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I've been wondering about the yamaha wind controllers for quite some time.. are they usable? Or just expensive toys from hi-tech Japan?

I guess as a controller, it's versatile and all. I'm a bit more skeptical about the VL sound module.. I mean, I play reed instruments so I might as well get a real sax, but considering maintenence and the high volume of such metalic beasts, if a digital counterpart can sound decent I'd think about it.

The problem with all yamaha physmod stuff is that they all tend to sound very mellow.. Not sure if it's how they're patched. Like trumpets.. They all sound like classic trumpets. You would never play a blasting disco line like that. Same goes for most of the sax.. too little attack. I mean, I want power.. flames coming out of the horns like latin jazz. Am I dreaming?

yep, your dreaming

I've played with wx5 and vl70, it's interesting, but not more. The sound doesn't come even close to real sax, even a cheap one...


But it's great to drive a synth with legoto and aftertouch (breath control mapped to aftertouch).

And you're right about vl70, all sounds are too mellow, you're better off with a sampler i'd say!

Yep, the real McCoy or a sampler is the way.

My recommendation would be an Emu Ultra series, but each to there own.

On 2005-12-18 22:45, marcuspocus wrote:
...But it's great to drive a synth with legoto and aftertouch (breath control mapped to aftertouch)...

didn't know that - same as on the Casio DH-100/200
for $50-100 you can't go wrong on those, it's definetely not a toy, particularly as a controller.

cheers, Tom

k, so it's too good to be true. I mean, we'd have much better brass renditions if physmod could actually do what it was meant to do.. to sound like a real instrument. hehehe. I wonder why the lean towards all the mellowness. It's strange because it seems like ALL physmod brass/reeds have that same mellow, chilled out sound be it Yamaha or Korg, or whatever.

Maybe not so with a Prophecy Ken. They are such performance oriantated keyboards too ... wish we still had ours actually

I heard a lot of people raving about Arturia Brass recently, but for me it has the same problem - the attack part of the sounds is all wrong - it's not powerful enough, so it just doesn't sound like someone blowing hard into a real brass instrument. It's a pity, as the rest of the sound characteristics seem good in the demos. But that attack phase just sounds weak and GM-like. Maybe the best approach is a combination of a sample of the attack and then use the physical model for the sustained portion of the sound?

or call Arturo Sandoval. (a pretty famous latin jazz trumpet player)

I had 2 of the Casio models and they both broke after about 1 year.

I own the Yamaha WX5 breath controller and VL70M tone module.

The WX5 is an amazing instrument. It is especially good with the Garritan Personal Orchestra. Make sure to use the Cubase logical editor to route the WX5 breath control to modulation. In Logic this is also possible however I don't know how.

The breath control is the perfect way to control CC data. I also must mention that you can play faster than on a keyboard. Little grace notes and trills are much more possible. The lip pressure is nice but not a big advantage over a pitch wheel on a keyboard.


The Vl70 tone module is a unique synthesiser as all other hardware physical modeling synthesizers are designed to mimic analog synthesizers. Besides wind instruments, it also does string sounds. I like the oboe and it has some very nice string bass sounds. The sounds can be edited via free software you can find online. Without the software the editing ability is imited. It is odd that it doesn't come with the software or didn't when I bought it. A very nice sounding and under-rated tone module but perhaps since you have the GPO you shouldn't buy this. Depends on your bank account. The VL70 is made possible because of a synthesizer that Yamaha created many years ago which was $7,000 street price and was monophonic! They didn't sell many of those. It does sound mellow.

The Yahama breath instrument differs from the Roland model because the action feels more like a real instrument.

Please don't do any more disco music.

Please don't do any more disco music.

I am wondering why nobody is even thinking of the EWI Wind Controller. Michael Brecker uses that to great effect.

http://www.ewi-evi.com/4000s.htm

_________________
Are we listening?..

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: paulrmartin on 2005-12-21 05:33 ]</font>

That is what I was thinking of not Roland.


Akai made the first one and Brecker got used to that. I think he might get them for free from the company (or he should). The action is not as realistic on those or so I have read. I did a lot of research before I got the WX5.

isn't EWI out of production?

On 2005-12-20 07:32, braincell wrote:
I had 2 of the Casio models and they both broke after about 1 year...

in a way that they made a screeching noise with the internal sound ?
that's a well known flaw and easily cured by exchanging a misdimensioned capacitor.
It doesn't affect midi operation - but made the one I bought as cheap as 35 Euro

cheers, Tom

There is still a long way to walk I think, for this baby to be real sounding. I love them as you can create "new" sounds, but not the "real" sound, not yet, but it will come.

Astro, I shouldn't have thrown mine away.

Nestor,

I love my Native Instruments piano because it never goes out of tune and I can use midi on it. It doesn't sound exactly like a piano I am told but it is close enough. I don't know why the WX5 is considered a sax. I hate the sound of the saxophone and never use any imitations of it. That sound is brash and annoying most of the time. The WX5 is good for solo strings. A bow is a continuous controller input device.

Interesting point Brain. Have you learned playing directly with an electronic instrument so?

I should.

I have to say that learning one of these things takes years of dedication.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: braincell on 2005-12-22 14:20 ]</font>

Yes, it does... But you should start today, so the sooner the better, so years to come will not count so much Let's post something with this instrument Brain.

Well ok, With the magic of MIDI editing you don't need to be a maestro. I wish I could play anything that comes into my head like I can on a keyboard. With this device, you tend to play notes you wouldn't have thought of on a keyboard.