EWI usb + sax brothers review
Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2011 9:13 pm
One word... WOW.
I've played clarinet for good part of my late childhood (5th grade - highschool), and I've got to say the EWI is a woodwind instrument built for woodwind players. Clarinet fingering isn't officially supported, but EWI keys being laid out the way it is, it is immediately familiar to the woodwind player. The form factor is just so well designed (at least beyond any virtual instrument) that it is hard not to conceptualize it as a an instrument of its own. With its own fingering, own practice drills to master the fingering, etc.
The conductive sensors didn't bug me much, apart from the octave switch being hard to sync with the "wrap over" of keys. (octave up on left hand while resetting both hands to the carry over position) but I suppose that'll come with practice.
I did wish EWI had a thumb rest, as with many instruments. Instead, the right thumb controls the pitch bend. Which I thought was a natural reassignment before playing the EWI. After playing the EWI, it felt so much like playing a real instrument, that I was upset I couldn't control pitch with embouchure. It definitely feels more natural that way. But anyway, the EWI is hard to hold without the neckstrap since there is no thumb rest.
Air resistance from blowing is pretty strong. You can't blow hard into it like the real thing. The value pretty much maxes out before I put in full force. Like when I'm 40%. Wind players will feel like the dynamic range of breath control is quite narrow compared to an actual instrument.
With sax brothers from sample modeling.. The match is made in heaven. The way the alto, tenor, and baritone responds to breath is eerily organic. It's probably not real for connoisserus, but surprising enough for me, as a clarinet player with a bit of sax experience. EWI comes with a sample set from Garritan, but I was underwhelmed.
I still have to get used to the sax fingering, but once I get it down, I'll post a demo. The EWI + sax brothers combo is something that shouldn't go unnoticed. BTW, sax brothers also perform extremely well with just the mod wheel assigned to breath. Definitely worth checking out. Melodies are hard to execute that way, but sections crescendo and sfz are easy to do with just mod wheel.
I've played clarinet for good part of my late childhood (5th grade - highschool), and I've got to say the EWI is a woodwind instrument built for woodwind players. Clarinet fingering isn't officially supported, but EWI keys being laid out the way it is, it is immediately familiar to the woodwind player. The form factor is just so well designed (at least beyond any virtual instrument) that it is hard not to conceptualize it as a an instrument of its own. With its own fingering, own practice drills to master the fingering, etc.
The conductive sensors didn't bug me much, apart from the octave switch being hard to sync with the "wrap over" of keys. (octave up on left hand while resetting both hands to the carry over position) but I suppose that'll come with practice.
I did wish EWI had a thumb rest, as with many instruments. Instead, the right thumb controls the pitch bend. Which I thought was a natural reassignment before playing the EWI. After playing the EWI, it felt so much like playing a real instrument, that I was upset I couldn't control pitch with embouchure. It definitely feels more natural that way. But anyway, the EWI is hard to hold without the neckstrap since there is no thumb rest.
Air resistance from blowing is pretty strong. You can't blow hard into it like the real thing. The value pretty much maxes out before I put in full force. Like when I'm 40%. Wind players will feel like the dynamic range of breath control is quite narrow compared to an actual instrument.
With sax brothers from sample modeling.. The match is made in heaven. The way the alto, tenor, and baritone responds to breath is eerily organic. It's probably not real for connoisserus, but surprising enough for me, as a clarinet player with a bit of sax experience. EWI comes with a sample set from Garritan, but I was underwhelmed.
I still have to get used to the sax fingering, but once I get it down, I'll post a demo. The EWI + sax brothers combo is something that shouldn't go unnoticed. BTW, sax brothers also perform extremely well with just the mod wheel assigned to breath. Definitely worth checking out. Melodies are hard to execute that way, but sections crescendo and sfz are easy to do with just mod wheel.