TEControl MIDI Breath Controller

[pcartwright]

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It looks like a new breath controller has arrived. Does anyone have any feedback on this unit?

http://tecontrol.se/index_files/USBMIDI ... roller.htm (http://tecontrol.se/index_files/USBMIDIBreathController.htm)

[David Carpenter Wind Core]

I ordered one haven't received it yet. I should have it pretty soon. The utility looks good and it seemed like it is worth a try.

[David Carpenter Wind Core]

I received my TEC Midi Breath Controller and it works great on windows 7. Very sensitive seems a little more responsive than the EWI USB sensor. It uses a similar Motorola pressure sensor design from what I can gather from the data sheet.

The supplied mouth piece and tubing aren't very responsive. This makes a closed air system that is hard to get an accurate control over. The mouth piece is tiny 1/8 inch 4mm hard plastic not very comfortable to have in your mouth.

This was remedied by making a midi breath control box style housing. I used a 4x2x1 enclosure, brass/plastic fittings and a control valve for limiting air flow. Input barb fits Camel Bak hose which is more comfortable and harder to kink the hose. I also put in a moisture drain and 6ft usb extension cord. This really helped make it more versatile. It weighs about a 1/3 of a pound with hose and will fit just about anywhere.

With the utility I can adjust breath curve and symmetry. The air control valve helps dial in the right amount of air flow through the box. I like the valve set similar to the Ewi Usb a little hard to blow through this creates a good pressure responsive environment. The curve and symmetry settings are great for custom tailoring breath response making it just a little better than the Ewi Usb configuration menu.

Overall I spent 145 for the BC shipped from Germany and another 25 for the box so 170$ in the end. Which seems like a lot but I like that it is compact washable serviceable and protected from damage inside the compact box. Also now I can free up my Ewi Usb and not have to block midi notes. I think it would be easy to build a headset pretty cheap too but I don't like equipment attached to my head.

[maltin]

This is very cool idea! I would love to make a "Blow-Thru" housing / mouth-piece. Do you have a parts list and maybe some pictures? Possibly a step by step guide?
:?
Mark

[olazabal]

I bought TEControl MIDI Breath Controller and received it yesterday. It's great! It worked straight out of the box. I'm using a Mac. They provided a T-connector and a valve in the package. First I tried playing without the valve, and it was almost impossible to achieve any kind of musical expression with the controller. But after connecting the valve and tuning the sensitivity with the configuration utility, it worked like a dream. Using the valve means that some air can flow through the system. Having not played any wind instrument before, I instantly got addicted to this new level of expression and almost blew my brains out with it last night.

So the first impressions are very good. I'll post some sound examples later.

[sgolick]

David, I have also purchased a TEControl and am enjoying it. I wonder if you could share what type (brand and model) of control valve and moisture drain that you used. I would like to make a similar one.

Many thanks

Steven

[electro]

The TEC is an awesome BC solution, especially for its price. Worked right out of the box with no problems.

[tizian8]

I got to this thread through google and I wanted to say thank you for this.

I was desperately looking for a replacement for my broken Yamaha BC3 and I am very excited to have found this new TEC breath controller. The videos they link on their homepage are great, check them out, especially the one with samplemodeling VIs amazed me.

I just ordered the variant with MIDI DIN connector and I look forward to receiving it!

[bvc]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm-U44kNtmI

This interesting fellow has an interesting review of this interesting piece of gear.

I was thrilled to get a never-before-used Yamaha BC-1 breath controller a couple of years ago for a very low price (it still had the protective covering over it!). However, I am using my old Yamaha DX11 less and less, and my only alternative would be to buy a clunky, overpriced MIDI Solutions breath controller box.

This TEC control looks to be a great alternative, as it can be used independently on its own without other gear. I'm always looking for more control and more expression while keeping things minimalistic and streamlined setup-wise.

Though Torley's mere mention of "bite control" now makes me wish that were a feature in the TEC control.

Gotta love the different mouthpiece attachments, though.

Things like breath control and poly AT are lost arts, but they're a big part of making synths entirely more-than-respectable instruments of their own rather than cheap piano knockoffs and cheesy emulators of "real instruments".