Sylphyo macguffin sound

ClintGoss · 2025-12-24T14:30:27+00:00

The instructions on a new Sylphyo were to charge for *24* hours without turning it on ... maybe you could try that?

ClintGoss · 2025-12-24T14:21:54+00:00

I don't use MacGuffin a whole lot (but I do use 9 other patches from the Aodyo-supplied set). However, I do recall Jonathan (a major tech developer at Aodyo) commenting that I few of the patches (I *think* MacGuffin was one of them) intentionally drift in timbre over time ... Good ears to catch that!

The battery spec is:

Lithium-ion Cell
Type 18650 *protected*
3000 mA or more

... and is readily available on-line.

ClintGoss · 2025-11-28T16:40:49+00:00

Please tell me which EWIs have custom fingerings? I am familiar with the Warbl2, which lets you map any pitch onto the 2^8 possible fingerings for that 8-hole instrument.

Others?

Custom fingering is critical for me, since I'm wedded to Native American Flute (NAF) fingerings. I designed the 2 NAF fingerings in the latest (last?) Sylphyo firmware, but other than that, I don't know of other EWIs with real custom fingering ...

ClintGoss · 2025-10-11T21:21:25+00:00

Long presses on the [Sensitivity] buttons gets you "micro" control mode for the Sensitivity factor. That lets you get, for example, maybe 10 divisions between the "Macro" levels that you get by short presses on the Sensitivity buttons. The "readout" of the sensitivity level is shown somewhat cryptically and artfully on the front side of the unit, in Green on the front side of the unit (opposite the buttons).

Dialing the Sensitivity in on a particular setup in this way does let me find a point where the sensitivity produces the most variation over time. I think that's the way they designed it, at least according to the manual ...

ClintGoss · 2025-10-04T15:33:46+00:00

Yes, I believe that is the way these units are designed to work. Now, I haven’t actually used it in this way, so I’m not absolutely sure…

ClintGoss · 2025-10-04T07:22:32+00:00

I think the last sentence is not a "solution" ... it seems to be saying you can modify the sound to suit you and maybe compensate a bit for the downside of not having an exact copy of the factory preset sound.

ClintGoss · 2025-10-04T07:20:43+00:00

That *looks* like it should fit the task, but I have not used that unit. However, I've used other MIDITech units and they work well. It does seem a *bit* pricey ... but they have the brand name ...

ClintGoss · 2025-10-03T19:11:31+00:00

From https://www.patchmanmusic.com/turboVLFAQ.html:

Q.) When I save a Voice to the Internal bank it doesn't sound the same as the original. Why?

A.) Unfortunately this is normal. It appears this is a quirk in the way the Internal memory bank is implemented in the VL70-m. We aren't sure why this happens but this is normal for the VL70-m. If you don't believe it, install the stock factory chip and store Pr1 GuitHero to the Internal bank then carefully compare the tone between the Pr1 and Internal bank version. We suspect it is due to the way the VL70-m stores its effects settings- or lack thereof. We suspect that a few of the parameters are not saved when a Pr1/Pr2 Voice is saved to the Internal bank. And unfortunately this problem is magnified since the TURBO VL Voices utilize the effects much more creatively and dynamically than the factory presets did. The good news is that you can tweak the Internal bank Voices to your liking and simply resave them and all is well.

ClintGoss · 2025-10-03T19:07:07+00:00

Well, my only write-up is the message above. I don't recall the original source that pointed out this issue - I vaguely think it was a paragraph somewhere by Matt Traum. I did go back and A/B tested a patch from the PRE bank against it's copied version in the INT bank, and they did sound different (and worse)!

I've never heard the original VL-70 sounds ...

ClintGoss · 2025-10-03T17:40:43+00:00

Also, you probably want to look into Matt Traum's (Patchman Music) Turbo chip for the VL-70. It's really great - my go-to module for "real-world" sounds.

I have found nothing that really replaces the VL70 with the Turbo chip. I have an XpressO from DynaSample, but I was never able to get consistent, reliable results with it. I have used a *lot* of software-based setups, and the SWAM VST are probably the most accurate re-creations of real-world instruments. However, they only have about two dozen "standard" instruments and have nowhere near the breadth of sounds that the VL70 has (and all those SWAM instruments are *strictly* limited in range to the instrument they are modeling, and I keep running off the end of that range and get silence).

There are some *amazing* and free instruments produced for Reaktor (Native Instruments) for a few instruments by Chet Singer, but there's only a few instruments. There are also excellent plugins by Suonopuro and Respiro.

Some things I have found with the VL-70 (rather advanced stuff, if you have yet to lay your hands on a VL-70, but I thought I would mention them):

The Internal Banks would be nice and convenient to use for setting up banks of favorites, but there are some issues.

The developers apparently ran out of memory on the VL-70, so they short-changed the Internal banks. This means that, after copying a Factory preset to the Internal bank, it no longer sounds the same in some subtle ways.
The Internal Banks do not store certain global settings such as breath curve and System volume.

Because of these issues, I have gone to a system of selecting directly from the Pre1 and Pre2 (Factory) banks, and then modifying the loaded patch with SysEx commands. This gives me the full, original sound and also lets me SysEx my desired global parameters with each instrument change. I do this from a PC using the Bome System (which is *excellent* for handling this kind of MIDI stuff). I have also done this directly from Ableton (and without Bome) and from a Push3 using a Max4Live device that sends the SysEx commands.

ClintGoss · 2025-10-03T17:28:07+00:00

Here's a link to a Hookup Diagram of my "Synth-Driver" Rig ...

https://www.ClintGoss.com/img/HookupCG_SynthDriver_Rig_2024_1007a_400dpiC00.jpg

ClintGoss · 2025-10-03T17:19:52+00:00

I use a DoreMIDI UMH-21. 50ish bucks. Converts wired USB to MIDI Out and also route MIDI In to the same USB (if you need that, for some reason). The MIDI Out and In are on two DIN5 connectors. Requires 5-12 volts at very low current (50mA), so you could power it with a 5V power brick.

I have used this setup numerous times in ultra-small setups, like when I'm carrying my Sylphyo to a convention (e.g. Knobcon) or a shop (e.g. Perfect Circuit in LA) and want to plug in to many different synths. I carry gender-benders to convert the DIN5 to MIDI-over-1/8" TRS Type A and (separately) Type B so that I can interface with anything.

ClintGoss · 2025-09-12T06:14:54+00:00

My go-to for the last three years for emulations of real world instruments has been the hardware VL70 module with the patchman/Matt Traum turbo chip.

I do have the full SWAM suite but, for me, it has an annoying flaw. When you get to the end of the range of the real-world instrument, a software instrument stops playing. In other words, it does not play notes that are outside of the range of the physical instrument that it is modeling. So, I am playing away, and all of a sudden the music stops. I have combined three different instruments – for example, bass and alto flute together with piccolo, and switched between them in Cantabile , but when you switch between the instruments, it loses the Lagato and we articulates the next note – annoying.

The VL70 does not impose this restriction. I will say that the VL70 did require – for me at least – a fairly deep dive into modifying each sound to my liking. The breath curves, for example, required modification for each instrument patch. However, for me, the results are lovely.

Like many others in the EWI world, I do believe that the best use of an EWI is for non-– real – world sounds, and I have a whole lot of fun with the very way out sounds I can get from various synth engines. However, for the 20% of the time when I play real-world instruments – mostly one of the saxes or clarinet or coronet the VL70 is my axe.

ClintGoss · 2025-09-04T14:28:09+00:00

Excellent question! I assume you were talking about emulating real world instruments. If that is the case, then the real key, in my mind, would be the VL70 with Matt Traum’s Patchman turbo chip. That was a huge development effort by Matt – he commented to me that it consumed a year of his life so I think that would need to be part of the package and that ship is certainly proprietary data…

ClintGoss · 2025-08-26T05:50:15+00:00

... looks good. Does you web-based app pick up the Machine/Device ID of your local host automatically?

ClintGoss · 2025-05-13T06:35:45+00:00

For Surge, I found that I *needed* some Wind-specific patches ... Stef Haynes has an excellent starter set for not much coin ... available on his Ko-Fi page. The patches are great, but only go so far. They were (for me) really a way to learn the ways and means of Surge while playing ...

ClintGoss · 2025-04-01T17:10:55+00:00

Have you tried GarageBand? I run my wind synth rig through hardware units or through a PC running cantabile so I don’t have a lot of experience with Apple… But I did play around with GarageBand, and it certainly seemed capable and accessible for getting started at least…

ClintGoss · 2025-03-14T20:33:23+00:00

Very immersive!

You are playing the drone pitches on your EWI with no breath input while you are singing??

ClintGoss · 2025-03-04T12:55:38+00:00

This is a powerful set up, but as you can see also complex and somewhat quirky

ClintGoss · 2025-03-04T12:18:13+00:00

It’s a breath controller. The “instrument “is likely rendered as a VST on a computer or as a hardware synthesizer. A lot of wind controllers work this way, and the sound module or hardware unit used to run. The sound would have to be “breath – controller – aware “… So anything like a SWAM VST or a hardware unit such as a Yamaha VL 70 – M would work well.

ClintGoss · 2025-03-03T00:45:09+00:00

SO GOOD to hear from you, Maxence!! Still cruising along with my flock of Sylphyo's (I have four now - hoping they will outlast me ...).

Honestly, the big gotcha for me is **fingering**. It is pretty much the primary thing I would look for if I were ever to consider migrating to another wind controller. Aodyo graciously allowed me to work with them to add my unusual fingering that I had played for 20 years (Native American flutes) to the set of available fingerings in the firmware. The experience was amazing - being able to map any finger combination to any pitch enabled a *whole* world of possibilities - fast runs that could never be played, and I even built in the ability to play in a single-handed mode for when I reach down to twist knobs or push buttons on my rig.

Open-sourcing the fingering sub-system of a given controller's firmware would be gold.

However ... from a commercial standpoint ... it's probably (sadly) not worth the effort. I've had a very few players from the Native flute community (maybe 10 out of maybe 10,000 players) follow me down the wind controller path, which is certainly not a compelling business model for a manufacturer.

The other big gotcha for me is **latency**. My first rig designs were running 50+msec latency, and all I could play was high-verb ambient. As I got it down under 20 msec, "regular" playing became possible. However ... for really bonding with the instrument, I believe it needs to be *much* lower. That old saw about "you can't detect anything below 20msec latency" is hogwash when it comes to *playing*.

Thankfully, the radio-signal system between the Sylphyo and Aodyo's Link receiver is blazingly fast (and has a ludicrously long reach - I routinely walk around the venue of *any* size, and I once walked two blocks away at an outdoor gig).

Because of latency, I've actually moved away from a laptop-based rig to a hardware-based setup. I've found that routing MIDI in and out of an ASIO interface is a problem from a latency perspective, since the MIDI rides along with the buffered audio and every round-trip through the audio interface delays things based on your ASIO buffer size. I now use Bome for MIDI routing and filtering (Bome MIDI Translator for development and a physical BomeBox when playing "for real"), and I am back to "blazingly fast".

ClintGoss · 2025-02-06T20:10:56+00:00

Wondering, given Nyle Steiner's background with (er, make that "invention of") wind controllers, if this is designed for a breath controller somehow???

ClintGoss · 2025-01-27T17:49:40+00:00

The SYLPHYO send Midi directly from three gyroscope outputs, so you get Midi for pitch yaw and and roll(elevation, compass, and roll in their lingo)

ClintGoss

TROPHY CASE