playing sylphyo without the hands
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Hello,
I find the sylphio fantastic and i was wondering wether there is something equivalent for someone who cannot use his hands because for instance is already playing chords on the guitar.
In this case the sensor should may be measure the variable size of an elastical mouthpiece of the instrument or may be the position of the tip of the tongue to translate this into the pitch of a synthetized sound. Do you know about something like that already available on the market or ongoing research?
I already know about imitone but their problem is that their idea is to convert natural voice sound into synthesized sound in which case it's difficult to filter other sources of sounds in the environment and in particular sound loops ==> larsen effect. A position rather than sound sensor avoids this problem and is also simpler.
Since we are naturally more or less trained to produce the sound pitch we want when whisteling...may be we could just whistle without actually producing the sound (the most difficult part in whisteling) but just move the tongue inside our mouth to let a sensor in the mouthpiece of the instrument detect it's position...
Thanks in advance for any comment or link of interest. -
perhaps a MIDI harmonica? https://www.lekholminstruments.com/
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@jimhanks said in playing sylphyo without the hands:
perhaps a MIDI harmonica? https://www.lekholminstruments.com/
Would a Lekholm DM48 MIDI harmonica fit into a harmonica holder for hands-free use?
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@jimhanks Interesting though i dont know how to play harmonica
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MIDI bass pedal with 13-17 keys (=pedals) like Studiologic MP-113, Studiologic MP-117, Ketron K8 or other, plus a breath controller, preferably with bite-sensitivity, for example from Tecontrol.
Or one of those funny roll up piano keyboards on the floor – if you don't mind to wear very pointed shoes or high heels.
Or some body sensors if you are in experimental music.
You would feed the Sylphyo Link box with MIDI notes and controller data. It contains the same synth as the Sylphyo. You may need an additional box (or software) to convert the data to play in the correct range. And you cannot use the movement functions of the Sylphyo, which make it unique. And until we get an editor, you can not configure the Link box without a Sylphyo. And the feeling is completely different.
On the other hand, you can play any hard- or softsynth this way with your mouth and feet. For example the Aodyo Anyma Phi, the brother of the Sylphyo. Or is it a sister? Don't know.
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@peter-ostry said in playing sylphyo without the hands:
breath controller, preferably with bite-sensitivity, for example from Tecontrol
Impressive demos on youtube ! that could be a solution!
probably the bite-sensitivity signal might be converted into sound pitch... but probably this would require a lot of training to play with it this way. Thank you for your advices. I also want the sylphyo because i play the flute (the recorder) so i dont need the little finger of the left hand and i was wondering if it's still the case the way sylphyo is modifying the fingering... another thing is that i dont really like artificial sounds and i really would like to use the sylphio to play the sounds of all kind of real wind instruments in the most realistic way. But then propably there is a high additional price to pay to buy those sounds , but how much exactly is what i would like to know. thanks in advance. -
@fhenryco said in playing sylphyo without the hands:
probably the bite-sensitivity signal might be converted into sound pitch
You cannot play exact notes over an octave or two based on the data of a pressure-sensitive device. The movement is too small and therefore the resolution is to coarse. With appropriate conversion and depending on the device a reliable playing range may span 3-5 notes at most.
If you neither want a MIDI harmonica, no arranging your own breath sensors in a pan flute-like shape and build a converter, you could whistle or sing into a microphone and use a vochlea Dubler or sonuus G2M for conversion. This doesn't give convincing melodies though, it's more for effects.
Maybe you are better off by reversing your approach. Find another way to play the chords and get freedom for your hands to play the instrument of your choice.
@fhenryco said in playing sylphyo without the hands:i dont really like artificial sounds and i really would like to use the sylphio to play the sounds of all kind of real wind instruments
Beside of the Sylphyo there are for example the WARBL controller or the Akai EWI, which are pure controllers and don't include synths. For natural virtual wind sounds you can look at the well-known SWAM libraries at audiomodeling.com
Just a recommendation:
Before you buy a dedicated wind controller, look at it's features and look at the features of the software or hardware you want to control. Otherwise you may buy an expensive sound generator just to find out that your controller can only handle half of it. Or vice versa, you may buy an expensive controller, but finally discover that your existing keyboard works fine for your favorite sounds. -
@peter-ostry
Thanks : your advices will be very usefull. looking at the warbl default fingering i realize that i will need to invent a new fingering to get # and b notes and this is not easy ... and may be sylphyo offers more possibility on that. Probably there is already a best choice which has been adopted by most other recorder players...(?)
