Akai EWI4000s...

[toddkuen]

I've had one for a year now and I've been playing it live for about 6 mo.

 

I'm mainly a keyboard player but I use it on a small set of songs because for certain things as its much more expressive than a keyboard: Ring of Fire (Trumpet), Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Oboe/String), Mustang Sally (Sax), Madame Blue (Synth), my own stuff (Violin, Cello).

 

It drives a Roland XV-5050 for the sounds (I don't use the EWI internal sounds). I play through either a Mesa Guitar amp, the PA, or a Roland KC500 keyboard amp.

 

As far as live gigging the sound is ok.

 

In general I like it though there was a steep learning curve to get it to behave the way I wanted.

 

Any other playes out there using one live?

 

Thanks

Todd

[Hsien-Hsiu Liao]

I've always wanted to try one of these since synths have always interested me. Also, I played clarinet in high school so I'm familiar with the fingerings. How long did it take to get used to it?

[toddkuen]

It took a long time - probably six months playing 1/2 hour a day before I would play out with it - then only when a screw-up wouldn't be a problem - several more months before where I am now - which is I can just pick it up and play it on the fly.

 

There are lots of things to learn outside of the "song"

 

- its touch based: no mechanical action; this takes some getting used to.

 

- Its sensitive to the environment (humidity for touch, easy to bump controls).

 

- I use it MIDI to drive a XV-5050 sound module and that takes some care to set up right.

 

- I am a keyboard player so I struggle with key changes and the "octave rollers".

 

On the up side its killer in situations where you need to play several instruments: I use it in one gig to do sax, oboe, and trumpet.

 

With the right sound module and amp you can pull off credible solos.

[Hsien-Hsiu Liao]

hey, thanks for the info. I do some reading on this kind of thing every now and then. There's a company that specializes in these kinds of things and they have the parameters tweaked out just for these instruments. If I didn't play guitar, I'd probably play sax. But this could be the next best thing. The price just keeps me away for the most part.

[toddkuen]

Yah - its pricy. The used market isn't very good either.

 

Mostly you see people selling "barely played" ones for close to list price.

[ChetSinger]

I think I'm going to spring for the Akai EWI USB this Christmas. I'm currently using a BC3 breath controller and merging the breath data with my keyboard. So I play keys and get the expressiveness of breath.

 

It works, but in my heart I'm a trumpeter, not a pianist.

 

So I'm going to give the EWI USB a try. All the synths I use now are software synths, so I think it might be a fit for me. And the price is low enough to entice me.

[toddkuen]

Make sure that the EWI doesn't leave the keyboard synth volume off.

 

The EWI sends lots of volume messages while your playing - if the last one sets volume to zero on the same channel as the keyboard the keyboard won't sound. I've had problems with this on both physical sound modules and synths (I use Logic on OS X) - really anything that accepts volume messages.

[ChetSinger]

Thanks for the tip.

 

I've also just learned that the EWI USB can't send program change messages. I'll have to change programs on the computer screen, so gigging with it will be difficult.

[toddkuen]

Its easy to change what I guess is the MIDI LSB (low order byte) which changes the selection in the current controller midi group (MSB).

 

You can only go up and down one number at a time. There are buttons on the side of the controller for this.

 

I program my Roland to put all the sounds I want into a single "USER" group (under one MSB) and then I scroll up and down within that group while gigging.

 

You'd have to figure out how to do that in Reaktor - but it would be easy to test with a keyboard or controller that can change LSB.

[toddkuen]

Chet -

 

I followed your links to physical modeling pages - very cool stuff! I downloaded STK as well - it looks very interesting.

 

(I too am a programmer and use OS X.)

 

Here's a some fooling around (excuse the bad guitar) using the EWI/Roland to do horns:

 

[ChetSinger]

 

Chet - I followed your links to physical modeling pages - very cool stuff! I downloaded STK as well - it looks very interesting. (I too am a programmer and use OS X.) Here's a some fooling around (excuse the bad guitar) using the EWI/Roland to do horns:

[toddkuen]

Thanks! Breath is mapped to volume - I think you can turn the mapping on and off in the EWI - but that's about it.

 

Its definitely fun to play. Physically its big and heavy enough to "wail on" - like a Sax solo on a big loud Mustang Sally - without a problem.

 

It also does subtle well - I do a combo oboe/string accompanyment on "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" - thin wailing notes over a vocal + 12-string.

 

Over all - a very cool, well designed toy.

[ChetSinger]

Well, I pulled the trigger and ordered an EWI USB from Matt at Patchman Music. It's my Christmas present this year. I'll post again after I've tried it out.

[Notes_Norton]

I don't play the EWI, but I do have a Yamaha WX5 Wind MIDI controller. I've been playing the Yamaha since they introduced the WX7.

 

I'm playing through a Yamaha VL70-m sound module with a custom sound chip installed from Patchman Music.

 

The trick to playing a wind controller, is to learn each patch as if it were a different instrument, find out what the patch will do, what it will not do, and exploit it to the best of your ability.

 

Also, learn to tweak the patches. You don't need to write them from scratch, but tweak them to fit your style of playing.

 

I've got a few clips here:

http://www.nortonmusic.com/clips.html

 

And if anyone out there plays WX5, I have a free setup, tips and tricks page here:

http://www.nortonmusic.com/wx5.html

 

And a few other VL70 freebies.

 

All can be clicked on here:

http://www.nortonmusic.com/contents.html#wx5

 

I find myself playing more WX than sax these days. I play in a duo http://www.s-cats.com and having the ability to play different sax setups, brass, strings, and pure synth voices add variety to the music.

 

The EWI and WX5 are both great instruments. Which one is best? It depends on your personal requirements.

 

Insights and incites by Notes

[ChetSinger]

My Akai EWI USB arrived, and this thing is really fun to play. I set it to the trumpet fingering mode (shame on Yamaha for not offering one on their wind controllers).

 

Getting up to speed with the octave rollers and C/G register key is going to take some time, though.

[toddkuen]

My Akai EWI USB arrived, and this thing is really fun to play. I set it to the trumpet fingering mode (shame on Yamaha for not offering one on their wind controllers). Getting up to speed with the octave rollers and C/G register key is going to take some time, though.

 

Cool - glad you like it.

 

Couple of thoughts:

 

Make sure you learn to keep your thumb across both contact strips on either side of the rollers (watch videos of pro players - they all do it) - if you don't you can lose "contact" and the sound will drop to the lowest octave (at least on the 4000).

 

Keep these contacts clean as well - if they get dirty same issue.

 

I've found that the dryer it is the less contact you have, i.e., if your hands are dry it seems less sensitive.

 

Other than that the only question I have is how to clean it. Can't find anything on this. The best I've come up with is to turn it upside down and dip the mouthpiece into colloidial silver and then let it hang upside down till it dries. The colloidial is basically disinfecting water.

 

Have fun!