Yamaha BC3A breath controller

[mhschmieder]

Nick Batzdorf is now in production with his breath controller replacement, but I am holding back on a detailed announcement for now as he will only have a few at first and is prioritizing those who need them ASAP for gigs/recordings and have been waiting the longest. I am on his email list for details and updates.

He did post an interesting write-up on the design criteria and the improved ergonomics over the BC3A, but I'll also hold off on posting that until he formalizes it. To summarize though, two of the biggest differences are in the ease of blowing and also the ability to clean it and also not get "sprayed" while using it.

[HCMarkus]

NeatNick! (Literally) My Motif is often sprayed. Yuk.

[mhschmieder]

I'm less interested after receiving the updated information, as the new production version is hand-cast resin and I was looking forward to the earlier version. It still looks to be a huge improvement over the BC3A, but I need more information to feel comfortable about the ergonomics. For instance, I can't tell if the second piece clips onto your belt or has to rest awkwardly (perhaps via velcrow) to a platform or a keyboard.

The product is now called "Air Command", and the control unit is connected to the mouthpiece by a blue tube, sort of like a Talk Box setup. There are selectable response curves, and the MIDI CC and channel can be selected on the small control unit, which is also now where the actual MIDI 5-pin cable is attached.

The website is www.Breath-Control.com but so far Nick is just sharing the two page data sheet every now and then via DropBox, which didn't work for me the first couple of times as it "goes away" every time a batch is sold out (and this item is selling like wild, so the first few batches are probably going to disappear as fast as you see them).

[HCMarkus]

The website is http://www.Breath-Control.com

Not. But thanks for the update anyway, MHS.

[stubbsonic]

If anyone gets the working URL, please post it. I'd like to get on the list.

[kgdrum]

If anyone gets the working URL, please post it. I'd like to get on the list.

Nick said if anyone wants to get on the list,they should send him a pm @
VI-control.net

Myself,I'm waiting to hear a report or review from a user before ordering.
I haven't seen any posts from actual users yet,surprised.

[mhschmieder]

Sorry, I should have used future vs. present tense as it may not have been clear from the full context of what I wrote about the current strategy of contacting Nick directly for DropBox links. The website may not be up for awhile. I take it he paid to reserve the domain already.

[Tomtom]

Hi!

I'm obviously also very interested in this device but reading all the posts I still can't figure out if any has been shipped yet. Do we have any user yet?

[stubbsonic]

The info I got said that units were $179.95, and that there might still be units available from the first batch and that another batch was a couple of weeks away. There wasn't a date on the text, but the file was dated Aug 25-- so it might be fairly current.

I'm considering taking the plunge. On one hand, there's the slight risk since there aren't any reviews, etc. On the other hand, it sounds like with all the delays etc. that Nick has done a fair amount of tweaking to provide a good right-out-of-the-box experience.

The price is a bit daunting, but at the scale he's at, I can understand it.

Hmmmm. I wonder if we could approach him about a group-buy discount?

[stubbsonic]

Nick mentions a design company called windworks. This might be them.

http://www.windworksdesign.com/

Looks like a great company.

[Tomtom]

Great news!

Now I know at least how much it will set me back. Hope we get to see some more info soon!

[skione]

I had one of these in the early 90's and can't believe there isn't an alternative. They were amazing! I've signed your petition and posted in a few other places. If anyone finds an alternative please post here as I have subscribed to the thread.

[minimidi]

This looks very interesting, has anyone tried one of these?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-MIDI-Breath ... 0746809166

[kgdrum]

It does look potentially interesting but there are no reviews or user feedback on eBay and the seller joined only about 2 weeks ago.

[stubbsonic]

There was a link to a website on the eBay listing...

http://tecontrol.se/index_files/USBMIDI ... roller.htm

This is a tough one. At first, the picture made me chuckle, as if someone hot glued a tube to a thumb drive. I suppose though, if you had a clever design, it could be legit. But we'd need a brave soul to take the plunge and report back. Said it's not yet mac-compatible yet.

On a slightly related subject, I wonder why no one has created a breath-controlled volume control (i.e., with just audio i/o, and a force-sensitive resistor), or some combo of volume and tone/filter- all analog, no latency. If I had even the slightest idea how to design and build something like that, I'd already have one.