AKAI Professional EWI USB - Electronic Wind Instrument and MIDI controller, with Plug-and-play Connectivity and Garritan Sound Library

I have been playing tenor sax for almost 17 years, and have been playing on an EWI USB for about 6 months. The first thing I want to address is that the EWI is an independent instrument with all its own little nuances, its not really an electronic version of a saxophone. Yes, you use breath to control sound and yes, the fingerings are similar (or exactly the same depending on the settings you use) to sax. But the way it feels and plays is very different and unique. Its really closer to learning a new instrument than playing a different version of a sax (like the difference between tenor and alto for example). But, because the fingerings are similar enough to sax, it is like learning a new instrument that you already have a lot of technical skill with. You will probably be able to play scales right away, but sounding skilled and expressive won't translate quite the same from sax. The amount of air needed for the EWI, compared to tenor sax, is negligible. The EWI takes a fairly low amount of air and force to play. In fact, the small amount of air needed has allowed me to employ a circular breathing technique while playing, something I was never able to do on tenor. The EWI needs such little air to respond you can easily store a small amount of air in your cheeks and slowly allow that to escape while getting a new breath with your nose. However, this sensitivity also means you need to use much smaller changes in air force to get expressive velocity control from the EWI. Coming from playing tenor sax, which takes so much air to play, it can be very easy at first to use too much force. You really must use smaller more controlled forces of air for the best expressiveness. So you would think that this sensitivity would make it easy to sound punchy, but unfortunately that is something that can be difficult with the EWI. Somehow just blowing with as much force as possible into the mouthpiece doesn't seem to get the effect. I've strangely found that the best way to achieve a punchy sound from the EWI is to use as much force as possible, but allow a lot of air to escape around the sides of the mouthpiece. For some reason, when you have a tight, closed seal around the mouthpiece, it doesn't seem to really pick up on your air velocity as much as if you allow some air to escape. But, this is only the case with trying to get punchy, funky, staccato sounding stuff. If you are trying to be more legato and expressive, you want to have a closed seal.All of this means you shouldn't expect to be able to play this instrument like a sax. It is a pretty different experience. But, it is close enough to sax that it encourages you to keep playing. It doesn't feel like totally learning a brand new instrument, you can play some things that sound decent right away, but it will certainly take some practice before you are going to sound even close to as expressive as you can be with sax. Because of that, I feel like the EWI is best utilized if you approach it as a whole new instrument. I avoid using sax sounds with it, if I want to hear sax sounds, I can just play my sax. In fact I tend to avoid all horn sounds. I find the EWI really comes alive using it with synthesizer sounds, it makes it sound like an actual new instrument instead of sounding like a dinky cheap imitation of a wind instrument.And this brings me to my final point and most important point to consider before spending money on this device. EWI USB IS NOT A SYNTHESIZER, IT IS A MIDI CONTROLLER! If you don't really understand the difference between these two things, purchasing this device may result in a lot of confusion and ultimately disappointment. MIDI controllers do not create sound, they control computer software which is creating sound. Without a computer and software, this instrument cannot do anything. If you wish to play an EWI without that limitation, EWI4000 and EWI5000 are actual synthesizers (in addition to being MIDI controllers) and do not require a computer and software to play. If you have no experience at all with making music on a computer, I would suggest considering one of the synthesizer versions, or you are going to find yourself very frustrated and confused until you either give up on it or have spent hours learning some basics about Digital Audio Workstations and MIDI control. The EWI USB does come with the Aria stand-alone software, which does not require a DAW and is very user friendly. Even if you know nothing about setting up a MIDI device, the Aria stand-alone software will recognize your EWI immediately and you can start playing out the box. But, this Aria software, in my opinion, is extremely lacking. It predominantly has horn sounds (which as I said earlier come off sounding pretty dinky and cheesy) and somewhat limited effects capabilities. If the included Aria software is all you are able to control with your EWI USB it will feel like a disappointing purchase.So, if you know you want an EWI but are trying to decide between the EWI USB or EWI4000, consider this checklist of what you really should have for the EWI USB to be a worthwhile purchase.1. You NEED a computer, and this computer will need to be fast enough to run a DAW and a synthesizer. This isn’t a ridiculous requirement. My 5 year old $300 laptop does fine.2. Have or be willing to acquire a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). This would include software like: Cubase, Ableton Live, FL Studio. If you are unwilling (or don’t know how) to pirate software, acquiring a DAW by purchasing it can be quite expensive. Most DAWs are around $200-$500 retail.3. You will also need to know or learn how to setup a MIDI controller in your DAW. This is fairly simple and it is easy to find how-to videos online.4. I would greatly suggest knowing or learning how to use VSTs (plug-ins) in your DAW and acquire a good synthesis VST to use with your EWI. There are some really great free VSTs out there, but some of the best are not. So once again, this means either pirating or spending money on VSTs. VSTs range much more in price, with some retail VSTs costing only $5-$10 while some other professional VSTs can cost upwards of $600.5. Know or learn about MIDI Mapping. Some VSTs, such as Spectrasonics Omnisphere, have built in recognition for breath control, and have breath sensitive MIDI mapping, so you can map say your Mod Wheel to breath control for a more expressive sound. If using a VST with built-in breath control, this is a fairly simple thing to do.6. But many VSTs and onboard DAW synthesizers do not have breath control built in, so if you want to be able to map any effects parameters to the EWI you will need to know or learn the MIDIcc routings of your selected DAW to manually map desired effects to breath, bite, and pitch bend MIDIcc in the provided EWI USB software's settings. This can be a fairly complicated process, and you are not going to find many (if any) how-to videos or detailed instructions about this.If these requirements don’t seem too difficult to you, then the EWI USB is an amazing purchase. If they do sound too difficult, or just like too much of a hassle to be worth it, you may want to consider the EWI4000. I should say, I have never personally used an EWI4000, so I’m not necessarily promoting that instrument. But if you want an EWI but don’t want to worry about needing a computer, software, and understanding anything about MIDI control, then the EWI4000 & EWI5000 are your only options.I absolutely love this instrument. It is such a fun thing to use, and an amazing future device. Playing one of these can really make you feel you live in a crazy computer-age time. Just don’t expect too much too quick and you should love it too. It is a new instrument, so it will take practice just like any other new instrument. I use this thing almost every day, and while even after six months I can’t sound even close to as good as I sound on sax, it is an incredibly fun thing to do alone in my room. And I’m confident that after another 6 months or so, I’ll have learned the nuances of the instrument well enough to feel comfortable having it on stage next to my tenor, alto and flute.

My EWI-USB arrived early today and I spent a good portion of my afternoon and evening tinkering with it. I'm giving 2 stars and I'm also giving some thoughts to returning it. My only other wind controller experience is with my Yamaha WT-11. So I'll be using that for comparisons. Coincidentally, I bought 2 Akai products this week and both for the same reason: a midi input tool to use with Band in a Box on my laptop. The other is the Akai Pro LPK25 Laptop Performance Keyboard which I really like, but the problem is that I'm NOT a keyboard player. I do brass, woodwind and guitar/bass (and I'm actually a decent violist, but admitting that is like admitting you're a bed-wetter). So let's get to details.Pros:* The EWI can be configured for its default fingering system (sax subset), sax fingering, flute fingering, oboe fingering, or brass fingering. I DID try the brass fingering. There are cons to it and I'll address that below.* You can configure latency/response on the fingerings. One of the reasons I ceased using my WT-11 for composing/arranging electronically was its tendency to glitch. When moving from C5 to B4 requires lifting the middle finger and placing the index finger. On a RL sax, your mouth and basic physics gives some tolerance in the shift. Not so the WT-11. You get either a C# or A grace note before you land on B. The EWI let's you set a deliberate lag on the transition so those glitches are reduced.* In regard to things like setting sensitivity, it's way easier to do that with a control panel on your computer versus trying to tweak with a screwdriver on the WT-11* The EWI is a solid bit of instrument. It does not feel like a toy and exhibits a good bit of good engineerig considerationCons:* The worst thing is catastrophic failure. While testing today, the EWI would emit a note start and then just sieze up. The reset feature on the device did nothing to cure the problem. Further, it wasn't related to the software. I tested with Aria (supplied with the EWI), Band in a Box and Finale. In all cases, under no circumstances I could establish, the EWI just switched off. If I re-selected the MIDI device the problem cleared. While this is an aggravation that you can push past in the studio, there's no way I'm going to do a live performance with an instrument that shuts off without provocation.* It's way too honking big. It's easily double the size and weight of the WT-11. I can't think of a technical reason for it to be quite so big.* Crossing octive breaks are awful. The WT-11 had it perfect. If you're playing C5 and need to briefly move above that note to D5 to F#5 all you had to do was hold the C (actually, it worked wiht B/Bb/A) and then play D through F# on the right hand and the octave above was assumed. I tinkered with finger combinations on the EWI but got nothing other than expected half-steps.A bit more smart was needed for this poduct. I won't give it at a 1-star becuse there ARE some redeening features.* The brass fingering was innovative. However, no brass players are really going to wrap their minds around it. Trumpet was my first instrument and I stuck with it for years. I enabled the brass fingering mode and toyed with that for some time. It's a great example of cognitive dissonance. The right hand does the valve work for the instrument. But replacing lip and breath with and index finger on or off combined with the octave rollers is... well... I lack a proper word. I'm a very flexible person, but I just couldn't adapt to this.5 years laterIt seems my review has had some influence on the community at large. I feel badly in a way about this because of the clear effort to produce a quality device. I have a college degree in System Analysis, which is a way of saying I'm a good problem solver. As I alluded to it above, I really think the Akai engineers have tried to solve the insoluble. I cannot possibly fault them for this. After all, I like to think I can solve all problems even though I cannot.Like the Yamaha WX-11, this is a SUPERB performance instrument. I continue to use my Yamaha in this way. However, it fails for purposes of midi transcription and arranging. This purpose of mine is well filled by other Akai products.With the understanding that his is a performance tool, not a composer or recording tool, I am upgrading my review after long consideration.