Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I just received my EWI4000S and already love it. First, some quick background.
I am a software engineer by trade and a hobbyist musician. I minored in music focusing on Jazz. I play clarinet, alto sax and flute.
After reading numerous reviews and having tried various wind synths starting back around 1988, I finally decided the 4000s was the instrument to go with. I never like the other instruments requiring a separate sound module and found the built in synth on the 4000s just what I was looking for. I was concerned about reviews indicating the built in sounds were a bit thin, so I decided to buy from patchman music and add their sound library to the package. It was only another $50 so for $750, you get a great instrument, with nice sounds ready to go. As a bonus, they update the OS in the instrument and calibrate for you at no charge.
I set up the instrument with sax fingerings and found it fairly easy to adjust to the touch sensitive keys. The one area that I see needing a lot of work on my part is moving through the octaves. With rollers instead of a single octave key, this looks like the biggest hurdle. Even so, I was able to pull out a Charlie Parker solo book, and play much of the content albeit at a bit of a slower pace than the Bird. It was still encouraging enough to let me know that with some work, I should be able to sound pretty decent.
It's also a blast to be able to plug in headphones and play at all hours of the night without disturbing the family or neighbors. I have noticed a tiny bit of hiss on the headphones, but have not determined yet if it is a headphone issue or the instrument. I suspect there will be a tiny amount of noise since the internal synth is analog.
I have yet to work with the MIDI so I cannot comment on how well it works in that regard. There is also software that lets you modify or create new sound and download, however, this also requires a MIDI connection so I have yet to try this.
As another reviewer pointed out, there is no case available for this. Akai, are you listening? I have found most other EWI players suggesting a soprano sax case and if necessary, replacing the bottom with foam cut out for the EWI. I would prefer a custom case from Akai, but they have never had a case for any of their EWI's as I recall so I won't hold my breath.
Overall, an excellent and very expressive instrument, especially if you get the updates from Patchman.
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