Some suggestions

Use this forum to report bugs or request new features for WARBL, including fingering chart suggestions.
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Noktai
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Jun 22, 2019 7:17 pm

Some suggestions

Post by Noktai »

Just received my warbl, still getting used to it but it's great so far!
Some suggestions after playing around;

oxx xxx fingering pressure
The one thing that's really throwing me off is when using oxx xxx in the second octave (using chromatic tin whistle fingerings). I personally wish it would just use the same pressure as all the other notes in the second octave, which is pretty much how it works on the tin whistle. Right now it uses the same pressure as the first octave notes, so it usually sends me straight to the third octave.
Kind of hard to explain, but I hope you get the idea.I think an obtion to just disable this fingering for an automatic octave jump would suffice.

Chromatic fingerings
Besides using the pinky hole, I think it would be intuitive if the any of the other open holes bellow the lowest open hole can be used to drop down a semitone.I also play the ocarina, and this is usually the way to play chromatics. An ocarina fingering by itself might a good idea too, though I can imagine it's a bit of a niche audience.

No vibrato holes selected, still get slight vibrato
I don't use finger vibrato, but still want to use slides. So I disabled all the vibrato holes. But if I play ooo xxo the tone is still influenced.

Overblow & expression
Right now it's not really possible to use expression + overblow at the same time. Since,the expression doesn't take the breath pressure for the overblow into account. I think the value for expression should be determined based from the value for the overblow of the note (or from the note that started the overblow, not sure which one would feel better).

So let's say 2.0 inH20 is the overblow barrier. I'm playing the first octave in 1.5 inh20 where 1.5 inH20 is counted towards expression. Then if I blow at 2.5 inH20 right the expression would also be at 2.5H20, while it should be at 2.5 - 2.0 = 0.5 inH20.

Awfully difficult to explain this, but I think you get the idea!


One more problem I have is that when I lift multiple fingers, I often still get some note readings from one of the fingers as they lift up. Thought that might just be a problem with my playing. (I did make sure the calibration is very tight)

Other than that I really love it! Keep up the good work!
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admin
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Re: Some suggestions

Post by admin »

I’m glad you’re enjoying it so far, and thanks for the suggestions! Here are some responses:


oxx xxx fingering pressure:

If I understand you correctly, With the oxx xxx fingering, if you increase the “multiplier” setting somewhat, it will make it more difficult to move to the second register. What might not be immediately apparent is that there isn’t a single threshold for the second register, rather as you go up the scale it gets increasingly more difficult to overblow. How much more difficult depends on that “multiplier” setting, so I think changing that may make it seem more natural to you.

Or, you may be talking about the “jump” feature, where if you’re starting with no note playing at all and you blow quickly, it will move directly to the second register. In that case, you’re correct, all notes on the scale use the same threshold for the pressure acceleration (the “jump” setting). I could probably look into disabling “jump” for that note, if that’s what you’re referring to.


Chromatic fingerings:

With the chromatic fingering suggestion, the main reasons for limiting the number of possible chromatic fingerings are that they make playing vibrato more difficult, and they increase the number of passing notes when you change notes. If any finger below an open hole were used for accidentals, then you wouldn’t be able to use those fingers for vibrato because it would trigger a different note instead.

However, I could entertain the idea of ocarina fingering if you think it would work.


Still get vibrato with all the vibrato holes selected:

I assume you have the “custom” switch turned off (the vibrato holes selection doesn’t do anything with the “custom” vibrato)? If so, this sounds like a bug. I’m away from home for the next week, but after that I’ll take a look. In the meantime, it may help to also turn vibrato depth all the way down.



Overblow and expression:

If you’re using the “expression” switch, it does currently work the way you suggest, in other words overblowing is taken into consideration when calculating the pitchbend. It calculates the “middle” pressure for every note in each register, and then bends up or down depending on whether the pressure is currently above or below that pressure.

If you’re instead taking about mapping pressure to velocity or a CC, you’re correct, that doesn’t take overblowing into consideration, but it might be something I could consider adding as an option. It’s more complicated than your example because every note has a different threshold for switching to the second register, which makes it more similar to a real instrument, but I could do something similar to what I’m doing with the expression switch.


Passing notes:

I think it’s mostly unavoidable with a wind controller that you get passing notes as you switch fingerings, so for example if you move from xxx xxx to xxx xoo, you get xxx xxo in between. You maybe able to add an artificial delay to limit these, but that would add latency and make it hard to play fast passages. Fortunately, with sounds like whistle or most other wind instruments, those intermediate notes aren’t very noticeable. With sounds with a sharp attack and release like percussion or plucked strings, they are very noticeable, so those kinds of sounds don’t usually work very well with wind controllers.

Real instruments do the same thing, but with something like whistle you can’t really hear them. With bagpipes you can, and pipers spend time working on technique to minimize passing notes. So, I think that technique can help to some extent.


Thanks again for all the suggestions! As I am traveling with my family right now, my future replies may have a bit of a delay ;)
Andrew Mowry
info@warbl.xyz
Phil53
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed May 15, 2019 7:50 am

Re: Some suggestions

Post by Phil53 »

admin wrote: Mon Jun 24, 2019 12:38 pm... I think it’s mostly unavoidable with a wind controller that you get passing notes as you switch fingerings, so for example if you move from xxx xxx to xxx xoo, you get xxx xxo in between ...
I was having problems between XXX XXX and XXX XOO, assumed it was my clumsy fingers, and practiced until it went away. I have just recorded it and checked the trace - there is not a hint of a passing note. Probably my fingers have always tended to do that but a flute, and maybe a whistle, doesn't respond fast enough for it to show. My co-ordination/timing seems better on 'finger down' than 'finger up'
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