MortenL

That's great, Josh. You're achieving what is in fact not so common when using alternative controllers – actually making music live. I will need to try the JamSynth with my accordion (the mother of all wind controllers) – though my bandmates will probably veto this for aesthetic reasons. A midi breath controller paired with or built into a midi keyboard would solve the "audio havoc" problem that you mention. You might lose some immediacy in your articulation – and the original audio part of your sound, if there is any - but with a calibrated breath controller you could probably come close (hence the importance of the gain/offset knobs). What I find problematic with alternative controllers is exactly immediacy and one's ability to use them intuitively. The Roli Seabord is still the most intuitive alternative controller I have tried. The midi breath controller is also fantastic - you can pick it up and use it pretty instantly. I am experimenting with the touchless Leap Motion controller for one-hand manipulation of sets of up to 5-6 parameters at a time – pure magic, but not so intuitive. I have also tried bowing with a pen on a touch surface (and in the air using the Leap Motion device), and you can achieve bowing articulations – this I find difficult however, but some people on the internet seem to be mastering it. A midi strumming controller is now on my wish list. But again, the important one step further to actually use these things in a band is not an easy one. My compliments therefore to Josh for actually blowing a keyboard synth on stage. Regards, MortenL

Hi, This is an interesting topic. I just wanted to add a few ideas that may or may not be useful: I am currently using a homemade midi breath controller – it works very well, and could be integrated into a portable instrument, existing or homemade. I did consider doing this but have had so much fun using it with a separate keyboard - comping with my left hand on another keyboard - that I have stuck with this setup. Whether you want a self-contained wind instrument or a more traditional breath controller+keyboard setup, I would recommend going the midi controller way and not build a small synth into the instrument. There are so many fantastic soft instruments these days that can handle midi breath controller input, either via a dedicated breath controller mode or via simple cc2 messages linked to specific parameters, typically the filter cutoff of a soft synth. I have had luck using for instance the ROLI synths on my Mac and the SWAM instruments, Moog synths, an accordion app and the Magellan and Kauldron synths on my iPad. My design is relatively simple, and the components are small: Mouthpiece/tubing -> 5 V analog pressure sensor circuit -> Doepfer Pockets Electronics (converting analog signal to midi) -> External synth (software or hardware) This way I have avoided programming (the Doepfer fixes that). I built the sensor circuit myself, but I believe that you can buy breakout boards with the whole thing on them. The most important part is being able to calibrate and adding gain to the pressure sensor which is not very accurate by itself – or was not in my case. (Note the sensitivity/offset "pots" that they mention in the KeyWI description). Sensor accuracy seems to be a very common problem among engineers who supply many, rather simple circuit diagrams on the internet which solve this (search "calibrate pressure sensor"). Or you can simply buy and modify, for instance, the TEControl BBC2 breath controller which seems to be a very capable midi breath controller. This will be more expensive, however. I can only recommend going the pressure sensor/breath controller way, DIY or not. It is very rewarding - and very, very addictive. All best MortenL

I have found much help in Rebeca Mauleons book - though I am still not even remotely mastering the style, of course. Realising the following obvious fact also brought me a bit further: When trying to play a two-hand montuno, my anxiousness to play the clave right (or the right clave) often led me to focusing way too much on the defining clave beats in the montuno, over-emphasizing them. In many Cuban ensembles, other band members will often play underlying 8th-note patterns allowing you to find your own comfortable place where you can add to the whole structure instead of striving to define it, as I did. Trying to always deeply feel or hear this underlying structure has made me much more comfortable and relaxed, locking into and adding to the musical and rhythmical flow rather than performing my latin piano act. Cheers, Morten