Klarinet Archive - Posting 000269.txt from 1998/05

From: "Carl Schexnayder" <carlsche@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Midi Wind Instruments
Date: Wed, 6 May 1998 22:05:26 -0400

Hi..Carl Schexnayder.....again:

I was wondering if anyone knew what happened to the Yamaha WX7. It seemed
like a well thought out controller, (with its 7 octave range, its use of a
reed, ability to control vibrato, etc.) Is there anything better about the
new model, (it does seem to be cheaper)?

One of the uses I had in mind would be to provide contrast if, for example,
you played in a jazz quartet. Instead of having sax, piano, bass and drums,
you could change the sax to a flute or a trumpet or whatever.

As a band director, you might want to enter the bass clef euphonium part
into finale or other music writing program and then, transpose it for treble
clef euphonium, (for example). It seems that that would be such an easy way
to do it. Of course, I understand that you won't even need a midi controler
in the near future. From what I've been hearing, you could just play the
part on a clarinet, (or other instrument), or even just sing the part and
the correct pitches, (or the ones you play or sing if the're not the same),
would be transfered to the screen. You can then edit the part as you see
fit.

I hope this might clarify the kinds of uses I have in mind.

Carl Schexnayder
-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin J Bowman <kbowman@-----.com>
Date: Wednesday, May 06, 1998 4:06 PM
Subject: Re: [kl] Midi Wind Instruments

>I've been interested in MIDI wind controllers for some time. Although I
have
>never played either the Yamaha nor the Akai sticks I have done some
>research (and I've even built my own from scratch). Here is some
information
>(as I understand it):
>The Yamaha instrument has a "blow-through" mechanism for breath control
>whereas the Akai is "stopped up". This means that the Yamaha will play
>more naturally to musicians already familiar with a wind instrument. When
>I built my own controller, I experimented with different methods of
detecting
>air pressure and I can tell you that it is MUCH easier to control volume
>dynamics if you are blowing *through* a mouthpiece (as opposed to trying
>to control pressure into a stopped up tube).
>In all the pictures I've seen of both instruments, the Yamaha looks like
>it is more ergonomically engineered. The keys on the Akai look very
>rudimentary. It looks like Yamaha has put some thought into how the
>fingers lay on the instrument. This was one of my problems when designing
>my instrument. I ended up using small button-cap swithces for the "keys"
>(even for the usual "levers" operated by your pinky fingers) and the layout
>and spring resistance of the swithced play a large role in how easy the
>thing is to play.
>One more thing: expect to play saxophone fingerings. It's much easier for
>the software to accomodate "overblowing" an octave than to it is to
>accomodate the clarinet's 12th. In my instrument I used a simple look-up
>table to correlate finger "patterns" to MIDI notes but a smarter program
>might take into account the exclusive use of a register key (or even the
>generation of harmonic overtones). I considered allowing the user to select
>from several "fingering charts" but I ran out of memory. That would be a
>REAL nice feature to have (any Yamaha or Akai marketing types out there?).
>
>I played a gig once with a guy that had a Yamaha MIDI stick (W5?) and he
>usually played a Ten. Sax sound but sometimes ventured into flute and
>even "bongos" (that was a neat trick).
>
>Kevin Bowman
>---
>
>Carl Schexnayder wrote:
>
>> Hi Folks,
>>
>> Would anyone happen to have any information on midi wind instruments? I
>> know Yamaha makes an electronic woodwind instrument, as does Akai and
>> Cashio. I'm more intrested in the Yamaha and the Akai. I want something
>> that could mimic the sounds of various accoustic instruments and I would
>> also be interested in using it to enter music on Finale, etc. I don't
have
>> room to set up a midi keyboard.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Carl Schexnayder
>>
>
>
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