Setting Breath Control for AKAI EWI USB

Hi,

I don't know how much experience you have using MIDI and software instruments. I don't own a AKAI EWI, but to get the breath control right, there should be a software instrument that supports breath control (or expression - don't know which of these two the EWI uses). These are the ES2 Synthesizer and the EXS24 Sampler, for instance. You could pick up the midi controller input and route it to one of the instruments functions, namely volume, filters, whatever.
If the EWI is able to set the breath controller to expression, this is usually transferred to volume directly, as far as i know, so look up in the manual if you can switch this at the EWI.

If not, there are ways to convert the breath control to the desired effect. I know at least the ES2 and the EXS24 can do this with their integrated routing abilities, but even other software instruments should be able to do this if you set up an environment. (CMD-8) With the Transformer, you can change all incoming MIDI data. But be warned this is advanced magic and should give you a hard time if you are a beginner. I would recommend using the ES2 / EXS24 or other software instruments that can address the breath controller more easily.

Fox

Hm - this is difficult to explain, but the ES2 and the EXS24 both have a section in the lower third of the interface. Look at the ES2: It's the blue section between the upper half and the lower third of the interface. You'll see information like "Target", "Via" and "Source".
First, set the Target. If you want to control the Volume, set it to AMP. If you want to control the pitch, set it to pitch, and so on. For now, ignore the "Via" function. Now as source, select the breath, which should be MIDI Ctrl B (2 Breath). Experiment - there are a lot of varieties possible, even combinations with the "Via" function and so.

With the EXS24, it's very much the same - but there you have all 120 MIDI Controllers available. Don't know which one is breath, so guess one 😉

Fox

hi there! glad i came accross your post. I been working with an akai 4000s and exs24 for a while and it's finally working really well. Here are some tweaks i found make it respond beautifully, it might help if you watch those tutorials the other guys gave you links to first though.or just do what i suggest, it'll work.

I find it works great if i set the ewi to transmit only controller 2 messages, which is breath control. Probably won't be a problem if it's also sending others though, but make sure "br" has a dot next to it... probably has by default. check in the manual how to do that if neccesary - under "bs" for breath sensitivity.I guess the USB version is the same?

Ok now first to sort out the dynamics issue- in the controller natrix, put any "dest" or destination to relative volume auto adjust, and put "src" or source to ctrl#2. push the little triangle right up. put your master volume right up, and both halves of the level ball right up. try playing the ewi now... i was so delighted when i discovered this setting, i can go from a whisper all the way up, with continious control.

Then there's filter cutoff control - just set another "dest" to flt cuttoff, and the "src" to ctrl#2 also. Put the triangle fader thing up the scale. Then switch on the filter , above the key knob, and adjust the cuttoff to about 12 oclock. you can mess with the resonance to make the filter more or less extreme, but basically you are making it open and close according to how hard you blow. with no resonance it's more like a natural response , for an example an oboe: brighter when louder. with more, it gets more biting and synth-like. also try pressing the fat button and turning up the drive.

you can try the legato mode(top left), very nice for fast playing with glide set just above short. mono is nice for staccatto stuff. poly is more natural...

the last important thing is sample select- to get smooth transitions between the different samples made at different volumes of the instrument: set another "dest" to s.select , and the src to ctrl#2 again, and put the fader up. then there's a thing that says xfade in the top left little panel...put it to about 20.

the pitch bend plates work nicely, you can control how many semitones where it says pitch bend...

hope i've helped!

by the way if anyone has tried east west/ quantum leaps's "play" sampler with an EWI id love to know if one can do this sort of thing, or just if it can recieve continious controllers instead of velocity, which is what one needs. Havent managed it with Kontakt by the way.

Hi

Logic Quicktips: The EXS24 Sampler (Part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuH-wHsfoSk

Cheers
bb

actually, the router is explained in part (2) 🙂

Fox