As part of my obsession I thought it would be nice to be able to practice over the lunch hour but since I do not want to drive my colleagues any more nuts than they already are, I was thinking the best thing would be an electric whistle with an earphone so I could listen to myself.
Does such a thing exist?
If not I hereby claim copyright, patent or whatever else I need to become rich! ;–)
Here’s how I think it could work. The whistle would have an air speed sensor to determine which register to use. Each of the holes would be replaced by two pressure sensitive switches. The unit would also need a microprocessor to determine which tone to play, and tone generator.
How it would work: If both switches on a hole are pressed then it is just like covering the hole in a traditional whistle. If one switch is pressed then it is like a half-hole. Glissandoes would be handled by the CPU detecting if state of a hole went from 2 switches to 1 switch and then to no switches (with an appropriate and configurable time delay–perhaps the thing would need a usb connection to a computer for configuration). We could also monitor the time a hole is covered to simulate cuts, taps and rolls.
The CPU would also need to be aware of alternate fingerings like C natural etc. It would also need to be tunable. Perhaps we could also have a setting for “metal flute”, “wooden flute”, “plastic flute” etc.
I think such a thing exists, in fact. Awhile ago somebody
posted an ad for it. It’s an electronic ‘wind’ instrument,’
has fifty voices. Not a bag pipe.
You know, it’s possible to mute
a whistle by putting putty or, my option of choice,
paper clips in the windway. Low tech, I admit.
years ago, someone posted a version of a wind-sensing midi controller stuffed in a Generation Bb body that evidently someone built for a college thesis or something. The holes had optiical sensors, to detect “shading” (half-holing, slurring, etc)…it was talked about quit a bit.
I believe that someone from here contacted the guy who made the beast, but that he wasn’t really interested in going into business selling them.
while your at it chuck in some built in reverb, echo, and chorus, and sampled whistles sounds of top players, go the whole hog and stick
on demo play mode
You put them in vertically, so they stick up out of the windway.
They create a baffle which dampens sound but still sounds
the notes in both octaves. One clip should do. Also a
small roll of paper will serve, or a match, or…
Muting whistles is easy. A flute mute is still in the works,
but of course it’s possible to play a flute softly.
Thanks, Whitmores. There’s also an Akai wind controller,
I now recall.
My Yamaha EW20 can do a bunch of different fingering systems, including whistle. Heavy, though, and it sounds like an FM synth ('cause it is). Optical sensors - now that sounds like just the ticket.
I played in a pit orchestra last year where a guy used that Yamaha electric wind thing. That thing is to wind instruments what an electric keyboard is to percussion type instruments. It was really cool, but I think it takes away some of the fun of playing the actual instruments.
I looked all over NYC for a working “EWI”–Electronic Wind Instrument a little over a year ago and finally found one at a Sam Ash store on Long Island (Huntington?). I was psyched until I picked it up. It is 100% counter-intuitive for a whistle player–you push DOWN instead of lift up, for openers, in order to make a note. The upper octave was reached by a thumb button on the back, etc. All in all, quite a let down for this duffer. The experience did serve to throw me back into the whistle with more gusto than before, and I am grateful for that. I got some recording software and related equipment and got more serious about recording–yet another humbling experience. And so it goes…
There are basically 2 main manufacturors of EWIs (electronic wind instruments)Yamaha (currently making the WX5) and Akai (newest model is the EWI400s) you can google either one and get a wealth of information, they are really popular with Jazz Saxophone players.
The Akai would probably be best suited to whistle players trying to find headphone easy set up. It runs on batteries, has built in sounds with reverb, echo and chorus (I don’t know what sounds it has built in) and there is a headphone jack on the instrument. The Yamaha requires a seperate tone generator and external power source. The akai also would be better for Whistlers because the “tone holes” are touch sensitive, unlike the Yamaha that keys. Keep in mind that they are basically fingered like a saxophone or flute including alternate fingerings.
I believe that they both run about $600 US and are posted on E-Bay sometimes for less.
The price on the Akai seems to be $700 USD, even on ebay.
Pretty expensive, in my opinion. I’m still curious about it, though. Are the “touch sensitive keys” configured (or configurable) so that they sound when you aren’t touching them, like how keyless wind instruments are? Or is it, instead, the same product that Tom Dowling mentioned?
I’ve never played on the Akai, I own a Yamaha WX7 (older version), and I’m not sure what you mean by “so that they sound when you aren’t touching them”. I’m pretty new to the whistle, but I have played a lot of Sax (over 25 years). If you wanted to play a B on whistle the fingering is xoo ooo it is the same fingering on the EWI. If you drop the next finger in line xxo ooo you get and A on both instruments. F# would be different because on the EWI it would be fingered xxxoxo and on whistle it is xxx xoo. I have read that the Akai also has other fingering systems, but I don’t know if they have a patch for whistle fingerings. The EWI won’t sense your fingers hovering above the “tone holes” ( i say tone holes but they are non moving sensors/ not keyed like on the Yamaha).
It is probably like what Tom Dowling talked about, either one of the EWIs you use your Left thumb to switch octaves like an octave key on the sax.
Just to be clear I’m not saying that either of them is like playing a whistle, just that the Akai is probably the closer of the two from what I have read/ experienced.
The simplest way to play quietly can be done with any normal whistle. Instead of putting the end of the whistle in your mouth, simply rest it against your lower lip, covering the opening to the windway. Now play: you’ll hear very quiet whistle music. OK, it’s not exactly like playing out loud, but it’s surprisingly effective. As I sit here, my wife is sleeping about 15 feet away. I just played Kid On The Mountain and she didn’t budge.
