
Virtual Wind Instruments (2018) - luu
https://www.jefftk.com/p/virtual-wind-instruments
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troydavis
I play the Aodyo Sylphyo electronic wind instrument, which can do this:
[https://www.aodyo.com/?langue=en](https://www.aodyo.com/?langue=en)

By default, it maps breath pressure to intensity (for its onboard synth)
and/or MIDI Expression (for external synths). SWAM Saxophones is one of the
more popular software instruments among Sylphyo players.

Moreover, it offers a few other modulation controls that generate MIDI control
changes, which one can map to things like initial attack. I think the post
author might find that the breath sensor is expressive enough to control
attack, though.

For anyone who wants to learn more, check out
[https://www.reddit.com/r/windsynth/](https://www.reddit.com/r/windsynth/).
I’ve also got quick start docs for different soft synths at
[https://github.com/troy/wind-controller-synth-quick-
start](https://github.com/troy/wind-controller-synth-quick-start)

~~~
oinj
Nice to see the Sylphyo mentioned on HN! (I'm the software developer at Aodyo)

To answer Jeff's post, in fact, the SWAM virtual instruments _do_ have a way
to derive attack intensity from the breath signal. You have to explicitly
select "Expression" for the "Attack Sens." parameter. You can also fine-tune
the response using the "Auto Expression", "Expr. Trigger Mode" and "Expr.
Trigger Sens." parameters in the Options. It's not the default behavior
because many SWAM users play them using a keyboard instead of a wind
controller, but it's definitely there. Obviously, our onboard synth does this
automatically on our sounds, when it makes sense.

I don't know about Jeff's setup, but there's no need to add MIDI velocity on
top of the breath signal[1]. When a wind controller outputs a MIDI velocity,
it's just something derived from the breath signal, but it's best that synths
just use the breath signal and produce attack sounds themselves based on that.
That's what SWAM instruments do when "Attack Sens." is set to "Expression",
and I'd say it's the correct way. If your wind controller outputs a breath
signal at a high enough frequency (the Sylphyo can do up to 1 kHz), then
there's enough information for the synth to produce an attack that really
sounds like what the performer intended to do on the controller. On the
Sylphyo, you can observe this with the onboard sound Meow[2]. Attacks will
sound different depending on whether your attacks are done using the tongue
("tu ku tu") or using the throat, but the processing stays minimal so that any
advanced technique (flutter-tonguing or growling in the video) can be
faithfully retranscribed, and it works well with a subtractive/FM sound like
Meow (it might be more difficult for physical models).

[1] MIDI velocity could serve another purpose in a wind controller playing a
SWAM instrument: telling how hard you're pressing a key when changing the
note, similarly to how flautists sometimes use the sounds of their keys
clicking in their performance.

[2] [https://youtu.be/UDcR4I1zatQ?t=33](https://youtu.be/UDcR4I1zatQ?t=33)

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singingfish
I designed / plagiarised a virtual wind instrument a while ago. I was unhappy
with the straight pressure sensor. On a reeded instrument, the mouthpiece does
the duty of loudness, pitch bend and harmonic intonation. Loudness is obvious
(pressure) pitch bend also (bite pressure but it's not actually bite if your
technique is right, it's lip pressure) but I don't know how the harmonic
intonation corresponds to physical parameters except it's about altering the
shape of the chamber behind the mouthpiece (i.e. mouth and throat) and some
modification to the air-stream as well which I also don't quite understand.

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mrkramer
This reminded me of my country building the first wind organ instrument in the
world. It will be located on the top of the mountain and it produces the sound
when wind flows inside organ tubes and pipes.

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fab1an
I can recommend checking out the Linnstrument MPE controller for this, too,
especially when coupled with VSTs by Audio Modeling (e. g. SWAM Saxophones
mentioned by user troydavis.

