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General Discussion: Grand Piano sustain on Alpha

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written by: geert

FYI, the breath pipe has now been connected (as of 1.3.28) to piano sustain in all Alpha factory setups. The opposite is now also true for the Tau where it's possible to use a pedal for piano sustain with the base station pro, the connections in the factory setup have already been made for this.

written by: KaylaK

Fri, 1 Jul 2011 11:32:35 +0100 BST

I'm sure it's something really simple, but I can't seem to figure out how to map the breath pipe to sustain for the Sampler 1 Grand Piano on the Alpha - on the Pico the sustain was already set up via breath pipe and I wondered if I need to do something to tell it to do so on the Alpha!

Thanks very much,

Kayla


written by: Larryheil

Sat, 2 Jul 2011 11:58:20 +0100 BST

I would like to know how to connect my foot-pedal on the base station (either the switch or variable) to control the sustain for the sampler piano also.Alpha pro base station


written by: keyman

Sun, 3 Jul 2011 19:18:18 +0100 BST

To Kyla...

I've bin trying with the pieces of Belcanto that I have to pull this off
I think this line works but the breath is not that sensitive (need a "ranger" or "shaper" somewhere?!?!).... do try it!
Open the EigenCommander and copy and paste this:

alpha keyboard 1 breath output to cycler 1 damper pedal input connect


Some one could dive in and help?

Another idea is to use a Piano sound thru MIDI and with the MIDI Converter 1 it's much easier! Try it out also.

keyman


written by: keyman

Tue, 5 Jul 2011 16:25:31 +0100 BST

To Larry...

Again there are many answers around this issue ( on the forum) this one is from John:

Do you have both the input and output of the pedal connected to you Basestation Pro? You have to connect both as the way the Basestation knows about the position of the pedal is by sending it a tone then seeing how loud the tone coming back is. To be clear:

*using a mono 1/4" jack to jack cable, connect the the Basestation socket labeled 'Volume Pedal 1, To Input' to the volume pedal input

*using a mono 1/4" jack to jack cable, connect the the Basestation socket labeled 'Volume Pedal 1, To Output' to the volume pedal output

If you get these the wrong way round, it won't work. After connecting it all, calibrate as normal.

Sorry if you've already done this, I just couldn't tell if you'd used one or two cables to hook the pedal up from your comments. It is possible to use one (stereo) cable to connect certain pedals such as the Yamaha FC3, but not the FV500.

John


Continuing...

About the "one cable" hook up with the YAMAHA FC3:
TRS jack cable, connect to the Base Station socket labeled "Volume Pedal 1 To Input"

After this you have to calibrate.

"KEYGROUP 1 MODE KEY" and with it pressed "PEDAL CALIBRATION" as in the quick reference guide KEY 4.

With the ALPHA in a vertical position, Pedal 1 uses the buttons in horizontal; from the edge - down (touch 1st key to min. value, then press the pedal all the way down touch the second key below to max. value. Just return to play mode.
(Pedal 2 uses the row to the left, again in horizontal.

Hope to hear you're piano sustain!

keyman


written by: Larryheil

Wed, 6 Jul 2011 13:15:27 +0100 BST

Check out the posts about Piano sounds like Geert. I used my M-Audio Exp pedal and now have sutain! Thanks to all.


written by: prstorms

Thu, 7 Jul 2011 03:24:34 +0100 BST

What about hooking up an "on-off" pedal (with only one 1/4 inch jack) to get a sustain effect. Sustain is either on or off, so there should be no need for the feedback required by a two cable pedal. Oh... I do think the idea of using breath for sustain would be great. Does anyone want to tackle that chore?

Thanks!
Pat


written by: geert

Thu, 7 Jul 2011 06:49:45 +0100 BST

Actually Pat, sustain is not just on or off. You'll notice with a real piano and with the Eigenharp's sustain model, that you can slightly press the pedal to have a very faint sustain instead of a full blown one. This can be used very successfully to gradually bring in sustain when there wasn't one before. It should be possible to use one of the switch pedal inputs and connect it to the agent input that the volume pedal is now connected to. This should give you on/off sustain behavior.

Take care,

Geert


written by: prstorms

Fri, 8 Jul 2011 03:24:09 +0100 BST

Agent input??


written by: KaylaK

Wed, 3 Aug 2011 22:45:52 +0100 BST

So how does the Pico sustain work then? I'm a little confused ... I presumed the same method of using the breath pipe would transfer across to the Alpha?

K


written by: geert

Thu, 4 Aug 2011 07:57:55 +0100 BST

Hi Kayla,

The Pico sustain works exactly as what I described before, instead of connecting the pedal signal to the sustain, the breath signal is connected to it. This can be done through Belcanto, using a script, the commander or from the instrument. My point above was that the on/off switch should work but that it wouldn't give a gradual sustain input, which is something that most piano players are used to and what the Eigenharp supports.

If you want to get sustain as on the Pico, it's possible to change the connection between the agents to use the breath signal instead. However, if you're signing you're probably want to leave the pedal signal and use a pedal instead as what is set up now.

Take care,

Geert


written by: keyman

Thu, 4 Aug 2011 11:43:57 +0100 BST

Hi Geert
I'm sure I'm not the only one who would love that bit of Belcanto, to connect the sustain with the breath signal on the ALPHA.

Keyman


written by: geert

Thu, 4 Aug 2011 17:48:40 +0100 BST

Hi Kayla and Keyman,

Here's some Belcanto to connect the breath signal to the sampler 1 sustain as well as the pedal. I added a shaper agent in between so that you can tweak the compression ratio of the signal to be able to fine-tune the amount of breath you need to use.

http://www.eigenlabs.com/wiki/1.3/Breath_Damper_Pedal/

Hope this helps,

Geert


written by: KaylaK

Thu, 4 Aug 2011 19:49:01 +0100 BST

That's brilliant Geert thank you ~ as I still haven't worked out how to get a sound out of the microphone I'll be happy to use the breath pipe to sustain pedal while I use an external mic on stage!

K x


written by: geert

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 10:41:18 +0100 BST

FYI, the breath pipe has now been connected (as of 1.3.28) to piano sustain in all Alpha factory setups. The opposite is now also true for the Tau where it's possible to use a pedal for piano sustain with the base station pro, the connections in the factory setup have already been made for this.



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