I was recently asked how to go about playing arpeggios with an EWI - based combi. I thought I would explore this topic in a little more detail. We all know that you can use an RPG-8 with a keyboard to create arpeggios, but we face a unique set of challenges when playing with a wind controller. The RPG-8 (and Matrix for that matter) works by 'playing' the synth you hook it up to. When playing a keyboard, you find your device, right click on it, select RPG-8 from the menu and the RPG-8 is created with everything auto routed. The thing to remember is that you are not playing the first device any more. The RPG-8 is playing the device and you are playing the RPG-8. As you can see in this screen shot, the RPG-8 is taking over playing the Subtractor device via the Gate and Note CV inputs. And this works great, no problem. But what happens when we hook up the RPG-8 to an EWI combi (say, from Analog Dreams)? As you can see the Gate and Note CV are wired up and the Mod Wheel and Pitch Wheel are routed. To play this we need to select the RPG-8 in the Sequencer, not the Combinator. At this point we have two issues:
Routing Breath ControlThere are many ways to route breath control to the combinator and which one you use depends on how the combinator is wired up for breath. If the combi programmer is being used to send breath info to parameters: 1. Flip the rack around and route 'Breath' from the RPG-8 to CV input 1 of the combi. 2. Change 'Breath' in the Combi programmer to CV in 1. That's it. If you are using the front panel controls on a device, you need to use the CV inputs instead. If you are using a more intricate combinator setup, such as from 'Analog Dreams', you need to find a place to intercept the normal breath data in the combinator and insert the breath data from the RPG-8. In this case the breath data starts at the Thor device and is routed to CV out 2, so all we need to do is take move the connection from CV out 2 on the Thor to the Breath out on the RPG-8: So there you have it. This setup will let you play repeated notes in octaves with your wind controller. With a little bit of snooping around and rerouting, you can play your breath controlled sounds with the RPG-8. Just remember - the trick is to 'play' the RPG-8, and let that play the breath controlled device.
In a later post we will explore the step sequencer on Thor and use that to create true arpeggiated patterns that will play our other breath controlled devices. Until then, have fun and be musical.
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Sometimes you want to control your Reason devices 'hands-free', like, oh, I don't know, when you have both hands on your wind controller. In this short tutorial, I'll show you how to map an unused note on your wind controller to control the 'Solo Lead' switch on a Rotator combinator. This approach also works if you have a foot pedal. Ready? Let's dive in. Quick tip this week. I find it quite helpful when practicing to have a visual indicator of the breath pressure that I am sending from my wind controller into Reason. I can learn if I am blowing too hard or too soft and adjust either my playing or adjust the sensitivity on the instrument itself. There are two simple ways to do this that I would like to share. 1. Use NN-XT If you are playing an NN-XT patch, you have the breath indicator built-in. I'm sure you've seen the 'X' wheel moving when you play a sound set up like the picture, with the X controller set to breath. This is pretty handy, but I find that there are other knobs that are easier to read - like the giant rotary knobs on the Thor synthesizer... 2. Use Thor inside a Combinator I like the giant dials on the front panel of Thor, because they are big and easy to see. I prefer this method because I like to see a big, honkin’ dial move. This works for any Thor patch that does not use the front Rotary controls, or for any Combinator patch. This takes advantage of the fact that any control mapped in a combinator is animated when it is controlled - so it will move when it is activated. Here's how to do it:
What I Learned When I first did this, I realized I was ‘maxing out’ the breath pressure when I was only blowing at a moderate level. I turned down the sensitivity on the EWI to compensate and I can now blow normally and get a wide range of breath sensitivity. That's it until next time. Have fun playing your wind controller! |
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