WHICH CONTROLLER KEYBOARD??

[sten oerting]

Hi there! I just purchased GOS - and after working with Miroslav and AO for some years, I knew right away this is top of the pop. But performing/recording WITH the samples is half the job. I hope for other users to share their experiences with controlling the Xfades/expression/vibrato etc: do you recommend footpedals/sliders/moog-type mod.wheel or what? The mod.\"stick\" on my old JD-800 is not very useful.. Any suggestions for another keyboard (weighted or not?) to get the most out of future GIGA-releases and the present GOS-library?
Any comment is highly appreciated, thanks!

[dnortana]

Sten,
I use a Kurzweil K2500XS as my master controller, and it has excellent controllers - 8 sliders, large ribbon, small ribbon, mod wheel and pitch bend wheel, and it accepts breath controller input.

But, I find a breath controller - or wind controller - to be the device that brings magically powerful expressiveness to the GOS EXP instruments. I think it\'s quite possible that if you try one of these - say a Yamaha BC-3 breath controller , or a WX-5 wind controller - you will never again try to play the EXP strings with the keyboard and mod wheel, or \'joystick\'. There\'s something natural about controlling volume with your breath, and this translates directly into a perceptibly more realistic and natural performance...
Trond

[sten oerting]

Hi Trond! Now I get it - with your name (anagrammicaly)!
Thanks for your response - I will look into the breathcontrollerconcept. I\'m not a windplayer at all, is that required? Or is it some type of a melodica? Or is it just the airpressure, that does the work dynamically, while one cont. to play the keyboard?
regards from Sten, Copenhagen.

[Radu Lupu]

Hi Trond! I am also interested to hear your response about the previous post, since I would ask the same questions. I would also like to know if breath controllers are expensive devices? Thanks!

[sten oerting]

Hi Radu!
I\'ve done a little research myself, please check out the following links reg. wind/breath-controllers:
http://www.midisolutions.com/prodbth.htm (\"http://www.midisolutions.com/prodbth.htm\")
http://members.aol.com/patchman1/windControllerBanks.html (\"http://members.aol.com/patchman1/windControllerBanks.html\")
http://www.yamaha.com/cgi-win/webcgi.exe/DsplyModel/?gEKS00001BC3A (\"http://www.yamaha.com/cgi-win/webcgi.exe/DsplyModel/?gEKS00001BC3A\")

As I understand it, the windcontroller requires that you know how to play a wind instrument...see the pictures at one of the above links. A breathcontroller is a whistlelike device, that transforms airpressure (both in- and exhaling, if you wish) into midi-data, that then again can be assigned e.g. expression. I think that\'s what you and I (as keyboardist) can handle. The Yamaha BC3 is an example, I\'ve found it for around 100 US dollars. Hope this helps!

Keep in touch, if you make a breakthrough in this area!

Sten!

[Damon]

I found a brand new yamaha BC3 for 79.95 at zzounds.com
How does this thing work? Can I just plug it into my Kurzweil SP-76 and start blowing GOS string sounds?
Do I need any other device for it? It says Yamaha BC3 for the Yamaha VL-70 and S80. So I\'m just curious if it would work with my keyboard as well.

[KingIdiot]

I\'m using a Roland GK-2a guitar controller to trigger my samples,, I can use teh foot pedal to control th EXP instruments..but Id much rather get a Breath controller to do that, and use the Foot control to control the GPC....it might be a bit much to control all at once...If i can do it..I\'d amaze myself http://www.northernsounds.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif the breath and guitar is pretty much all I\'d want to get down tho..and that shouldn\'t be hard.

------------------
Really...I am an Idiot

[apessino]

I use a Roland A-90ex as my master controller. It has fantastic piano-like action (I like it about a million times better than the K2000/2500 keyboards, which don\'t feel like a piano at all, IMHO).

Before the A-90 I had been using an old-but-great Yamaha KX88 for a LOOONG time. I just refused to give it up, until I had a chance to try the Roland and was sold. Most of the new top of the line Roland controllers and 88 key synths feature the same very realistic hammer-like action, and they all feel great to me. As a controller, the A-90 is intuitive, flexible and trivial to program, with a good assortment of sliders, wheels and buttons.

The A-90 has a \"breath\" in as well, so I plug my Yamaha BC3 into it. The BC3 can then be mapped to any MIDI controller (I generally use it with Mod (1) or Exp (11)) and used to control expression or any other parameter while playing the keyboard. It took a while to get used to it, and to calibrate it to an comfortable level, but once setup the BC3 works really well, especially with GOS\'s _amazing_ EXP instruments!

Cheers..

A-

--------
Andrea G. Pessino (not female, just Italian)
Blizzard Entertainment

apessino@blizzard.com

[RavenAudio]

I can recommend the doepfer ones (\"http://www.doepfer.de/lmk_e.htm\") (lmk2 and lmk4), really nice to work with, especially when you\'re used to pianos and hate keyboard keys.