One of the inputs of my rhythm stage setup has been a breath controller, which let's me gives me a continuous controller. I use it for a few different things, especially when playing music that's farther in the electronic direction:

Setting up to play a "techno contra" last weekend, however, I realized my breath controller was broken. It seemed like something was wrong with the sensor: only very large pressures would do anything, and it was inconsistent. Maybe a little bit of dirt got inside? I tried taking it apart, but the sensor looks to be sealed:

I might get a new sensor and try to fix it, though with the big surface mount pads probably only if I can get access to hot air rework equipment. And this was definitely not something I'd be able to do in the half hour before the dance.

I thought some about what role the breath controller fills in my sound, and the main thing is an electronic-feeling off-beat pulse. This is something I'd made my system able to do a while ago, but hadn't liked because it was too rigid feeling. I had the idea of sending it out via the talkbox, however, and it ends up sounding like this:

It's not the same, and I do still miss the breath controller's ability to add a more complex rhythmic component on top of my keyboard playing, but it's new sound I like and something I expect I'll keep playing with even if I fix or replace the breath controller.