I was wondering if one of the mpc techs here could shed some 
light on the roll-over baffle, and the effect that it has on the 
response of the horn vs intonation tendencies.  When I play on a 
mpc that has a more agressive roll-over baffle, like my 
Handmade Wanne hard rubber mpc, I love the initial 
sound/response, but then the pitch goes sharp as I go into the 
high register.  Additionally, when I record myself on a gig, the 
actual sound that's coming out also gets edgier as I get louder.  
However, when I play on my Doc Tenney hr Link, the pitch is 
dead on (and the tone quality doesn't get edgier when I play 
louder).  Links have a roll-over baffle as well (I think) - can 
anyone explain this to me?

Took me a while to respond to this, but I held onto it until I did:

--- Jim Saltzman <jimsalts@...> wrote on 12/3/05:
 
> I was wondering if one of the mpc techs here could shed some 
> light on the roll-over baffle, and the effect that it has on the 
> response of the horn vs intonation tendencies.  When I play on a 
> mpc that has a more agressive roll-over baffle, like my 
> Handmade Wanne hard rubber mpc, I love the initial 
> sound/response, but then the pitch goes sharp as I go into the 
> high register.  Additionally, when I record myself on a gig, the 
> actual sound that's coming out also gets edgier as I get louder.  
> However, when I play on my Doc Tenney hr Link, the pitch is 
> dead on (and the tone quality doesn't get edgier when I play 
> louder).  Links have a roll-over baffle as well (I think) - can 
> anyone explain this to me?

This is not the experiance most players report.  Your experiance is real,
but it may be due to other things besides the design/degree of roll-over
baffle.  Baffles close to the reed near the tip (like roll-overs) help add
some higher frequency partials to the tone.  This can be heard as some
"edge" by some players.  Others just hear some briliance to the tone.  Some
a combo of both.  The high notes (palm keys) are usually percieved as
louder.

Most mouthpieces can be made to sound similar at low volumes.  A
mouthpiece's true character comes out at louder volumes where the upper
partials are added to the tone.

Pitch that is constantly sharp in the high register can usually be
corrected by going to a smaller chamber mouthpiece and pulling it out
farther on the neck cork.  This re-establishes the chamber voulme needed
for the mid-range while adding more length to flatten the high notes.  This
assumes your embouchure is correct.  

An overly tight embouchure will bite the high notes sharp on open-tipped
mouthpieces.  So this is something else to be aware of.


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