and WX5s through a number of hardware and software synths. The VL uses physical modeling and actually feels, responds, and sounds like you are playing a physical instrument instead of a synth. Other synths might have a little better tone, but the tone is not as flexible and the expressive capabilities pale in comparison.

There is also an aftermarket TURBO chip that provides better tone for many patches and a wide assortment of guitar tones ranging from Flamenco to Hendrix. http://www.patchmanmusic.com/turbovl.html

Check out the clips at http://www.nortonmusic.com/clips.html for some lo-fi demos.

The most unfortunate thing about the VL70m is that after a 15 year run, they have been discontinued by Yamaha. Matt at Patchman Music often has used VLs for sale, and you might be able to find one at Ebay.

I like them so much I bought two.

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I second the VL70m.
You might also want to visit: www.patchmanmusic.com

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Quote:

I just bought an Akai EWI4000S, which I'm enjoying a lot with my Ketron SD-2's sax and other patches. But it sure would be nice to be able to control dynamics -- e.g., if the Ketron understood a MIDI breath controller message. I also own a Roland SD-50, but that doesn't appear to be work, either. I'm under the impression that a Yamaha Motiff XS might do that trick, but $1300 is a bit more than I'd like to spend right now. Are there any other synth possibilities? Or perhaps, any boxes that convert breath data to velocity, and would work with the AKAI?




Ketron synth is very good sounding, but if my job calls for used of Breath Controller, I reach for one of my Yamaha synths/keyboards that easily recognize the Breath Controller feature. The older keyboards from Yamaha that have the Breath Controller accessory input plug on the front panel are superb for this.


--Mac

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