Feel free to kick me on the shin if I am making an unforgiveable error here, but I am curious as to whether anyone here knows anything about the wind controller? I’ve understood that it is an electrical gadget, somewhat resembling an oboe, but I really have no clue as to how they work or anything. I have tried to find information around the web, but I can’t come up with anything useful… Help? 
(The whole concept of an electronical impulse-controlled flute is a tad poststructural, or what?)
Yamaha (and others) have been able to virtually duplicate the sounds of a $7 whistle… unfortunately, it costs about $500.
Here are a few links to previous discussions about MIDI wind controllers:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=4077&highlight=midi&sid=a6d87d25432d98d21ceeb4303520d281
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=2474&highlight=midi&sid=a6d87d25432d98d21ceeb4303520d281
Thanks a lot! Sorry, I should have searched first, but I somehow didn’t think about it. sneaks away to look at previous threads
(Oh, cashing out $500 instead of $7 makes perfect sense.)
Beano!
Is that what the thing is that one of the guys plays in the Emeril Live Band? As I have watched Emeril’s show I have been wondering what that strange electronic woodwind was.
Ron
Here’s one (Yamaha WX11):
Looks much like an illegal automatic weapon to me! 
Thanks for the picture. That’s what the guy on Emeril plays. Seems like a lot of trouble and expense for a sound you could get from a cheap whistle. You might have to have several cheap whistles to cover the keys they play in. To each his own.
Ron
Ron, consider this: it’s just like any MIDI instrument… therefore you can transpose keys by the mere rotation of a dial, change voices and octaves just as easily!
Having 200+ digital instruments at your fingertips does have it’s drawbacks…
Tony
I guess I would have to see it to appreciate what it can do. I was not impressed by what I heard on Emeril. If it is similar to a MIDI instrument why not just use a keyboard? I guess I have no room to talk since he is making a living playing the thing and all I do is spend money on whistles. But I could stop if I wanted to. Really.
Ron
“…why not just use a keyboard?”
Well, if you happen to be a flute or saxophone player with years of experience… it would seem like the right instrument to add to your arsenal.
I just did some research… Here’s a sound sample of the wind controller in the violin mode:
http://www.patchmanmusic.com/SalGallina/03Violin.mp3
impressed ??
This file came from a website tribute to Sal Gallina, the man who helped Yamaha develop the WX 7 wind controller back in the mid 80’s
I own a WX-5 Wind Controller by Yamaha with the VL-70m Virtual Acoustic Tone Generator. I’ve been playing it for 3 years and I’m very happy with its performance. It gives me the maximum amount of music expression of any instrument I own. I have several tin whistles, Concert Flute, three Clarinets, Oboe, Trumpet, Cornet, Mellophone, Keyboard, Piano.
The Wind Controller is not redundant to a keyboard, the breath control information when sent by MIDI to a compatible controller (not just any midi tone generator) gives expression that cannot by expressed on a keyboard. I’ve done ornamentation on it that can’t be expressed on a keyboard.
It has a pitch wheel so that you can bend notes and a pressure sensitive reed (I disabled it - as it gets in the way). Octave and Octave lock buttons. Sounds can be selected by the tone generator or by using the keys on the instrument.
If you want to use it seriously, you need the VL70m Tone Generator to go with it. That’s about $1100 investment, but that’s not bad if you want a really good expressive flute or other instrument.
BTW - The VL-70m can also be used with their Guitar Controller but I’ve not seen it in operation.
$7 D whistle vs $500 electronic thing… hmmm…
How about:
$7 D
$7 Eb
$7 F
$7 G
$7 E (more like at least $20)
Going down:
$10 C
$10 Bb
$30 B
$40 A
$45 G
$50 F
$60 E
$60 Eb
$70 D
$80 C
Hmmm…
Now add:
$500 Flute
$10000 Bass Flute
$5000 Alto Flute
and:
$500 Oboe
$500 Clarinet
$1000 Bassoon
and more reeds… (saxes etc)
Strings? those aren’t cheap…
So… Which is better again?
$500 electronic thingy, or a $7 D whistle, or $15000+ worth of other instruments
(People might notice I was being conservative, or at least trying. Except for the bass flute. Those things are that expensive though!)
Nico
Yup. I’ve seen it (wx11) played a few times, and now I’ll just have to ask the player to give me a thorough demonstration of it without the rest of the band playing as well. God, I really am a nerd 
NicoMoreno: but - by the time you’ve gotten interested in the wind controller, you probably have a couple or thirty whistles already. (But of course I do get your point.)
Here’s where you can find out about almost any Wind Synthesizer:
International Wind Synthesis Association
Nice link. Thanks…
A long time ago I played one of these,
a cheapie, and didn’t like it–but these look
more serious. Can you play ITM, can you
ornament? Can you slide? It’s a Boehm system
fingering, yes? What’s it feel like to play?
The other night right during an attempt to post to this thread my cable went out and it didnt come up until a few minutes ago. I hadn’t thought about an experienced woodwind player preferring an instrument like what he is used to playing. The instrument obviously has a great deal of versatility from listening to the sound clips. I like to learn something new everyday and this was my new item for the other night. One of my prejudices is my aversion to electric or electronic music. This probably comes from many years working in the field of electronics, computer hardware, and software. The sound clips gave me a better appreciation for the range of sound that can be produced by this instrument. I was quite surprised that this has been around since the 70s and I had never heard of it. During that period I read all of the electronic field magazines and I don’t remember seeing it.
Ron
The fingering system is similar to Saxophone and there is a dip swith in the back that will change it to flute fingering. There are two sax like fingering settings, one is a hybrid setting and other is more like a standard sax, I use the hybrid fingering - it gives lots of alternates.
You can do certain ornaments, strikes work well, got to watch the time because the instrument responds lightening fast and that can cause you to make mistakes. The pitch wheel also helps in doing ornamentation. I find it easy to do Klezmer ornamentation on it.