PTQ Percussion

Hi all,

Little quiet here at Ptq-percussion thread... Though I very well understand that I am representing minority here using mainly perc (especially vibes but also marimba, xylo, hand pan). Those are all great and would deserve much more attention in electronic percussion world! I’ll do my best to recommend them as much as I can!

Being a real vibraphone player in fact I was one to recommend strike-point humanization to vibes when it was under development. Now after years I have a new suggestion which would make a huge difference to vibes (and other percussions as well):

A possibility to dampen individual tones. We call it ”mallet dampening”. Sustain pedal down, with vibes you can dampen a vibrating bar with pressing this bar with mallet head. This is a key thing which makes vibes so unique. It’s rather difficult technique but also something that cannot do with piano (well, for that pianists use their 10 fingers).

How would Modart implement this feature? It needs a little clever programmin but it should’t be that difficult for a company which makes those amazing models. One possibility is to dampen with polyphonic aftertouch. Would work with some pro controllerw but not with my Xylosynth for example. In my case it would need a low velocity hit to dampen.

For example:
Play C4 with say velocity 85
Press sustain pedal down
Play C4 with velocity 25 or lower (adjustable value)

This would dampen C4

Does this make any sense to anyone? Anyway ask any seriuos vibraphone player, this would make already great vibes sound THE greatest one!

Hi StefanW! It's nice to see some other user using Xylosynth with PTQ!

But to topic: Yes, you're right, you can make Xylosynth (XS) to dampen with low velocities. Problem is that it only works with  "hold" setting of pedal. That XS's setting does the whole sustain pedaling with Note on and Note off messages. So from PTQ's point of view there's no pedal at all, just note on/off messages. Personally I don't use "Hold" for several reasons but one is that you will then loose all those nice pedaling features which come from Modarts percussion models. Main thing I would not give away is half pedaling (of course I need a continous pedal) which is to me even more important than dampening. So my pedal is sendind CC#64 with values 0-127 to PTQ and PTQ responds with different sustain! That's great for expressiveness!

Basically using sustain (CC#64) with PTQs vibes model and then make it respond to "mallet dampening" (= polyaftertouch or low velocity hit) would need bit of clever programming, behavior which is not with piano. (In pianos case if sustain pedal is down you cannot dampen individual notes. As I said, this is very unique with vibes.) In acoustic world vibraphone players try to make this dampening as silent as possible but sometimes (and in my case quite often) I'll get a special sound. If PTQ-model knows when player is dampening the model can even emulate these dampening sounds. This with perhaps some humanization would make the vibes sound even more realistic!

If you allow me, I really would like to see some vibraphone mp3 similar to this one (Ben Goodman), like in this scene from The Aviator :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vfSldKibEw

Xylosynth have years, since 2011. It's probably even better today.

By the way, try out pianoteq 7, as it have new feature, able to morph instruments. It would be interesting to gradually morph (while playing) a xylophone into a vibraphone.

Thank you very much, for the resource of yours that you suggest.  It covers a lot.  Membership prices to it indeed seem reasonable.  Man, but is it ever going to take now some effort from me!

Basically, I’m a drummer who has always been self taught on a piano.  (I learn about pianos from much at this site.)  Mallet percussion (tympani and bells) I played at as a high school student; I’m just starting vibes however via the controller without any other hardware vibraphone instrument whatsoever in my possession.

Since I’ve already been somewhat an accomplished sight reader, my interests now are about possible improvisational approaches presently available to me to learn: some fast and dirty probably.  So, I require some of the very basics on mallets right now.

Although, I appreciate your perspective and input as a percussionist at this forum, the point before I was trying to make clear about new and less expensive MIDI controllers like the Pearl malletSTATION, specifically, is that in fact any of these alternatives permits an individual note dampening via MIDI after touch messages going from it the newer controller to various software instruments, those such as PIANOTEQ vibraphones.

I’ve a video example demonstrating just such a technique used: https://youtu.be/R4-aCvV5PbA

I have also a hope that MODART will continue to take input from percussionists like you and me, seriously.  It as an organization has to have a lot of untapped potential that can still benefit a great number of percussionists and drummers alike, in the way of new instruments, especially, if offered only to those, both who’ve previously been relying somewhat reluctantly on sample based instruments.  Which might saturate only the software market overwhelmingly but from which exclusively those must choose if really they’re to enjoy any of the convenient advantages today software drums and other percussion allow over physical instruments.  That which additionally are always loud.