Breath Controller or Seaboard?

I'm looking for a controller that allows me to manipulate the dynamics of the Kontakt5 and ESX24 Sampler instruments. Since I compose mainly for orchestra, it is paramount that I can deliver realistic string, brass and woodwind sounds.

 

I found two things that caught my interest: The first one is a Breath Controller that allows you to blow directly into a mouth piece, which is connected to your keyboard, so that you can deliver extremely realistic dynamics to both Woodwinds and Brass.

 

On the other hand, there's the Seaboard, which also allows for a very wide range of dynamic control for all kinds of instruments.

 

I'm torn between the two. On one hand, the Breath Controller seems like it would be great for Woodwinds and Brass, but I don't know how effective it would be on the strings (theoretically, it should be able to still allow me to manipulate the Expression on the strings, but since I would be "blowing" on strings, it would probably end up being weird). On the other hand, the Seaboard seems to be more versatile.

 

Has anyone used any of these two controllers? And what is your experience with them?

I would go for the Breath Controller. I spent some time with a RISE at a convention in Berlin last year. While it certainly has some potential for some wacky production tricks, I don't think I'd use it for classical scoring. I would definitely choose a breath controller instead.

I would go for the Breath Controller. I spent some time with a RISE at a convention in Berlin last year. While it certainly has some potential for some wacky production tricks, I don't think I'd use it for classical scoring. I would definitely choose a breath controller instead.

 

Thank you for your reply. Could you elaborate a bit more on why you'd choose the Breath Controller over the Seaboard? What advantages does the Breath Controller have over the Seaboard?

For example: the one thing that I find the Seaboard has an advantage over the Breath Controller is the pitch bend. You can't really bend a pitch with your breath.

I'm a big fan of BC. I use it all the time on winds AND strings. Though I've never used Seaboard and I'm sure it has some really cool stuff, the BC is straight forward. TEControl has some nice USB based BC products. http://www.tecontrol.se/products/usb-midi-breath-controller

I'm a big fan of BC. I use it all the time on winds AND strings. Though I've never used Seaboard and I'm sure it has some really cool stuff, the BC is straight forward. TEControl has some nice USB based BC products. http://www.tecontrol.se/products/usb-midi-breath-controller

 

Thank you for your reply. Let me ask you something: Say you're sequencing using the breath controller. Say then you want to edit what you sequenced, because you want to modify the dynamics. Where and how does one edit it? Is it in the Hyperlink Window within the piano roll?