[Laia]

Okay, this might sound like a strange question but i'm just wondering (before i go spend a bunch of money!) if a Yamaha breath controller would be compatible with a Roland synth?
It seems that Roland doesn't make breath controllers (at least they don't have any on their website) and the only one i can find readily is Yamaha brand.

If anyone can point me in the right direction i'd appreciate it!


-Laia

[Nate]

Are you talking about the weird headset looking thing that has a strange mouthpiece that you blow into, but nothing else... or about the saxophone looking thing that actually has keys and everything?

I think the breath controller would work (don't take my word for this though) with any synth, because I believe it just works like an expression pedal... plugging into any 1/4" controller input jack that is available. Like I said, though, I could be very wrong about this.

I know that the saxophone-style wind controller will work with any synth, because it uses a standard MIDI output.

Does that help?

In His love,
Nate

[Laia]

it helps a bit..thanks


btw. i was talking about the headset thingy

[Nate]

Out of curiousity, why do you want the weird thing? It doesn't really do anything that a standard expression pedal can't do... it just allows you to use your mouth instead of your feet to do the actual controlling. I've never thought it would be particularly useful, as I've always found my feet to be plenty agile enough to control whatever I need controlling.

Just curious.

In His love,
Nate

[lopar]

To Nate,

http://www.lynnemusic.com/studio.html

scroll down a bit.. from what he says about the breath controller, i'd want one! (eventually.. too bad i'd have to buy a wind synth box too :P )
looks a little bit more complicated than a regular exp. pedal tho.. maybe i don't know my stuff.. actually, i'm pretty sure i don't, but bjorn lynne is still pretty cool.

[Nate]

Originally Posted by lopar

To Nate,

http://www.lynnemusic.com/studio.html

scroll down a bit.. from what he says about the breath controller, i'd want one! (eventually.. too bad i'd have to buy a wind synth box too :P )
looks a little bit more complicated than a regular exp. pedal tho.. maybe i don't know my stuff.. actually, i'm pretty sure i don't, but bjorn lynne is still pretty cool.

Do you even know what the breath controller actually does? I do... and it's really not very exciting. Sure, it could be useful and fun to play around with, but in the end it doesn't do anything that a standard expression pedal cannot do (besides the mouth-control as opposed to foot-control, obviously).

In His love,
Nate

[Laia]

why do i want one? i'm always up for trying some new toy

i had heard about them and i was just interested in trying one out but i didn't know if it would be compatible with what i already have...

[Nate]

Originally Posted by Laia

why do i want one? i'm always up for trying some new toy

That's as good as any reason, I suppose.

i had heard about them and i was just interested in trying one out but i didn't know if it would be compatible with what i already have...

Ok, I've done a little more research and here's what I've come up with. The breath controller from Yamaha does not just plug into a normal 1/4" expression pedal jack on the back of a keyboard. It has to have a special input designed specifically for it (I'm assuming that this is because the signal it sends out is somehow different than that of a pedal, and needs to be decoded/interpreted slightly differently in terms of the actual electronic inner-workings). In order to use the Yamaha breath controller with a synth that doesn't have an input specifically designed for the breath controller, you'd need a device such as this:



You can find that particular device here.

That will convert the signal from the breath controller into a normal MIDI controller signal that can be used to control any MIDI-equipped synth that you want.

Does that answer your questions? Do you need more clarifying?

In His love,
Nate

[Laia]

yep, that pretty well explains it...and i can understand why you'd need an adaptor of sorts...

thanks for doing all the checking into it Nate