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Best Midi Controller for SWAM Saxophone
Hi,
I'd like to step up my game with the Swam Saxophone App inside Logic.
So far I'm using my Xkey Air (with mod button mapped to vibrato and growl) which works decent, but its of cause a bit limited for all the given Parameters.
What is in your opinion the best MIDI Option for a really proffessional sound to learn.
I heard about Breath controllers, but i didnt find a good wireless option, yet.
I also have to Roli Blocks, which i dont use that often to be honest. Maybe its a viable option to map some of the Parameters to the Block to support the Xkey, if thats a possible option. With this I could at least controll Expression, vibrato and growl independently.
Maybe you can give me some inspiration with the workflow that works best for you 
.
Comments
You could very easily use the roli blocks for this. Map expression to glide and growl to aftertouch. Geoshred on the iPad screen would also be a good solution. Just make sure to set up the options correctly in the Swam app, making sure mpe is on etc and that you have picked Seaboard from the list of controllers they ask you to choose from.
Sounds good, i will try that later. Thank you
There are breath controllers with USB and BT MIDI dongles that can host USB devices. Add a small powerbank and it's wireless.
Another option could be a little hack with the Arturia Beatstep. It sends polyphonic key pressure.
Each pad sends its pressure individually and putting some weight on each makes the pads more responsive to pressure.
The Artinoise Re.corder is actually a pretty decent breath controller/windsynth solution that has built-in Bluetooth midi and lithium battery, gives you an all-in-one solution that is decent to play. Hooks up great via Bluetooth midi to my iPhone and iPad. It has no bite sensor, so you have to get pitch-bend/vibrato control some other way, which is doable with the Re.corder because it has built-in 3-axis accelerometer that sends position data. It's actually quite a bit cheaper than the Tecontrol breath controller (that has 3-axis sensitivity, plus bite sensor), but the Tecontrol costs around $250. I also have it and the Re.corder breath control seems just as good, plus it lets you play it as an instrument.
The Artinoise Re.corder isn't the greatest solution, I prefer playing my Akai EWI, but it's decent and it's relatively inexpensive (I ordered mine from ThomannMusic for around $130 plus $30 shipping to U.S.). Plenty of youtube vids on it, I'd start with these:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=stef+haynes+re.corder
There are some inexpensive breath controllers coming out now, e.g., this one for $70 (with digital coupon): https://www.amazon.com/Vangoa-Instrument-Rechargeable-Removeable-Mouthpiece/dp/B0C1GC5K5Y/ref=sr_1_6?crid=1F2OCCOLCK1TR&keywords=vangoa+midi+saxophone
Same youtube channel linked above has recent review of this instrument, which has a couple downsides that may not be deal killers.
Regarding the SWAM instruments, I still haven't gotten around to tweaking things for realism and/or playability. Especially the standalone (non Geoshred) versions have lots of different settings. Seems to me most all of the SWAM demos I've seen have been of people who use mostly stock settings and are happy enough with the sound. But there's lots of opportunity to tweak them however you want, will take some time but I will end up doing that at some point. Not sure, playing SWAM optimally may require more time spent on listening and gaining skills with breath controller than actually tweaking app settings.
Definitely a breath controller if you want ease of reproducing the idiosyncrasies of playing a reed instrument. I have an Akai EWI that suffices for instruments other than alto sax (as I’ll play the real thing in that case).
Thank you for the nice recommendations 😊 I will further look into it. As for now I set my Roli block to the x,y,z Pad Mode. With this is really nice to control vibrato and growl with one finger. You could also use the z (pressure) to Control another parameter such as expression. I think with a little bit of practice you can do really nice things with it 😊
The Xkey also supports channel pressure (monophonic aftertouch). I use the aftertouch for growl and mod wheel for vibrato. It works well.
I have an EWI, but I do just as well with Geoshred or Velocity KB. If I were a better winds player I might do better with the EWI, but if I were a better winds players I'd just play a real sax.
It might just depend on what instrument you have the most chops.
I have used Roli Seaboard, lightpad, Geoshred, Velocity KB, Joue Pro, and Tecontrol breath controller. I have found the breath controller to be the easiest, by far, to play realistically with. It's much easier to have fine control over expression than with aftertouch. I'm not a wind instrument player, and I still found it very intuitive to control expression with breath, after only a few hours of practice.