Bought this for the mrs - Akai EWI

[sshorepunk]

Meant to post this ages ago as I bought it for my mrs at xmas

first up, she’s a bloody good clarinetist, grade 8 when we were at school, principal clarinet in local symphony orchestra etc

also played bassoon!

Shes very good, just doesn’t play often enough in my opinion, but she is a busy lady!

 

bought her lots of odd musical instruments over the years, including a huge cowbell!

 

I had been thinking of doing the midi wind controller for a while, so in December, chased a few akai EWI USB models (glad I didn’t get one now)

Then a EWI 5000 came up on eBay, put a sensible bid in, but got outbid, at the time I was 6 pints into a Friday night, so wasn’t up for loosing it

Fast forward to Xmas day, once she realised what ut was and what it did, it blew her mind and she is addicted

She’s not had a huge amount of time with it, but she is well Up  for learning whatever it takes

also got a load of USB stuff to connect to iPad, but for now, the 100 external sounds are enough

 

Edited January 30, 2024 by sshorepunk

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

Sax player in my 80’s band has one. Wicked piece of kit. So many sounds available.

[sshorepunk]

1 hour ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Sax player in my 80’s band has one. Wicked piece of kit. So many sounds available.

That’s good to hear

We have had some heavy discussions about which type of fingering she prefers, probably sounds wrong that 🤣

[Paul S]

... probably?   

[ahpook]

Very interesting.

 

Mrs. Pook used to play sax, still has one, but the noise factor in a terraced house can't be ignored. She's quite interested in a sax version, after me showing her this.

 

Thanks for the tip 👍

[tauzero]

On 30/01/2024 at 19:40, sshorepunk said:

That’s good to hear

We have had some heavy discussions about which type of fingering she prefers, probably sounds wrong that 🤣

 

I think I understand, I bought Mrs Zero the Vangoa EWI which has sax and flute fingering. Presumably clarinet would be a bit different again.

[sshorepunk]

On 30/01/2024 at 20:25, ahpook said:

Very interesting.

 

Mrs. Pook used to play sax, still has one, but the noise factor in a terraced house can't be ignored. She's quite interested in a sax version, after me showing her this.

 

Thanks for the tip 👍

ideal for silent practice, the 5000 is rechargeable as well, so she walks round with no wires connected

i believe the Roland aerophone is good but was too much money for a surprise Xmas gift

theres around six fingering options you can choose from, sax flute etc 

 

[sshorepunk]

5 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

I think I understand, I bought Mrs Zero the Vangoa EWI which has sax and flute fingering. Presumably clarinet would be a bit different again.

There’s six options for fingering, she’s still working out which one she prefers 

[sshorepunk]

Here’s a few videos we did a couple of days after she got it

playing through the aux in put on a Bluetooth speaker, which turned out sounding ok

she went fully wireless a few days later 

 

eight octave range on this! 
 

 

 

 

 

[BigRedX]

6 hours ago, tauzero said:

I think I understand, I bought Mrs Zero the Vangoa EWI which has sax and flute fingering. Presumably clarinet would be a bit different again.

 

Thought one of the features of the woodwind family of instruments is that the fingering is the same on all of them, so players can switch between instruments. Also why they are transposing instruments on musical scores.

[fretmeister]

12 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

Thought one of the features of the woodwind family of instruments is that the fingering is the same on all of them, so players can switch between instruments. Also why they are transposing instruments on musical scores.

 

The saxes are.

 

The clarinet is weird. Unlike a Sax it doesn't have an octave key like a sax has, the register key jumps it an octave and a fifth - it's a 12th jump!

 

I play sax, my daughter plays clarinet and the register key is damn confusing. Can't just hit it and get the next octave.

[sshorepunk]

@fretmeister are alto and tenor different? I always thought they where ?

 

This is cool on the EWI, if she is playing something written for b flat clarinet, there’s a button to transpose a tone! Same with alto sax sheet music which is E flat (I think) you just adjust accordingly 

 

[sshorepunk]

I also got a powered USB hub so we can get midi into her iPad, which should be interesting playing some of the synth apps

 

Not tried yet, I believe some don’t respond to dynamics, others do, I’m sure it will be interesting though 

[fretmeister]

12 minutes ago, sshorepunk said:

@fretmeister are alto and tenor different? I always thought they where ?

 

This is cool on the EWI, if she is playing something written for b flat clarinet, there’s a button to transpose a tone! Same with alto sax sheet music which is E flat (I think) you just adjust accordingly 

 

 

I'm now doubting my memory. I have an alto and haven't played tenor for about 30 years! I'll have to check.

 

The EWI looks so cool - I might have to put one on my GAS list. Both me and my daughter could use it. I'm trying to write tunes that are more 70s RnB and funk and they usually have lots of horns but when I use a VST and a mouse I just cannot get the feel right. Something like this might be better due to the breath control element that is so important.

 

Edited February 1, 2024 by fretmeister

[ahpook]

2 hours ago, sshorepunk said:

ideal for silent practice, the 5000 is rechargeable as well, so she walks round with no wires connected

i believe the Roland aerophone is good but was too much money for a surprise Xmas gift

theres around six fingering options you can choose from, sax flute etc 

 

 

That's good to know, thanks.

 

I think we'll be doing some research over the weekend.

[sshorepunk]

@fretmeister they are worth a look, you will find the USB only model cheap, but knowing what I know now, I’m glad I didn’t get her one of those 

The 3000,4000 and 5000 all have built in sounds (I think) plus midi out

The 5000 is totally wireless, which is nice

 

I’ve had to turn pitch bend off for now as she kept bending notes unintentionally, it will go back on when she’s used to it

 

tempted to learn some pentatonic scales in a few keys so I can use it myself!

 

[sshorepunk]

@ahpook I watched loads of YouTube videos, there plenty of tutorials and also plenty with people playing some really cool stuff, there’s even a video of a guy playing the guitar solo from enter the sandman on an EWI!

[ahpook]

24 minutes ago, sshorepunk said:

@ahpook I watched loads of YouTube videos, there plenty of tutorials and also plenty with people playing some really cool stuff, there’s even a video of a guy playing the guitar solo from enter the sandman on an EWI!

 

Excellent - thanks, Mrs. Pook does seem quite excited by the idea of playing synths, etc. using this as an interface.

 

I plumbed our electronic piano into a Mellotron VST for her a while back and she loved it

Edited February 1, 2024 by ahpook

[sshorepunk]

@ahpook, I was surprised by my mrs’ reaction, she was totally blown away by it, she’s just been to busy to spend a good amount of time with it, that will change in next few weeks 

 

she put her clarinets away so she could focus on this 

[la bam]

I had one of these years ago, loved it. 

 

Had to sell a few years back, but just bought another proper cheap one. They're amazing. 

 

I'm gonna upgrade again, and have set a challenge to be performing in a few months with it. 

[Quatschmacher]

On 30/01/2024 at 17:57, sshorepunk said:

Meant to post this ages ago as I bought it for my mrs at xmas

first up, she’s a bloody good clarinetist, grade 8 when we were at school, principal clarinet in local symphony orchestra etc

also played bassoon!

Shes very good, just doesn’t play often enough in my opinion, but she is a busy lady!

 

bought her lots of odd musical instruments over the years, including a huge cowbell!

 

I had been thinking of doing the midi wind controller for a while, so in December, chased a few akai EWI USB models (glad I didn’t get one now)

Then a EWI 5000 came up on eBay, put a sensible bid in, but got outbid, at the time I was 6 pints into a Friday night, so wasn’t up for loosing it

Fast forward to Xmas day, once she realised what ut was and what it did, it blew her mind and she is addicted

She’s not had a huge amount of time with it, but she is well Up  for learning whatever it takes

also got a load of USB stuff to connect to iPad, but for now, the 100 external sounds are enough

 

Check out the EMEO. They have a clarinet model in development too last I heard from them. 
https://www.emeomusic.com

Edited May 7, 2024 by Quatschmacher