I’ve been researching some wind controller units like the Yamaha WX5 pictured below:
this electronic ‘saxophone’ styled unit sends MIDI data to a tone generator like the Yamaha VL70m:
The combination of these two replicates acoustic instrument sounds from a bank of hundreds.
Another company making similar products is the Akai with the EWI3020 controller:
Yep Tony. Yamaha VL70m and WX5 I have played for about a week (borrowed from a friend of mine), but not Akai. (I’ve never heard of or played Akai’s, but as far as I know I can strongly recommend Yamahas in this area of e-winds) Are you looking to purchase one of these gadgets?
They’re okay in my opinion as a sax..oops, a former sax player.
For one thing, you can change the backpressure from (I remember) 1 to 5 as you like it. For another, it does have a reed (plastic single), physically adjustable (for instance, the difference between #5 and #7.5 sax mouthpiece), and the feel of embouchure is rather that of a clarinet than of a soprano sax. This is a good sign, unless you hate clarinets (like I do…hehe) The fingerings, I believe, is basically set for saxophones. If you’ve played one then you’ll immediately recognise how to hold it. I don’t know if you can change the fingering settings to that of a clarinet, for it differs (especially toward the 2nd octave) from saxes.
Points to consider (VL 70m)
can produce pipes’ sound. or reeds (sax, clar., oboe, basson..)
I believe this to be the fundamental you’d die for for this kind of instrument. Because you can customise the sound of the individual sounds (may it be the pipes’ or oboe), you can make it close to the sound you want. I forgot to see if I could play a hard D on it , but perhaps you could try changing some feats on the note D (‘growl’ I think would work…sort of) Also, as to the pitch change you can adjust how orgiving/unforgiving it is to change in embouchure.
can play few hundreds’ instruments’ sounds.
From Tuba, Sax, whistles to Pipes, virtually any instruments found on the face of the earth. Includes humming human voice (I think) Oh yes, if you plug a mic into this blackbox, you could make your voice like that of…the King ? This means w/o the help of expensive pc sound managers you could sound like a professional, say, on a whistle (the real one, not WX5)
can add/create sounds. <(flute + pipes) / whistle>, and so on.
This expands the number of sounds playable.
can add harmony.
Now I didn’t try this feature but I think it said it would on the instruction booklet.
can creat atmosphere / layer.
Basement (!), hall 1~3, tunnel (or was it a ‘cave’?), plain, etc. Of course you can mess around pretty much with reverb effects, echos (length, depth, pitch, frequency…you name it)
can be a bit expensive.
about $466 on an online shop for a WX5.
about $492 for VL70m.
Thanks Tak.
I’m considering it for several reasons. Patchman seems to have the optional sounds to expand these devices and lots of help too. http://www.patchmanmusic.com/
I’m told the Akai series came out before Yamaha. Actually, I think they pioneered the way with an electronic trumpet version.
I’ve got a friend who plays the Yamaha WX5/VL70m in a band and he say’s it’s so versatile that it allows him to play whatever part (trumpet, sax, flute, etc.) is needed for the songs they play. And… he does this all from one controller.
I almost bought a used WX7 controller this past weekend.
The WX5 is a newer model. I want to do more research first, because the Akai controller is analog (instead of digital) and I’m told it has more responsivness to the digital units.
I have a question for those of you who use these wind controllers. I have a keyboard synthesiser which produces the sounds of any midi instrument but sounds much more realistic on keyboard settings than say wind settings. Nothing gives me the tongue, lip, tooth, cheek and throat control so important to expression on a saxophone. Would I get more realistic sounding wind effects on one of these things than I do on keyboard and, if so, why?
I should add that, since my first instrument is guitar, a guitar synth seemed like the best choice until I actually started playing them. There are problems triggering the sound with vibrating strings rather than a keyboard with instantaneous response which hadn’t been sorted out to my satisfaction. So, despite the fact that my guitar chops are far better than my keyboard chops, a keyboard synth was by far the better choice at the time I purchased.
If you are already proficient on a keyboard… stick with it.
There are add-on breath controllers available that attach to the MIDI tone generators to give the added ‘feel’ you can’t reproduce with a keyboard.
If your midi doesn’t have input for the breath control, you can buy and add-on interface.
I’ve been playing a Yamaha WX-7 with a VL70m Virtual Acoustic Tone Generator. I play it every week at my congregation.
For me it has been the best form of musical expression that I have ever had for regular playing. I play at a Messianic Jewish Congregation, from a Musical point of view, we have quite a variety of music - including some really interesting stuff with minor keys, and other keys.
It’s nice to be able to change the pitch of the song by pressing a button, we some pianists that like to change songs in a heartbeat - all I have to do now is figure out what key he changed it to.
BTW - Yes, the VL70m can produce pipes; But, it’s still not good enough sounding for pipes. Plus, it is monophonic. You can’t do drones with a VL70m. You can however turn on a drone note with the WX7 or WX5 as long as it is plugged into MIDI hardware to support it.
If you have lot’s of money, you can buy multiple VL70m’s and put them into polyphonic mode. With this, each VL70m will play one note. The controllers properly share the load and automatically distibutes the note signals to the right controller. There’s a company in Northern Ohio that sells a ROM upgrade for the VL70m that improves it’s sound even more.
Also, the Yamaha controllers are lever type keys that I think use some sort of Hall Effect mechanism. Keep them away from dust.
The AKAI EWI 3020 uses touch sensitive keys. These are less affected by dust but keep the grounding plates clean.
Also, the tiny wind pipe inside the WX7 can get water trapped in it and when it is on settings like WXTRUMPET, it can start playing a note by itself unless you turn off power and blow it out really good. (Just like blowing moisture out of a whistle - only no fipple to cover)
I just installed the chip from Patchman Music for the VL70-M module that I use with my WX5, and the sounds are awesome! (except for the flute - I still haven’t found a flute I love…) They definitely are a great improvement from the stock sounds in the module.
I’ve heard the Akai controllers are good, but I’m pretty happy with my WX5 - still have a long way to go in learing the beast. (I’m already fluent in sax fingerings - just working on the particulars of the WX5) It’s already been a great addition to our Praise Band on acoustic Sundays - adding in a clarinet, an english horn, or a cello line, and being able to switch to bass from the same instrument is way cool!
Anyway, it’s been an interesting trip so far, with a lot to learn…
I’ve own a Yamaha, I have not seen the Akai up close or hear it. I’ve though about getting one as their price is really good compared to the Yamaha and so I’ve been reading up on them.
Until recently, the VL70m has been the best commerical Tone Generator for Wind Controllers. Akai has some new hardware that I don’t know enough about to say whether it’s better than the VL70m or not.
On the VL70m:
I do know that the VL70m come with a huge load of sounds and the 64 sound user programmable bank (the section I use ) is very tweakable. I can set each sound to the way I want it to hear.
Routing the Filters, Chorus and other special effects is tricky until you understand the flow of how the sound is routed through various sections of the instrument.
The default state of the sounds always needs to be changed, the wind instruments are overdone when it comes to vibrato. Besides, I like to generate my own vibrato when I feel it’s needed rather than having it there all the time. This type of stuff is programmable.
A, D, S & R controls are also available and how the wind response curve is adjustable.
I’d look into getting a used wx7 or wx11 controller. Newer isn’t necc. better. I’ve played the wx11 for some time and it’s a great wind controller for midi instruments. Some people find, however, that there are very few synths (including the newer physical modeling ones) that provide the depth, beauty or expression of acoustic instruments.
Dionys, while it’s true no synthetic instrument can truly duplicate all the nuances of an acoustic instrument, they are getting better with every generation.
As far as the controller goes… some prefer the older WX7 to the newer WX5 because it has a metal body and gives more weight when holding/playing.
Daniel, I’ve heard the Akai wind controller is a bit smoother to play due to it’s analog system and there is a digital tone module (EWI3030m) that’s gets better sounds than the EWI3020m.
Though the Akai controller and tone module are cheaper than the Yamaha, you get more sounds from the Yamaha VL70m. You cannot hook the EWI3020 controller directly to the VL70m. You must always use the combo EWI3020/3020m before any other tone units. The question then is… is it worth using the EWI3020/3020m AND a VL70m or just the WX5/VL70m ?
It seems that the WX series is still the better deal. Mine has been getting finicky lately, I think it’s starting to show age. Every once in a while it clicks, it might just be the pots on the Amplifier. I’ve also thought of swapping the power supply, it’s just one of those Wall-wart modules.
) is very tweakable. I can set each sound to the way I want it to hear.