Example settings for tin whistle expression

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Example settings for tin whistle expression

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Here are some settings seem to work well for adding a bit of realism to tin whistle with the Celtic Sounds app. I find that it works pretty well for slow airs. The "expression" switch varies the pitch a bit based on blowing pressure, and the CC settings vary the volume with pressure. I'm using the vented mouthpiece (and the "vented" switch is turned on"), which allows tonguing of notes and therefore better phrasing than with the closed mouthpiece. I'm also using both slide and vibrato.

Michael Eskin has been instructing me on how to add the ability to import and export settings from the Configuration Tool to make it easier to share them with others or make a backup of your settings, and I hope to add that ability when I can find some time.
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Andrew Mowry
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Re: Example settings for tin whistle expression

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Here's a little video example using the above settings:

https://youtu.be/5Rl04booFBY
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Re: Example settings for tin whistle expression

Post by DRKCOSTAS »

Very Helpful Thanks.

I want to ask in the window of expression, about the channel 1. Would this change, if in addition to translating increased pressure to volume we had also selected to send messages as velocity? As I undersatnd higher velocity of the note in midi language is both higher volume , fastner increase of volume from zero to the desired level and probably brighter timbre too. So if we had selected besides translating increased pressure to increased volume , also to send messages as velocity, would the number 1 in the channel , remain 1 or would have to change in something else? What else?
And if the 1 is changed,would this affect the translation of increased breath pressure to increased volume of the note? Thanks in advance
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Re: Example settings for tin whistle expression

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Oh, good question-- for velocity, the channel selection is ignored, because channel 1 is always used for sending the notes, and velocity is part of that message for turning a note on. I had forgotten to add that to the documentation, but I added it just now. The channel selection is only used for CC, in case you want to send that to another channel for some reason. I would assume that most people would always be sending CC to channel 1 as well. The way that both the CC and velocity are interpreted just depend on your MIDI app/host, etc. Many simpler ones just interpret velocity as volume, but yes, some also use it for timbre, ornamentations, and various other things.

Currently, if you don't map pressure to velocity, WARBL always sends a velocity of 64. However, I'm considering changing that to 127 in the next version, or maybe have that as an option, because using 64 limits the volume of many apps. The workaround at the moment to always have it send 127 is to map very low pressures to the highest velocity, using the slliders.
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Re: Example settings for tin whistle expression

Post by DRKCOSTAS »

Thank you! It is clear now.
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Re: Example settings for tin whistle expression

Post by jlin »

Hi,

I am adjusting the Jump setting and have problem going from silence to the second register directly. Most of the time, it seemed that the Warbl would go from silence through the first register very briefly and to the second register. Thus, the transition is not direct (from silence to the second register). So it sounded like there was a "click" noise (due to the first register was activated briefly?). I used the Breath Defaults settings to start with since it had this click noise issue. Is there a way to tune up this?

Best regards,

James
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Re: Example settings for tin whistle expression

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Hi James,

Lowering the "jump" setting is the correct way to make it easier to go directly to the second register-- it sounds like you've tried that already. As you may have discovered, if it's too low it will jump too easily and possibly oscillate back and forth, so I try to get it as low as possible without getting those unwanted responses. The other thing you can try is related to technique-- if you blow very sharply it should jump more easily, because it uses the rate of change of your breath to try to interpret your intent, rather than just the pressure at a moment in time. If the pressure increases very quickly it should go to the second register.

This is a pretty tricky thing to emulate with software, so I'll be the first to admit that it will never be perfect, but hopefully these suggestions will help. The instrument sound that you're using also plays a role in this-- instrument sounds that have a slow attack like flute often mask additional brief extraneous notes, while something with a sharp attack like a plucked string, piano, or bagpipes will highlight those notes. Real wind instruments like tin whistle so pass through the first register on their way to the second, but because it's a smooth transition it's not noticeable. MIDI notes, on the other hand, usually don't transition as smoothly, hence the need for this jump/drop feature.
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Re: Example settings for tin whistle expression

Post by jlin »

Hi Andrew,

I had tried again in yesterday's late night after sending you the question. This time, I watched the Pressure Graph carefully when I played the note. In deed as you describe in this morning's email, increasing the pressure rapidly alleviated the issue a lot so a much less noticeable "pop" sound was heard instead. It is a good improvement. I will practice more. Your explanations also help me to understand the issue.

Another thing that I noticed was that Warbl was more sensitive to the timing than that of regular whistles when two holes (or more) needed to be closed at the same time. Two fingers must be in-sync when closing the holes. If there is a slight lag between two fingers, two notes will be heard in sequence. I wonder if Warbl configuration tool can display the opened/closed wave-forms vs time of all the holes (btw, I like the Pressure Graph as a visualization tool). It may help the users to visualize and correct their finger synchronization issue. Of course, users can also use hearing to correct the issue.

Anyway, thanks for your prompt response and good explanations.

Best,

James
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Re: Example settings for tin whistle expression

Post by admin »

Good, I'm glad the overblowing control has gotten easier!

Thanks for this suggestion about adding visualization for the tone holes-- I'll look into this. In theory it would be possible to add it to the Configuration Tool because it already has all the information from WARBL that it would need.

In general, the best way to avoid those crossing noises (as bagpipers call them) is to always raise the higher fingers first and lower them last when moving up or down the scale, respectively. It's something that becomes second nature pretty quickly, though before playing WARBL and not being a piper I didn't realize it was an issue because tin whistles and flutes blend those brief notes together, the same as with the register issue we discussed above. If you're interested, there's quite a bit of material on the web about avoid crossing noises, for example this video from Matt Willis:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_rDKsaJzjY
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Re: Example settings for tin whistle expression

Post by jlin »

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the reply with additional information. I will check out the link.

Best regards,

James
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