wsuffa said:
Hey, Ben,
We went to Directions in Music last night. Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker, Roy Hargrove. Brecker played an instrument called an EWI (eewee) for part of the performance.
I was fascinated by this thing. What can you tell me about it?
Next to nothing. All I know is that it is a synthesized wind instrument often used in jazz and electronic music concerts.
The following is from an article about Akai's EWI, written by Scott Wilkinson for
eMusician, 1 May 2001:
Akai has also been in the MWC business for many years, and its EWI electronic woodwind instrument has been through several generations. Like its predecessors, the current EWI3020 model (see Fig. 12) is based on a design by controller developer Nyle Steiner.
Instead of moving keys that simulate the feel of a saxophone or clarinet, the EWI's keys are capacitive touch-sensitive metal buttons that don't move (although an optional Finger Rest kit is available to add moving keys). The touch sensitivity is adjustable, and you can specify a delay between fingering a note and sending Note On. Both of those controls can help reduce glitching.
In another departure from tradition, the mouthpiece does not resemble a sax or any other acoustic instrument. It's a flattened plastic tube with an internal sensor to detect the player's bite pressure. The EWI3020 also has an airway that lets the player's breath pass through the instrument, although previous generations of the EWI did not have an airway.
As usual, the left thumb operates the octave keys, which are rollers on the EWI. Those rollers give the instrument a normal playing range of eight octaves, which can be further shifted down a minor sixth or up a minor third in half-step increments using the transposition function. A metal strip runs alongside the rollers and is used to send Portamento On/Off and Rate. The right thumb rests on a grounding plate, which is flanked by separate Pitch Bend Up and Down plates.
The EWI3020 is the only available MWC that must be used with a particular sound module (see Fig. 13); you can purchase the controller with the EWI3020m analog module ($1,399) or the EWI3030m sample-based module ($1,785). You can also buy those modules separately, and you can control several modules with one EWI. Both modules are basically monophonic, although the two oscillators can be tuned to different pitches. More importantly, they are designed specifically for the EWI. For example, breath pressure and Pitch Bend can be used as modulation sources for as many as ten sound parameters.
The controller connects to either module with a multipin cable, which conveys the player's breath pressure, fingering, mouthpiece pressure, and other performance gestures to the module. In addition, both modules include a MIDI Out port, which lets the instrument control other MIDI synths, and a MIDI In port, which means you can sequence parts for them.
The mouthpiece is sensitive to changes in biting pressure rather than the absolute amount of pressure; changing pressure bends the pitch in the Akai modules and sends Pitch Bend messages from the MIDI Out. If you bite harder, the pitch goes up; if you reduce bite pressure, the pitch goes down. Once the bite pressure stops changing, the pitch returns to its nominal value. This lets you bend up and down from the mouthpiece without having to maintain a specific nominal pressure, but the pitch does not stay bent for long. Breath pressure can be set to send Aftertouch, Modulation, Breath Controller, or Volume but not multiple streams.
Velocity can be determined by initial breath pressure or fixed at any value from 1 to 127. However, there is a slight bug in the EWI3020m: if Velocity is set to vary depending on breath pressure, it is not updated for any slurred notes, even if you play them with more or less pressure. This bug has been fixed in version 1.02 of the software, but the new software is not shipped with the unit because it hasn't been bug tested; you must request the updated chip from Akai and use it at your own risk.
The EWI3020m module can send Program Changes 1 to 100; the EWI3030m can send 1 to 128. Bank Select is not supported. The bend plates and mouthpiece pressure send only Pitch Bend messages; they cannot be programmed to send other messages.
Although the Akai modules are basically monophonic, they can transmit four simultaneous Note Ons in chords. This function is quite flexible; you program as many as 16 different chords based on interval relationships with the note you play on the controller, and then you assign one of these chords to each note in the chromatic scale.
One of the EWI's coolest features is the ability to process an external sound source through the module's signal path. This lets you send the external sound through the filter and amplifier while controlling them with the EWI, providing analog changes in timbre and volume with no MIDI stair-stepping effect. You can also combine the external sound with one of the internal oscillators. To use this feature, you connect the MIDI Out from the EWI to an external synth's MIDI In and the audio output from the synth to the audio input on the Akai module.
