DAY 1:
I was gifted an Akai EWI USB. (Thanks again, gifter!) I finally got my PC set up so I could install the software for the EWI (short for "Electronic Wind Instrument"). As mentioned elsewhere, I used to own a Yamaha WX11 wind controller and used to own a plethora of electronic instruments. I even taught a (as in one) class at college regarding electronic instruments, MIDI, sequencers, and music publishing software. So, I'm not a newbie, but it's been about 20ish years since I sold my Yamaha WX11.
The Akai EWI (which Akai pronounces as "ee-wee") is available in several flavors: the top-of-the line is the EWI 5000 was introduced in 2014. It's also $800. The EWI USB was introduced in 2008 and is the introductory model, with a much lower price: $300. The main similarity of all the Akai EWIs is that they don't have real keys to press down, like you'd find on a real woodwind. They're touch sensitive capacitive keys. It's like touching a screen on an older iPad or something: nothing really "presses down." That's a disadvantage to me because I'm really used to the tactile feedback. Hey, I use mechanical computer keyboards, too.
* I've got Windows 10 Pro 64-bit. The box says that the EWI supports XP and Vista. However, if you go to the Akai website, there's a note that says that Windows 10 is supported.
* Setup of the software was relatively pain free. You get a CD that contains drivers and a virtual instrument player. The virtual instrument software is a custom version of Garritan's Aria player that supports breath control 'n' related MIDI data. I also downloaded and installed the Aria update from Akai's website.
* Connecting the EWI was dead simple: connect the provided 3 meter long USB cable to the EWI and to a USB 2.0 or 3.0 port on your computer. There's a note in the manual that if Aria doesn't recognize the EWI, you should use a USB port on your computer, not a USB hub. However, it worked fine with my powered USB 3.0 hub (Tripp-Lite brand), though.
That's about all the manual mentions. The rest is more-or-less up to you to figure out.
* I knew that the mouthpiece on the EWI was removable and washable. I did that first. There are no instructions on how to actually remove said mouthpiece. Luckily, that's easy: one "captive" screw in mouthpiece. Required a long Phillips jeweler screwdriver, but I have a set.
* I wondered how the heck to change the fingering system. It's supposed to support basic sax, flute, and clarinet fingerings (the EWI doesn't have the keywork to support most alternate fingerings), but how to switch between them isn't in the manual. It's actually a setting in the Aria player. This, to me, also means that I might have to use the MIDI output of Aria into a different virtual instrument, should I want to upgrade the sounds and continue to use saxophone fingerings. However, it's possible that the software makes a setting for the EWI and it's set in the EWI. I'm going to have to explore a bit on that.
So, with that done, I got to play with the EWI a bit. I decided to test with the flute sound, because the sax sound isn't that great and the clarinet sound is a bit below average. The flute sounded decent in the demo.
* According to the manual, you have to have your thumbs touching a couple metal pieces to make the keys work. Completing a circuit or some such. The metal piece for this on the right hand is below what I'd use for a thumbrest if the "thumbrest" wasn't set to do pitch bending (I could disable the pitch bend in software, I know, but the manual doesn't mention how to do this) and the metal piece for the left hand is a really thin strip next to the octave roller keys. That doesn't feel very good.
* I also felt I was blowing really, really hard to get notes to come out. I went looking for the breath controller controls in Aria. Sure enough, the control was completely off. Let's jack that up to 50%. Much better. Again, not in the manual.
I know that the feel will take a lot of getting used to. As an example, if you look at that demo link I posted above, you'll notice how high the guy lifts his fingers from the EWI after he plays a note. That's because if you play like me, a guy who was originally a clarinet player and almost never lifted my fingers higher that the keys on a clarinet or sax pop-up, you're probably going to accidentally hit one of the "keys" on the EWI and that'll make the thing play the wrong note.
The mouthpiece was relatively comfortable for me. The mouthpiece tip that you put into your mouth is moderately soft rubber or some other synthetic. I was pleasantly surprised at that. I had thought that the mouthpiece wouldn't feel very good because it's not saxophone- or clarinet-like.
I feel that it weighs a little less than a clarinet. There is a neckstrap hook on the EWI and I used the included neckstrap, even though I really didn't need it. I can say that my thumbs kept slipping off the capacitive touch pads, so I might have to play with the angle I hold the thing at.
So, overall, I'm cautiously optimistic about playing with this in the future. I do think that the lack of info in the manual is a real negative for most folks. However, it's the cheapest EWI on the market.
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A final note, for this initial article. Garritan also has a newer version of the Aria Player. (Available HERE and HERE. It's free, BTW, so grab a copy, and grab the free sound pack). I did download, install, and try this. It doesn't support breath controller data.
I was gifted an Akai EWI USB. (Thanks again, gifter!) I finally got my PC set up so I could install the software for the EWI (short for "Electronic Wind Instrument"). As mentioned elsewhere, I used to own a Yamaha WX11 wind controller and used to own a plethora of electronic instruments. I even taught a (as in one) class at college regarding electronic instruments, MIDI, sequencers, and music publishing software. So, I'm not a newbie, but it's been about 20ish years since I sold my Yamaha WX11.
The Akai EWI (which Akai pronounces as "ee-wee") is available in several flavors: the top-of-the line is the EWI 5000 was introduced in 2014. It's also $800. The EWI USB was introduced in 2008 and is the introductory model, with a much lower price: $300. The main similarity of all the Akai EWIs is that they don't have real keys to press down, like you'd find on a real woodwind. They're touch sensitive capacitive keys. It's like touching a screen on an older iPad or something: nothing really "presses down." That's a disadvantage to me because I'm really used to the tactile feedback. Hey, I use mechanical computer keyboards, too.
* I've got Windows 10 Pro 64-bit. The box says that the EWI supports XP and Vista. However, if you go to the Akai website, there's a note that says that Windows 10 is supported.
* Setup of the software was relatively pain free. You get a CD that contains drivers and a virtual instrument player. The virtual instrument software is a custom version of Garritan's Aria player that supports breath control 'n' related MIDI data. I also downloaded and installed the Aria update from Akai's website.
* Connecting the EWI was dead simple: connect the provided 3 meter long USB cable to the EWI and to a USB 2.0 or 3.0 port on your computer. There's a note in the manual that if Aria doesn't recognize the EWI, you should use a USB port on your computer, not a USB hub. However, it worked fine with my powered USB 3.0 hub (Tripp-Lite brand), though.
That's about all the manual mentions. The rest is more-or-less up to you to figure out.
* I knew that the mouthpiece on the EWI was removable and washable. I did that first. There are no instructions on how to actually remove said mouthpiece. Luckily, that's easy: one "captive" screw in mouthpiece. Required a long Phillips jeweler screwdriver, but I have a set.
* I wondered how the heck to change the fingering system. It's supposed to support basic sax, flute, and clarinet fingerings (the EWI doesn't have the keywork to support most alternate fingerings), but how to switch between them isn't in the manual. It's actually a setting in the Aria player. This, to me, also means that I might have to use the MIDI output of Aria into a different virtual instrument, should I want to upgrade the sounds and continue to use saxophone fingerings. However, it's possible that the software makes a setting for the EWI and it's set in the EWI. I'm going to have to explore a bit on that.
So, with that done, I got to play with the EWI a bit. I decided to test with the flute sound, because the sax sound isn't that great and the clarinet sound is a bit below average. The flute sounded decent in the demo.
* According to the manual, you have to have your thumbs touching a couple metal pieces to make the keys work. Completing a circuit or some such. The metal piece for this on the right hand is below what I'd use for a thumbrest if the "thumbrest" wasn't set to do pitch bending (I could disable the pitch bend in software, I know, but the manual doesn't mention how to do this) and the metal piece for the left hand is a really thin strip next to the octave roller keys. That doesn't feel very good.
* I also felt I was blowing really, really hard to get notes to come out. I went looking for the breath controller controls in Aria. Sure enough, the control was completely off. Let's jack that up to 50%. Much better. Again, not in the manual.
I know that the feel will take a lot of getting used to. As an example, if you look at that demo link I posted above, you'll notice how high the guy lifts his fingers from the EWI after he plays a note. That's because if you play like me, a guy who was originally a clarinet player and almost never lifted my fingers higher that the keys on a clarinet or sax pop-up, you're probably going to accidentally hit one of the "keys" on the EWI and that'll make the thing play the wrong note.
The mouthpiece was relatively comfortable for me. The mouthpiece tip that you put into your mouth is moderately soft rubber or some other synthetic. I was pleasantly surprised at that. I had thought that the mouthpiece wouldn't feel very good because it's not saxophone- or clarinet-like.
I feel that it weighs a little less than a clarinet. There is a neckstrap hook on the EWI and I used the included neckstrap, even though I really didn't need it. I can say that my thumbs kept slipping off the capacitive touch pads, so I might have to play with the angle I hold the thing at.
So, overall, I'm cautiously optimistic about playing with this in the future. I do think that the lack of info in the manual is a real negative for most folks. However, it's the cheapest EWI on the market.
-----------
A final note, for this initial article. Garritan also has a newer version of the Aria Player. (Available HERE and HERE. It's free, BTW, so grab a copy, and grab the free sound pack). I did download, install, and try this. It doesn't support breath controller data.
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