Klarinet Archive - Posting 000544.txt from 1996/03

From: "Lorne G. Buick" <mcheramy@-----.CA>
Subj: Re: Leeson's statistics & MIDI horns
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 1996 10:32:40 -0500

>
>Having played in theater orchestras hiding behind a forest of woodwinds, a
>MIDI horn has appeared tempting. The only one I have seen has been on paper,
>so I would also be interested if anyone has experience with them. Are they
>real musical instruments or toys?

Hi Stan. The Casio DH 10 that I've been talking about (the $29 one) treads
the line between a toy and an actual musical instrument. By itself it has
some cute sounds, but nothing remotely approaching a real clarinet (or
oboe, flute, etc.) and it has a fixed vibrato which can get tiresome after
a while. Also it's tuned to 442. And the range is two-and-a-half octaves.
It can be used as a MIDI controller for any synthesizer, but it doesn't
transmit volume changes, so that's not much use in performance.

When you call up a "clarinet" voice, how
>close is it to the real thing? Are the voices sampled or synthesized? Do I
>have a lot of questions?

The pro models (EWI and Yamaha WX-7 or -11) are "real musical instruments"
in the sense that they can transmit all the necessary information to a
synthesizer to produce dynamics, etc., and can be played very expressively
and/or impressively. As to whether they're suitable for your purpose, I'd
have to refer you to the pros (on the wind controller list, address already
posted)... and I don't know how impressed they'd be in the pit if you
showed up and asked for an extension cord... ;-)

LGB