EWI Solo 1 (Paul Kerry)

[tubejay27]

thanks. I should have also said I need this for playing live.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

@tubejay27 Of course... Great hearing a home-brewed tune but, in my opinion, playing it live is a big chunk of the fun. Do you agree ?

I just loaded up the EWI's config/synth software to refresh my memory - I couldn't find anything there which could be persuaded to function as you require.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

If there's nothing that would "correct" the MIDI live, I'm sure you'll find some "autotune" software for your computer - but then that means the computer is in the audio-path and that's not always a good idea. If I come up with a better answer, I'll let you know.

[tubejay27]

I am a keyboardist that wants to buy an ewi, but not being a horn player, I imagine there is a pitch controller program, like Auto-Tune, or device that can filter out my 'wrong' notes and just let the right ones out. Like if i'm playing in Cm, and I play an 'e', it will come out as an e flat(assuming I program it to play in Cm). maybe the ewi can already do this? any help? Jay.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

@tubejay27

To the best of my knowledge, there's no such facility built into the EWI4000s, however, if you capture the MIDI as you play, you could correct the wrong notes later... Or... you might find some software (or even hardware ??) which would perform this function live whilst it sits between the EWI and whatever tone generator you are playing - BUT - Beware of latency and lag if you try this.

[toot1231]

Lol SOunds cool

[ruymxsx7]

very good, wow !! que caña el tio este con el cacharro ese, es hasta hipnotico

[utubejuan]

I really liked it, trance like and very thoughful use of the ewi.

Good job.

[envaneo]

Nice playing

[ChannelChameleon]

Like how the rhythms build-did you build that instrument?

[umaralansari]

Additional congratulations for bringing the magic of Rolf Harris to a new audience! ;)

[umaralansari]

Finally, someone has decided to collect all the farts of all the grandmas in the world and put them together in all their culturally-variegated quacking, clicking, popping, flatulating glory! Bravo!

On an etymological note, is a "EWI" so-called in reference to the Greek root for the expressive word "ee-ewe" (a common reaction to flatulent activity)?

I am concerned at the possible consequences of attaching one's wind instrument to an amplifier. Does it meet HSE regs in a built environment?

[RoadRunnerLaser]

LOL !!

As someone else previously described this...

"A symphony of a million farts".

Your review is somewhat more eloquent, however and your concerns are duly noted.

I'll be sure to report any adverse or unexpected consequences... urm... to my doctor??

[umaralansari]

Well, possibly to your doctor but amplified farting could possibly affect others, like second-hand smoke from cigarettes... Just a thought...

Happy flatulating! :)

[2psah]

did not like the song, but the ewi is amazing.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

It is. If you're considering an EWI, I highly recommend them.

... and... I'll not hold you to account for your tastes as long as you don't expect me to account for mine... ;)

[m1tch112]

YEEESS this vid is amazing i cant belive it!!!.....Dick it was a fucking joke!:)

[RoadRunnerLaser]

Yet, you believe that your deluded DaddyVanDyke found evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence in AKR from Saturn.

I think you'll find that YOU'RE the joke and like your alleged father, you don't have the sense to know when to face reality. Instead, you continue to come back to my channel under the delusional impression that you'll achieve something other than providing me the opportunity for some more fun in giving you another bashing.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

I don't spend my time seeking you out or posting abuse on your channel. Is that why you keep coming here for a bashing? Because you're in need of the attention?

[djalternegro]

thanks !!! yeah...if it were a clarinet...no, i like the

versatility of the ewi. i no longer own a sax or clarinet. as my name suggests, i am a dj/ small time producer.

i have some ideas and just don't wanna spend a  lot of time laying down tracks because i am caught up learning the ewi. although, anything worth doing is worth doing. so i guess i've answered my own question.

jay

[RoadRunnerLaser]

Indeed. I think the EWI is worth the time and effort. I'm much more comfortable using the EWI as an interface than a keyboard and it's really opened up the possibilities for me.

It's been the most intuitively expressive synth I've played with so far and great fun too. I hope you'll upload some videos of your own EWI experiments, I'll add them to my YT EWI Players playlist... I've got one somewhere.... :)

[djalternegro]

what's your name? i'm jay and i may add a video of me playing the ewi on my remix "sincerely jane"....i have the bassline added, but i'm thinking maybe i'll record myself adding the 2nd bassline with the ewi? trombone and sax...it'll sound really dumb, but since you were curious and i like your stuff maybe you could give pointers. what city are you in?

[djalternegro]

i mean i can make it sound great and i have a song i've been working on...i'm using that synth horn setting, i believe it's 14? i think? it's SO beautiful it sounds more like a trombone or tuba. but yeah...it should be easy with the sliding register, but i'm making it more difficult than it is. i just want it to be a clarinet so bad. but not really.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

Aha... It sounds like you've just confirmed something that I suspected would be true about the EWI.

It's not a clarinet/sax/recorder/flute or otherwise. It will never replace the accoustic instrument and someone with an accoustic wouldn't throw it away in favour of the EWI. However, in much the same way as the keyboard puts the synth in the hands of the pianist, the EWI puts the synth between the lips of a woodwind musician.

An addition, not a replacement.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

As I've never played anything like a clarinet or sax (only the recorder), I don't tend to notice what I might be missing or how different it might be from the accoustic instrument.

The EWI does have its unnatural aspects such as the octave rollers and slide and they can take quite some getting used to.

Have you tried asking Akai if they know of anyone specifically teaching EWI ?

LOL @ flight of the bumfumbling...

[djalternegro]

i remember my scales, but i dunno...honestly, i don't PRACTICE fingerings and scales as much as i just blow into it... i just wish i had someone teaching me, but i will do better.

[djalternegro]

i was a clarinetist throughout jr. highschool and everything, but i am 32 now, and literally have forgotten most everything. i went from flight of the bumblebee to flight of the bumfumbling. but i am familiar with boehm fingerings...i just don't remember my scales...

[djalternegro]

love it. love it.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

Thanks djAlterNegro... I like the screen-name by the way... Truly inspired !

[djalternegro]

i've had my ewi4000s for a bout a year now. cannot get enough of it. but i'm not improving on my proficiency. i want to get better. are there any resources for being taught how to play? sheet music for ewi. i live in seattle.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

There probably are resources, but the fingering on the EWI is based on traditional wind instruments. If you can play a penny whistle, you'll manage with the EWI.

I played recorder when I was a kid at school. I've not really played a fingered wind instrument since. It took no time at all to pick up the EWI and without any training or tuition, I've found it to be just about the most natural instrument I've played yet.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

You say that you cannot get enough of it, so it sounds as if you are enjoying the EWI. That's good because I'm sure you already realise that the real key to proficiency is practice and lots of it.

Is the EWI the first instrument that you have played which is based on the boehm fingering?

It might be tricky to familiarise yourself with the scales if this is completely new to you but I'm sure that lots of practice will help fix the system in your head.

[spyderbrd]

wow....this is awesome!i want one....im learning the piano...but i play the electric guitar.

[LtProfty]

Fuckin sick bro

[MsRomulus]

your not ugly...

[MsRomulus]

Hello...new to this type of style of music. At first thought.. what the heck is this stuff.. then I thought..heck I don't know what I thought at first but slowly it started to grow on me... Now I have to hear it! So I'm like what is it about this music! Still don't know but on some level it appeals....to me.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

Hello, MsRomulus.

Welcome to something new. New to you and to everyone else including me.

I've learned some of the oldest musical techniques in the world (techniques used for playing didgeridoo) and applied them to one of the newest instruments in the world (an Electric Wind Instrument - A breath controlled synth).

It appears that I am the first person to be doing this and I've uploaded some more of my musical experiments to YouTube to get some feedback to help me build my up-coming album.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

Thanks flonkertus8. If I look like Steve Nash, he must be an ugly git.. ;)

[RoadRunnerLaser]

LOL - I just looked up Steve Nash and found a wiki entry with a photo. I can see why you'd think that I look like Steve Nash in this video... Funny... :)

[TheStuF]

Nice! I also play didge and want to get an ewi.. what happens when you make sounds (hum or bark etc.) into the ewi, does it respond at all

[RoadRunnerLaser]

The EWI does not really allow enough air-flow to get a good bark through it. However humming and some of the other didge techniques work VERY well and I use them all the time... but... It does depend upon which patch (instrument setting) you are using. The one I am playing is specifically created to respond to didge techniques and humming through that one gives very good effects. Some respond well, some do not. A lot of the variation in my own playing comes from the results of vocalisation.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

However - Try to reproduce this from a recorded MIDI stream and you will be sorely disappointed. You can get great results live, but the MIDI information does not have the resolution to reproduce the phase/distortion effects that you will cause with vocalisation.

Go watch my Whistle-Binkies performance where I play Nuclear Fusion - The intro to that is almost completely vocalised. Almost every one of the videos I have uploaded (involving my Ewi using this patch) have at least some vocalisation.

[ohpiffle]

O.K. thanks alot for the info, it is a shame midi is so poor, but from your work it sounds as if the patch editor allows alot of freedom with the sounds. I will keep saving! Cheers Paul, do you have any more gigs planned? I am playing in Brighton next week.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

If it weren't for the EWI's patch editor and internal synth, I would find it disappointing but Akai kindly give us the best of both worlds - The ability to use the internal synth and the ability to use MIDI when we so desire. Personally, I almost never play through MIDI as I would rather use the abilities of the internal synth.

I don't have any more gigs planned right now - Possibly more to come once I have released my album - Still in production at the moment.

Best of luck with Brighton.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

Bah.. I must have been tired when I wrote the above comment... Where I say "You can get great results live" what I was meaning to say was that you can get great results from the EWI's own internal synth... My apologies for not putting my brain in gear before engaging the fingers.

[Moog167]

Very Unique...I like it!

[karlofangdango]

Wwow man datz soooo sweet

digital 303bubble blowin didge pipein tube!

keep up da jams man

ohm

[RoadRunnerLaser]

LOL...

Keep this to yourself then...

I'm considering releasing a version of this track on my new album... ;)

[zefif]

it grooves so much ! congrat !

[RoadRunnerLaser]

Many thanks.

* takes a bow *

(Keep an eye open... I'm intending to release much of my work as downloadable mp3 files)

[markvilover]

that's really cool, thanks for putting this up!

[fbeans99]

well... i guess thats could be music in some part of the world.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

...but obviously not yours or in your opinion... But that's fine who am I to try to change your own preferences ??

Thanks for your comment however...

Please, show me what passes for music in your part of the world and in your opinion...

[RoadRunnerLaser]

Funny... A guy called fbeans99 comes to the channel of a guy who plays music which has been described as a "symphony of a million farts"...

You like Michael Brecker, I see. He is outstanding, isn't he ? I'm not a fan of jazz, but I can appreciate the skill and occasionally enjoy some performances from talented jazz musicians.

[vmandanici]

This is insane!

I love it man!

[RoadRunnerLaser]

Yep... Definitely MY music... INSANE...!!!!!

[carljrenniemusic]

im a clarinetist.

could i play this instanly or is it saxaphonish?

[RoadRunnerLaser]

I've never played clarinet, or sax...

I would guess that you would have no trouble playing EWI. The only thing which you might find odd is the octave shift rollers, otherwise, the fingering is quite straightforward.

[laidbacklemon]

you can set it up so that it has clarinet fingerings, flute fingerings, whatever. I KNOW this is true with the Yamaha WX5 and I only assume it is for the Akai since it is just more advanced in every other way.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

There are a number of different fingering setups, this is true. It has a form of 'EVI' fingering too. I've only ever used the default setup though. It was very easy to learn. My only 'wind instrument' experience has been in playing recorder and trumpet... Unless you count didge, but there's no fingering for a didge... ;)

[RoadRunnerLaser]

There is an exception to the rule regarding didge... Dr. Graham Wiggins (Dr. Didg) created an incredible instrument known as the 'keyed' or 'orchestral' didge... Quite a masterpiece !!!

[pusky99]

hy im viorel i play with wx 5 yamaha and i want thalk with you some problems we can thalk ? you have my space im adress? i have viorel 2008 my space im adress .i wait unswered bye

[pusky99]

hy im viorel i play with wx 5 yamaha and i want thalk with you some problems we can thalk ? you have my space im adress? i have viorel 2008 my space im adress .i wait unswered bye

[Peiselkopp]

Cool, I'm a saxophone player. Maybe I'll buy an EWI some day, too. Not only Michael Brecker inspired me, also Masato Honda from Japan did it. There are some videos of him on youtube. Masato is a woodwind player but he also often plays the EWI.

[RoadRunnerLaser]

I've seen some of Masato Honda's playing on YouTube.

I would not know of Michael Brecker or Masato Honda if it were not for my interest in the EWI - I have Jean-Michel Jarre to thank for that, by the way.

[anko8aug]

techno

[RoadRunnerLaser]

It's an incredibly versatile and expressive instrument. Many EWI players are from the world of jazz thanks to Michael Brecker.

I'm bringing the EWI to a whole new audience, many of whom have never seen or heard of an EWI... and yes... I love playing trancy techno on mine.

[anko8aug]

techo music will be cool on that.

[anko8aug]

hmm sounds like a fat hippo sounds kool

[rambo1515]

where do you get your sounds?

[RoadRunnerLaser]

The one that I am using in this video is one that I designed myself. It's the sound that I use most often on my Ewi (actually, this is a version of that sound with the EWI's internal echo applied to it).

[smoothbabic]

That was nice dude,very nice,nice to hear groovy compositions with the Ewi....one thing,could you explain a little bit your EWI set up?and where's that drum beat coming from?

[RoadRunnerLaser]

Thanks for your positive comments.

Explanation given via internal mail because of the 500 character limit in the 'comments' section.

Video description has been updated to include the additional detail.

[Krauser912]

Wow... Just wow...

[RoadRunnerLaser]

I think part 2 is slightly more interesting. I'm thinking of incorporating this sequence into something else in the future.