To the right there is the master tune dial, output and input level dials, and jack sockets for Phones, Line Out and Ext In.Man Jumpings Andy Blake gets his fingers around Akais wind controller and voicing module and finds a happy marriage between expression and analogue synthesis.DRUM MACHINES AND keyboards triggered with numbing rhythmic perfection.Halfway through the song, a saxophone solo: 16 bars of human musicianship amongst the sequences.
Nobody is interested in synth solos, even if their sounds fit better: no feel. Enter the EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument), a synthesiser and MIDI controller based on the saxophone rather than the keyboard (or the guitar). So whats new Monophonic synths often incorporated a micCVgate input - sax players found the results difficult to control and any voltage fluctuations meant wrong notes. Then in the mid-70s an American device called the Lyricon appeared, which was a purposely designed wind synthesiser (very few were sold in Britain). The Lyricon consisted of a tube with a mouthpiece, keys using clarinet fingering, and a cable leading to an analogue synth module. Jazzer Sonny Rollins experimented with this, but the sound of the instrument was made familiar by star session player Tom Scott and Landscapes John Walters. The EWI is also American in origin, having been developed by trumpeter Nyle Steiner. In woodwind form, development was assisted by todays session star, Michael Brecker. Akai have bought the rights to the design from Steiner, and have continued to develop it with his and Breckers assistance. The EWI, the result of Akais investment, looks rather like the Lyricon: an oblong box with a mouthpiece, keys using saxophone fingering and a cable leading to an analogue synth module. So what is new Layout THE EWI CONSISTS of a light grey metal box with fingering pads screwed into it, underneath which is affixed a dark grey plastic unit containing the mouthpiece, octave rollers for the left thumb, a hook for the neck sling supplied with the instrument, and a plate for the right thumb, incorporating separate, adjustable plates for pitch-bend. Underneath there is also a sensitivity control, adjustable with a small screwdriver (again supplied) and a plug, of Akais own design, for the cable leading to the EWV-2000 sound module. The module at first sight seems to be a 4U-high piece of rack-fodder. Closer inspection reveals that the mountings have been added as an afterthought, for the unit has rubber feet on its back, and when sat on them, slopes to the front. Add to this that the power in, MIDI Out, memory protect switch, and tape inout () jack sockets are in a recessed space at the top, rather than the rear of the device, and it becomes dear that this box would rather stand on its own four feet. Reading from left to right, the Power onoff switch sits above a stereo jack socket for Program UpDown footswitching, and the Instrument plug. Then four performance dials, with associated LEDs, to control Vibrate, Bend, Glide and Breath Sensitivity. Topping this is a backlit, contrast-adjustable LCD, and red LEDs to indicate which of the two channels (or Sources) of the synth is currently in operation. Down a line we have pushbuttons controlling incremental data entry and Preset Change, Preset Write, Auto Tune, MIDI, Tape Function and Transpose. Two more rows of buttons are used to Access, Edit and Store preset sounds. ![]()
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