- Electronic wind instrument controller
- Plug-and-play USB connection to Mac or PC
- Custom Garritan Aria Player software, contains wind instrument sounds
- Multiple fingering modes: sax, traditional EWI, flute, oboe, and EVI brass
- Removable, dishwasher-safe mouthpiece
You do not have to mess around with 6 or 7 little knobs or screw adjusted controls in order to get this instrument set up to play properly.
In my opinion the EWI-USB has better dynamic range than the other wind controllers, plus it does not require an additional cable to connect with an optional power supply nor, because it gets its power via the USB connection, does it need batteries.
It includes a very nice selection of acoustic intrument samples (software synthesizer sounds) from the Garritan "Jazz and Big Band", and the Garritan Personal Orchestra package (it has a subset of sounds from these packages).
Some people prefer the Yamaha WX5 wind controller because it has mechanical keys which move, unlike the EWI-USB (or 4000s) whose keys do not move but work simply through touch (capacitive sensing). I would certainly agree that it takes a bit more time get used to the static touch action of the EWI-USB than for the mechanical keys of the Yamaha, especially if you are a student of the clarinet or saxophone. The action of the EWI-USB is more like playing the alto recorder -there is no key movement. My experience of having played recorder, flute,saxophone and then a Yamaha WX7 (mechanical keys) before moving to the static touch action of the EWI instruments was quite positive. I adjusted fairly rapidly and found that I much preferred the responsiveness of the EWI instrument, but people's experience varies.
I can think of only one negative aspect of the EWI-USB and that is the cramped spacing of the upper and lower end of the octave controllers (4 rollers). The roller at the upper and lower end are not free to rotate and the walls of the instrument are spaced too close to the up-most and bottom-most rollers making it sometimes more difficult to play very, very high and very, very low notes. Akai really ought to have designed this part better. The much more expensive EWI-4000s has 8 rollers so you are never cramped at either end.
If you are interested in playing lots of instruments including the trumpet, trombone, tuba, french horn, flute, oboe, bassoon, saxophone, clarinet, and even violin, viola or cello without having the time, money or sufficient talent to learn all of these, then this is the way to do it. Once you learn the fingering (much like the flute, recorder or saxophone), you can play any of the instruments listed above, provided you get good samples (synthesizer samples).
Not all synthesizers have really good samples of acoustic instruments (as opposed to poor imitations of acoustic instruments sounds or merely "electronic sounds"), and not all that do, are made to work especially well with wind controllers.
After many years of searching and re-searching I can recommend the "Ketron SD2 Orchestral Wizard" as the best hardware synthesizer for really good acoustic sounds. It's also one of the least expensive.
However if you want the absolute best trumpet sound then you need to get the "samplemodeling Mr. Trumpet". It's totally incredible. Sounds just like a real trumpet with all of the complex tonal variations that change with loudness and attack and virtually all of the subtlety of the real instrument. It is the most responsive of any virtual instrument and has been especially designed to work with wind controllers. If you already play flute, oboe, saxophone, or clarinet, then you will find it quite easy to learn to play a wind controller. In fact the EWI-USB has a trumpet valve fingering mode for brass players (which I have not tested), so it's even more versatile.
The samplemodeling Saxophones (Tenor, Alto, Baritone) are also really good, although I found it took a bit more time and tweaking to get the best sounds out of these compared to the trumpet. Not only is the sound very authentic but it is very responsive.
If you would like to hear some audio samples find 2010Jazz on the kara-moon website where I've uploaded lots of songs, or for the latest samples, including French Horn, go to
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After seeing an extremely negative review on the Akai EWI USB I had to chime in. I've been composing for years with a Yamaha WX5 and have grown accustomed to scoring with wind controllers there's nothing like the performance you can get from them. After dealing with waning support on older wind controllers and specialized accessories and dead batteries all the time I finally jumped onto the Akai mainly to simplify things via USB and up to date software support. I don't regret it one bit. The keys lack action which takes a little getting used to, but this is now my go to instrument. For the price I completely recommend it for anyone with wind instrument experience looking to get a more natural sounding performance out of their digital work.And of note I primarily work in Cubase and have never had any software issues with this. It's treated as a standard USB keyboard with the wind data simply sending extra controller information.
Read Best Reviews of Akai EWI USB Wind Instrument Sythesizer Controller Here
I was apprehensive about buying a wind controller, as I've played good old fashioned woodwinds and brass all my life. However, I was shocked to find how expressive and emotive one could be using an electronic controller like this. The EWI comes with a nice library of sounds out of the box, some are better and more natural than others. My experience with the setup and software was great, it worked flawlessly on my MacBook (2.5 Intel Core 2 Duo). I installed the software and plugged in the EWI, restarted and was up and playing in minutes.The hardest aspect for me to adjust to was the octave scroller. If you go to the Akai site and look at the images, you'll see metal rollers that allow you to switch between multiple octaves. It took a few days to be able to run through material without accidentally shifting octaves, and at times was extremely frustrating. But now, it's no longer an issue.
The other issue, is that the EWI's mouthpiece has a very restrictive airflow. By allowing air to escape as I play, I was able to attain a breathing pattern that works well.
I don't want to mislead anyone, as I have not tried the other wind controllers on the market. But, given the price point, this was the right purchase for me. Do you're homework, there is a lot of great information and opinionated pieces (like this one) on the web. I really enjoy this instrument alongside all my lacquered ones and hope you have as much fun as I'm having.
Side note: When paired with 'Sample Modeling Mr.Sax or Sample Modeling Trumpet' the results are truly fantastic in my opinion.
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I couldn't be more pleased with the EWI USB!! It does exactly what it is supposed to do.I've seen some reviews that complained about the airflow through the instrument. I find it quite easy to blow. In fact, if it were not easy to blow, I wouldn't be able to play it. I have had Bell's Palsy for 14 months and it is impossible for me to develop enough pressure to play my clarinet and my saxophones. Yet I have no trouble with the EWI. Akai recommends that you let some air escape around the mouthpiece because it requires such a small amount of airflow. I didn't find that necessary at all.
One problem that a lot of people have and that I had too, is with latency, which is the delay between touching a key or sttacking a note and the sound coming out. I found that this is caused by the sound card. Akai recommends a sound card with ASIO drivers. I found on the internet a free driver called Asio4all and it solved the latency problem perfectly. It works with most sound cards. Mine is just the built in sound module in my laptop so it isn't a very good card, but with asio4all, it works fine. I plan to try getting a better sound card so see if the sound quality improves, but if it doesn't, I am very satisfied with what I am getting.
The sound banks in the Garritan Aria software are quite good. My favorites so far are the clarinet and the strings. The flutes are pretty good too. Tweaking the settings apparently helps, but I haven;t dona a lot of tweaking yet, so I may end up with more favorites.
One thing I don;t like in the Aria software is the round knobs for adjusting the various settings. They are hard to adjust. Fortunately, I found the site (not affiliated with Akai at all) and they have a free replacement "skin" to substitutes linear slides for the knobs. Mush easier! That is also where I learned about the Asio4all driver.
So, the only problems I had were easily fixed and I am now able to play again! Couldn't be happier!!
Mike
Just an update now that I have been playing my EWI for several months.... I am playing mostly clarinet in performances, but have also played oboe cues and english horn cues. I needed a quick way to switch between voices to play the cues and I found the Reaper digital mixer/ recorder/ editor. With it, I can set up multiple channels with different instruments and enable and mute them separately or in combination as well as adjust the settings such as volume. I bought an add-on touch screen for my laptop so now I can switch between different instrument voices quickly and easily... just like using a mixer board.
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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 consideration
Cons:
* 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.
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