# New breath controller! Favorite patches / tips?



## camerhil (May 3, 2018)

I just bought a TEControl USB breath and bite controller based on Mike Verta’s nice review, and I can immediately hear the potential for a much more human sound. I can also tell that some re-learning will be required since the playing technique is quite different from a pedal and a mod wheel.

I get the feeling that certain virtual instruments gel better with the controller than others in terms of how their dynamics are simulated. Do you have any favorite patches, or any nuggets of wisdom for a breath / bite controller newbie?


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## rdieters (May 3, 2018)

It works particularly well with Samplemodeling/SWAM instruments. Love the trumpet and the sax. 

Initially I assigned bite for vibrato. But after watching the videos from this guy (I think he is amazing) I realized that it's possible to do vibrato using the diaphragm and the breath signal only, just like a real instrument. It took considerable practice to master it but it was well worth it. Now I assign bite to growl which works quite well.



Nod/tilt are very handy to have, two controllers for all sorts of use - hands free. I found MIDI learn a hassle initially because it's difficult to stay perfectly still or move only nod or tilt, but that was easily solved after I found out that you can disable each controller separately by using the MIDI channel setting in the breath controller software (set it to "disable"). Then MIDI learn works as usual.


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## Garry (May 4, 2018)

rdieters said:


> It works particularly well with Samplemodeling/SWAM instruments. Love the trumpet and the sax.
> 
> Initially I assigned bite for vibrato. But after watching the videos from this guy (I think he is amazing) I realized that it's possible to do vibrato using the diaphragm and the breath signal only, just like a real instrument. It took considerable practice to master it but it was well worth it. Now I assign bite to growl which works quite well.
> 
> ...




That's a great tip regarding disabling MIDI channels so that you can use MIDI learn effectively. I've had the TEControl for some time, and didn't know that. 

Yes, the TEControl works great with all the SWAM instruments; I've recently started using it on some of the Kontakt wind instruments, and it really adds an expressive dimension there too, so I imagine any wind instrument will benefit. For SWAM I use breath (expression), nod (vibrato depth), bite (growl) and tilt (pitch bend). It's awesome! Combine it with the Leap motion control and Geco, and everything comes alive!


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