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User's manual
USB MIDI Breath & Bite Controller (BBC)
June 2014, Rev 1.0
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The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of TEControl. No part of this publication may be copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose, without prior written permission by TEControl. All product and company names are ™ or ® trademarks of their respective owners.
© TEControl, 2014. All rights reserved.
Ragnarsv.2
23192 Trelleborg
Sweden
For general information about products: [email protected]
For technical questions and enquiries: [email protected]
For the most up to date information, visit the support pages at our web site http://www.tecontrol.se
There you can find documentation and latest software.
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1 TABLE OF CONTENT
Contents
2 REVISIONS
Rev. Date
1.0 1-June-2014
Major changes
First issue
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3 INTRODUCTION
The TEControl team is very happy to be able to serve the community and fill the gap left by Yamaha in the world of breath controllers. We like to think that we took over where Yamaha left, providing the MIDI community with not only a replacement but taking it to a new level corresponding to developments made in the MIDI world during the last couple of years.
With sample libraries getting better and better, physical modeling advancing to incredible realism, the need for good controllers is obvious. With the introduction of the USB MIDI Breath & Bite Controller (BBC) we are now able to provide you with dual control: breath controller and in addition bite (lip pressure) controller, the latter until now found only on more expensive wind controllers.
To quickly get an overview of the past and present breath and wind controllers, we recommend checking out: http://www.patchmanmusic.com/WindControllerFAQ.html.
It contains a very good description of Breath Controllers in general together with available devices.
All this said, we encourage suggestions for improvements and new products.
The TEControl team
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4 OVERVIEW
The BBC is designed for musicians who want to add extreme expression and realism to their performance. It features two sensors and can be thought of as two independent MIDI controllers which generate continuous MIDI data corresponding to the amount of breath and bite pressures applied. The Breath
Controller uses the built-in piezoelectric pressure transducer as input and the
Bite Controller uses the integrated bite sensor (located on the lower side of the mouthpiece) to measure the force applied through bite or lip pressure.
The Bite Sensor is sensitive to moisture and can be damaged if exposed to excessive humidity. Therefore it is protected by a thin layer of food grade silicone which will prevent any humidity from reaching the sensor. Please, take care not to displace or damage the silicone cover.
The mouthpiece bleed adjustment is improved with increased flow and more precise adjustment.
The BBC can also send pitch bend and aftertouch. While the aftertouch is straightforward, the pitch bend is due to the nature of the sensors implemented as positive or negative action. We have, however, also included a mode where the full function is available and can be tailored to usability with the sensitivity curve.
A unique feature of the BBC is its ability to shape the response from sensor input to MIDI output. It also provides a monitor function simplifying the sensitivity adjustment. This way you can optimize the sensitivity to your own style of playing. The attack and decay filter controls can be set from 0 to several seconds. They allow you to make very smooth swells.
With the downloadable Configuration Utility you can configure all the parameters described above as well as save and load your own presets.
Signal processing algorithms guarantee full resolution over the configured sensor input ranges. The event-driven MIDI output streaming, filters out redundant data not to overflow your MIDI input and assures lowest latency.
MIDI messages are transmitted only when input changes cause a change in the MIDI output value.
The BBC does not require installation of drivers or software. It will work with the default settings straight out of the box with both Windows and Mac OS.
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5 GETTING STARTED
5.1 Installation
Connect the BBC to a USB port on your computer, which will detect it automatically and configure the operating system’s built-in USB-MIDI class driver. The BBC will show as “ Breath Controller X.Y-ZZZZZZZZ” in your applications, where X.Y is the firmware version and ZZZZZZZZ is the unique serial number. It is fully functional with the default settings.
5.2 Default settings
The BBC comes pre-configured with default settings and will work straightout-of-the box. The default settings are as follows:
• Linear sensitivity
• Input and output ranges set to maximum
• Attack and decay filters disabled
• MIDI channel 1
• MIDI Message set to Control Change
• CC# 2 [breath control] and CC#1 [modulation wheel]
To change the settings, download version 3.0 or later of the Breath Controller
Configuration Utility from www.tecontrol.se, unzip it and run the installer.
For future enhancements, firmware upgrades may be made available.
5.3 Configuration Utility
When started, the Configuration Utility will check for a connected Breath
Controller. If not found, the lower portion of the window will display an error message "Error: controller not found. Please check "Select Controller" under
the File Menu". This message could indicate that it is the first time you use your BBC or that there is no BBC connected to your computer.
First time use; In the menu "File/Select controller", select the correct device.
It has been reported to us that on some Windows installations, the operating system may report the Breath Controller as "USB Audio Device" instead of
"Breath Controller X.Y-ZZZZZZZZ". For those rare instances, please use
"File->Select controller" to select the correct device.
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1 2
3
4
Figure 1 - Default settings
1
The left part of the window shows the sensitivity curves of both sensors simultaneously.
2
The two controllers are configured independently and are selected by clicking the respective tab located on the right side of the window.
3
The Configuration Utility includes the possibilities to Save and Load as many presets as you like. This is very convenient since each sample library,
VST instrument or keyboard/synthesizer might require different settings. The
Save preset button lets you save the settings of both sensors to a file location and file name of your choice. The filename extension ".tec" is added by default.
Here you can also enable/disable the sensor input monitor function.
4
Located at the bottom of the window is a message window which reports the response of your actions as well as potential error messages. Please, keep an eye on the messages displayed there to detect any problems.
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In your DAW, player etc... the BBC must be selected as a MIDI input device in order to work. The BBC also appears in the list of MIDI output devices but should
NOT
be selected since it is used by the Configuration Utility.
In your DAW, you must also configure the MIDI input of the track you are playing or recording to "MIDI omni", "All MIDI inputs" or similar function that configures the track to responds to all MIDI controllers. This is necessary to allow you to control the instrument from both keyboard and BBC.
WARNING!!!
Due to the nature of the BBC (or any other MIDI controller) the CC will be
left at zero value when you release the pressure (i.e. stop blowing or biting). Depending on the CC you are controlling you might not hear any sound without blowing.
You might get into a deadlock if e.g. you first use the BBC with CC 7
(volume), stop blowing will leave your instrument volume at zero value, change the CC to e.g. 11 (expression). No sound will be heard since the
CC 7 - volume is still at zero.
Please, keep this in mind before contacting support.
To solve the problem either restart your sample player or try the following:
• Select the CC that might be left at zero.
• While applying pressure change the CC to e.g. 1 (mod wheel)
• Repeat if you have more CCs left at zero
5.4 How to program
The 8 sliders of the Configuration Utility let you tailor the response from input pressure to MIDI CC value. Select sensor by clicking the appropriate tab located above the sliders.
With the Bending and Symmetry sliders you can change the linear response to various shapes.
The Input Min sets the threshold of the input pressure i.e. any pressure below the threshold will not cause any change in the output CC value.
The Input Max can be tailored to how hard you want to blow to achieve max
CC value (set by
Output Max).
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With the Output Min you can set the output CC value to be used for pressures below the input threshold. This is useful if you don't want the CC value to drop to zero.
The Output Max sets the maximum CC value to be sent.
The Reset sensitivity button resets the sensitivity to linear with full input and output ranges.
Figure 2 - Sensitivity settings
With the MIDI Channel drop-down list you set the MIDI channel to be used for the transmission of the MIDI message.
The MIDI CC drop-down list lets you select the actual controller to be used e.g. CC1 [Modulation Wheel], CC2 [Breath Control] etc... See annex for a complete list. The MIDI CC is effective only when Control Change is selected in the MIDI Message drop-down list.
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In the MIDI Message drop-down list you can in addition to the above mentioned Control Change also select Aftertouch, Pitch Bend Up, Pitch Bend
Down and Pitch Bend Both. Note that when either Aftertouch or any of the
Pitch Bend options are selected the MIDI CC drop down is grayed out.
Aftertouch is what the MIDI specification refers to as channel pressure.
Due to the nature of the sensors used, Pitch Bend can only be used in one direction; Pitch Bend Up or Pitch Bend Down. We have, however, also included a Pitch Bend Both mode, where the full function is available and can be tailored to usability with the sensitivity curve.
The Attack Filter and Decay Filter sliders let you set the respective time constants individually. Setting the sliders fully left give you the fastest response (filter disabled) and setting them fully right allows time constants of several seconds. This is very useful for semi-automatic swells.
All the above changes to the settings take immediate effect but are lost when the computer is powered off or the BBC is removed from the computer. To store you settings permanently in the BBC, use the Make permanent button.
This means your settings are remembered when the Breath controller is unpowered. You can now move it to another host with your favorite settings intact. Every time you use the Make permanent button the Configuration
Utility stores the parameters in your computer’s registry as well and automatically retrieves them when you restart the Configuration Utility, even if the controller is not connected.
The
Configuration Utility includes an input monitor function for both sensors, where a dot is travelling along the sensitivity and curve indicates the sensor input. The monitor is controlled by the
Enable Monitor/Disable
Monitor button . In the MAC version you can play your keyboard while you monitor the breath input. Due to limitations in Windows this is unfortunately not possible and therefore you have to disable the Breath Controller in your sequencer.
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Figure 3 - Monitoring function
6 COMPATIBILITY
6.1 Sample Libraries
Compatibility has been verified with the following sample libraries:
8DIO - Adagio violas. Beautiful, beautiful!
AudioBro LA Scoring Strings LASS - Excellent results can be achieved by controlling the Kontakt player ModWheel or Expression with MIDI
Breath Controller CC data.
East West Quantum Leap (EWQL) - East West Play Software is easily controlled by the BBC by using e.g. ModWheel or Expression CC data.
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Orchestration Tools. We have tested the Berlin Woodwinds and it works fantastically well.
ProjectSam - Both Symphobia 1 & 2 and True Strike 1 & 2 use the Kontakt player and works beautifully with the MIDI Breath Controller.
Samplemodeling - We have tested the Trumpet (Kontakt based) and the Clarinet (SWAM based). It's a marriage made in heaven!
SpectraSonics - The MIDI Breath Controller works great with
Omnisphere, Trilian and Stylus RMX.
Spitfire Albion - This library uses the Kontakt player from Native
Instrument and is easily controlled from the MIDI Breath Controller through
ModWheel or Expression CC data.
Vienna Symphonic Library (VSL) - The Vienna
Instrument PRO has itself extensive capabilities of routing any CC data to appropriate parameters as well as a fully configurable sensitivity curve. The
MIDI Breath Controller works wonderfully with e.g EPIC horns.
Wallander Instruments - A perfect match! All their instruments sounds incredible and are easily controlled with the Breath Controller.
6.2 Sample players
EastWest's Play engine
Kontakt player from Native Instruments
Vienna Instrument Pro from VSL
As we are continuing expanding this list, please, refer to our website for the latest updates.
We have not found any sample player incompatible with the BBC. There are of course many left to be tested and although TEControl cannot guarantee compatibility there is no reason to believe the BBC isn't compatible with all of them assuming they all comply with the MIDI standards. Concerning direct
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connection of the BBC to a keyboard/synthesizer, please, refer to our website for latest compatibility updates.
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7 CONTROL CHANGE NUMBERS
The following table lists all currently defined Control Change messages and
Channel Mode messages, in control number order. (Adopted from "MIDI by the Numbers" by D. Valenti-Electronic Musician 2/88, updated by the MIDI
Manufacturers Association.)
Registered Parameter Numbers (RPNs) are an extension to the Control
Change message for setting additional parameters. Appended at the bottom is a table of all currently defined RPNs.
Control Changes and Mode Changes
(Status Bytes 176-191)
14
15
16
17
11
12
13
7
8
9
10
2
3
4
5
6
Dec
0
1
Control Number
(2nd Byte Value)
Binary
00000000
00000001
Hex
00
01
00000010
00000011
00000100
00000101
00000110
00000111
00001000
00001001
00001010
00001011
00001100
00001101
00001110
00001111
00010000
00010001
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
0A
0B
0C
0D
0E
0F
10
11
Bank Select
Modulation Wheel or Lever
Breath Controller
Undefined
Foot Controller
Portamento Time
Data Entry MSB
Channel Volume (formerly Main Volume)
Balance
Undefined
Pan
Expression Controller
Effect Control 1
Effect Control 2
Undefined
Undefined
Control Function
General Purpose Controller 1
General Purpose Controller 2
14
3rd Byte Value
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
Value
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
MSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
Used As
MSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
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31
32
33
34
26
27
28
29
30
35
36
37
38
21
22
23
24
25
18
19
20
39
43
44
45
46
40
41
42
47
48
49
50
51
1F
20
21
22
1A
1B
1C
1D
1E
23
24
25
26
15
16
17
18
19
12
13
14
27
2B
2C
2D
2E
28
29
2A
2F
30
31
32
33
00011010
00011011
00011100
00011101
00011110
00011111
00100000
00100001
00100010
00010010
00010011
00010100
00010101
00010110
00010111
00011000
00011001
00100011
00100100
00100101
00100110
00100111
00101000
00101001
00101010
00101011
00101100
00101101
00101110
00101111
00110000
00110001
00110010
00110011
General Purpose Controller 3
General Purpose Controller 4
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
LSB for Control 0 (Bank Select)
LSB for Control 1 (Modulation Wheel or Lever)
LSB for Control 2 (Breath Controller)
LSB for Control 3 (Undefined)
LSB for Control 4 (Foot Controller)
LSB for Control 5 (Portamento Time)
LSB for Control 6 (Data Entry)
LSB for Control 7 (Channel Volume, formerly Main
Volume)
LSB for Control 8 (Balance)
LSB for Control 9 (Undefined)
LSB for Control 10 (Pan)
LSB for Control 11 (Expression Controller)
LSB for Control 12 (Effect control 1)
LSB for Control 13 (Effect control 2)
LSB for Control 14 (Undefined)
LSB for Control 15 (Undefined)
LSB for Control 16 (General Purpose Controller 1)
LSB for Control 17 (General Purpose Controller 2)
LSB for Control 18 (General Purpose Controller 3)
LSB for Control 19 (General Purpose Controller 4)
15
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
MSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
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55
56
57
58
59
52
53
54
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
37
38
39
3A
3B
34
35
36
3C
3D
3E
3F
40
00110100
00110101
00110110
00110111
00111000
00111001
00111010
00111011
00111100
00111101
00111110
00111111
01000000
01000001
01000010
01000011
01000100
01000101
01000110
01000111
01001000
01001001
01001010
01001011
45
46
47
48
49
4A
4B
01001100 4C
01001101
01001110
01001111
41
42
43
44
4D
4E
4F
LSB for Control 20 (Undefined)
LSB for Control 21 (Undefined)
LSB for Control 22 (Undefined)
LSB for Control 23 (Undefined)
LSB for Control 24 (Undefined)
LSB for Control 25 (Undefined)
LSB for Control 26 (Undefined)
LSB for Control 27 (Undefined)
LSB for Control 28 (Undefined)
LSB for Control 29 (Undefined)
LSB for Control 30 (Undefined)
LSB for Control 31 (Undefined)
Damper Pedal on/off (Sustain)
Portamento On/Off
Sostenuto On/Off
Soft Pedal On/Off
Legato Footswitch
Hold 2
Sound Controller 1 (default: Sound Variation)
Sound Controller 2 (default: Timbre/Harmonic Intens.)
Sound Controller 3 (default: Release Time)
Sound Controller 4 (default: Attack Time)
Sound Controller 5 (default: Brightness)
Sound Controller 6 (default: Decay Time - see MMA RP-
021)
Sound Controller 7 (default: Vibrato Rate - see MMA
RP-021)
Sound Controller 8 (default: Vibrato Depth - see MMA
RP-021)
Sound Controller 9 (default: Vibrato Delay - see MMA
RP-021)
Sound Controller 10 (default undefined - see MMA RP-
021)
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
≤63 off,
≥64 on
≤63 off,
≥64 on
≤63 off,
≥64 on
≤63 off,
≥64 on
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
---
---
---
---
≤63
Normal,
≥64 Legato
---
≤63 off,
≥64 on
---
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
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83
84
85
86
87
80
81
82
88
89
90
91
92
93
01011110
01011111
01100000
01100001
01100010
01100011
01100100
01100101
01100110
01100111
01101000
01101001
01101010
01101011
01101100
01101101
01101110
01101111
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
94
95
96
97
98
99
107
108
109
110
111
67
68
69
6A
64
65
66
5E
5F
60
61
62
63
6B
6C
6D
6E
6F
01010000
01010001
01010010
01010011
01010100
01010101
01010110
01010111
01011000
01011001
01011010
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
5A
01011011 5B
01011100
01011101
5C
5D
General Purpose Controller 5
General Purpose Controller 6
General Purpose Controller 7
General Purpose Controller 8
Portamento Control
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
High Resolution Velocity Prefix
Undefined
Undefined
Effects 1 Depth
(default: Reverb Send Level - see MMA RP-023)
(formerly External Effects Depth)
Effects 2 Depth (formerly Tremolo Depth)
Effects 3 Depth
(default: Chorus Send Level - see MMA RP-023)
(formerly Chorus Depth)
Effects 4 Depth (formerly Celeste [Detune] Depth)
Effects 5 Depth (formerly Phaser Depth)
Data Increment (Data Entry +1) (see MMA RP-018)
Data Decrement (Data Entry -1) (see MMA RP-018)
Non-Registered Parameter Number (NRPN) - LSB
Non-Registered Parameter Number (NRPN) - MSB
Registered Parameter Number (RPN) - LSB*
Registered Parameter Number (RPN) - MSB*
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
0-127
---
---
---
0-127
---
---
0-127
0-127
0-127
---
---
---
---
0-127
0-127
---
0-127
0-127
N/A
N/A
0-127
0-127
---
---
---
---
---
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
LSB
---
---
---
LSB
---
---
---
---
---
---
---
---
---
LSB
MSB
---
---
---
---
---
LSB
MSB
---
---
---
---
---
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112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
01110000
01110001
01110010
01110011
01110100
01110101
01110110
01110111
73
74
75
76
77
70
71
72
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
Undefined
---
---
---
---
---
---
---
---
---
---
---
---
---
---
---
---
120
121
122
123
124
125
01111010
01111011
01111100
01111101
7A
7B
7C
7D
126 01111110 7E [Channel Mode Message] Mono Mode On (+ poly off, + all notes off)
127
01111000
01111001
01111111
78
79
7F
[Channel Mode Message] All Sound Off
[Channel Mode Message] Reset All Controllers
(See MMA RP-015)
[Channel Mode Message] Local Control On/Off
[Channel Mode Message] All Notes Off
[Channel Mode Message] Omni Mode Off (+ all notes off)
[Channel Mode Message] Omni Mode On (+ all notes off)
[Channel Mode Message] Poly Mode On (+ mono off, +all notes off)
0
0
---
---
0 off, 127 on
0
0
0
---
Note:
This equals the number of channels, or zero if the number of channels equals the number of voices in the receiver.
---
0 ---
---
---
---
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8 DECLARATION OF CONFORMITY
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