AKAI Professional EWI Solo - Electronic Wind Instrument With Built-in Speaker, Rechargeable Battery, 200 Sounds and USB MIDI Connectivity,Black

I got this as a returned item so the price was considerably less. I love the improvements from the previous EWI's. I've owned two previous models. Best EWI yet, the onboard sounds are pretty good, and the speaker is louder than I thought it would be. I use an external module for my main sounds though.

I use to play the tenor sax and decided to go back to it after many years, and I'm on the senior side of life. I bought a new Jean Paul Tenor. Then I saw the Yamaha 120 EWI and bought it to practice with. Not a good idea. It simply didn't work for me. Then I came across the Akai EWI PRO Solo a month later and thought this might be something to try, per the reviews. It is much easier to play than the Yamaha. it's not a real sax, but it's lightweight, and the fingering is similar. The best part is I can put on earphones and practice without anyone yelling at me or disturbing the neighborhood. I've only had it for a few days, and the programming is not easy to learn, but it works, and I can, with a little effort play a tune. It is an instrument one has to learn how to play, don't expect it to be like a standard instrument, which in my case is a Tenor Sax. Oh yeah, it has like 200 different instruments one can play on it. So, I shouldn't get bored. I'm going to keep it, For the money it seems like a good investment.

When I say this is a joke, I mean it literally. To charge the battery, the battery must be charged. That's the kind of thing an electrical engineer would design as a joke, and it is pretty funny."No problem!" one might say - "just don't let the battery drain too far, and you can keep it running smoothly!"I left it plugged in to charge. The charger charged up the battery, and then stopped charging it (That's good. We don't want explosions). After it charged, the unit remained active and drained the battery, but the charging circuit stopped feeding it power (it was, after all, charged).A reasonable person would get a replacement battery from AKAI. A reasonable person would then be told AKAI does not have any batteries in stock, and they don't know when more batteries will be in stock.A reasonable person might try to use it as a wired MIDI controller while waiting for the battery. The battery is required to run the EWI5000. Even if you have it plugged into USB to use the MIDI directly, it will not power on... because it doesn't have a battery. Is this joke funny yet?It is not a standard battery.You can't take it out and put it on a charger.You can't order a new battery from anyone.Once it is drained... you're done.Some other amusing things about the EWI5000:- The onboard sounds are hilariously bad - unless you're going for that 1990's sound.- It doesn't transmit MIDI wirelessly. You need to buy a third party MIDI transmitter to get MIDI data to your computer.- The "wireless" part of the controller refers to the audio signal. You know... that 90's synth sound? You can get THAT wirelessly. Joy.Post Script: I knew the onboard sounds would be terrible. They are terrible in EVERY hardware instrument. I was trying to use this as a wireless MIDI controller, so I can hook it up to whatever sounds I want.Why is AKAI building hardware with built-in sounds?? Just put in some Bluetooth MIDI, and put the sounds on a phone or computer.Man, that is such a good idea! You could use whatever sounds you want!You wouldn't have to include an audio receiver in the box to be wireless.You wouldn't have to power a separate audio transmitting circuit.You wouldn't have to include an old-style 5-pin midi jack.You wouldn't have to have a display to change configurations.Look at the Jamstik or Malletstation to see how it can be done well.Or buy the Roland wind controller. The Roland controller is more of a toy than a MIDI controller, but it isn't a joke.

Excellent item!!!!

Bought this as a Christmas present for my son who is a music teacher. He played it all Christmas.

09.21.22—After 2 years, this EWI SOLO failed erratically.The SOLO might play for hours or it might fail immediately. Generally: The failure occurs after a few minutes of playing—there’s a pop followed by a sustained tone which cannot be stopped except by turning the SOLO off. Most often the power switch does not work, and the battery has to be removed.I Notified Akai technical support on 08.22. I sent them videos, with audio, showing the failure described above, with close ups of the power switch, fingering and blowing into the SOLO, removing and replacing the battery, etc. Akai got back to me on 11.02: "Thank you for your email and please accept our sincerest apologies for the delay in correspondence. We are currently experiencing a delay with turnaround times due to an increase in support traffic."Despite this problem, here is my original, positive, review:NOTE: The EWI SOLO was introduced August 25, 2020. Most of the reviews here, as of when I posted this note, are for instruments sold well before that date, and are not EWI SOLOs.There is a difference between early impressions and observations made after much time. However, in the month I have had the EWI SOLO, I’ve practiced over 100+ hours, had four rehearsals and played one gig, and so far I am impressed. If I could apportion stars: 4 for it as a controller (given my style of playing, the mouthpiece is not as responsive as others); 3+ for onboard programs/tones/patches (some are good some are bad; but learning to play some patches takes time, easily more than a month); and 5 for the ability to edit the programs (not as in depth as the VL70-m, better than Roland’s Aerophone Editor).With regard to the EWI SOLO, my early impressions require some context.I have been playing Yamaha’s WX5 and WX11 (wind controllers) since they were introduced in the 1990s. Unfortunately due to age, wear and tear, they are dying, and Yamaha stopped making them some years ago. As a backup, I tried Akai’s EWI 5000 in late 2014. It failed within hours: detuning, distorted notes, random programs changing by themselves, notes sustaining when not being played, etc. I had purchased it from Patchman, who had set it up. I assumed it was set up correctly, so, because it uses capacitance switching, I thought it was either me (dry or wet hands, body capacitance, etc.), something environmental (grounding—flooring: concrete, natural/synthetic carpeting, wood, etc.—humidity, temperature, etc.), what I was playing (disjunct vs. conjunct motion, fast vs slow, etc.), or the specific patch. I assumed there was something I could do that would fix the problems. But nothing recommended by Akai or suggestions on forums—Patchman had no suggestions-- i.e. nothing I did, fixed it.Patchman simply referred me to Akai. Akai replaced it, and the replacement failed in the same way. This time, I had to set it up, so that introduced a new variable. I tried everything I could think of and everything Akai suggested. I kept a journal of what I did, and what might effect things. I tried to work with Akai technical support. In the end, half a year later, Akai had sent me 5 replacement units, and all failed. They said the returned EWIs were fine. Examples of the problems were witnessed, recorded, and in several cases, videod. Despite documented problems both Akai and Patchman maintained the problem was me, “he doesn’t know what he was doing.” Akai claimed the EWI 5000s played perfectly.In 2019, after quite a few firmware updates and a Bernie Kenerson video which talked about a setting that eliminated random program changes, I bought a new EWI 5000. This was number 7. It failed within hours. Akai was no help. Bernie Kenerson and Ingo Scherzinger of Dynasample.com, tried to help, but nothing eliminated the problems—although, I must commend them for their time, assistance, and expertise.Three Roland Aerophone AE-10s all failed (detuning, dropped notes, etc.—also recorded). So that’s 10 failures out of 10 instruments. Whereas, I have had 2 WX5s and 4 WX11s, and all have worked for years! (3 died of old age, and 3 I bought used, and they are what I have been performing on for the last few years).What did these 10 malfunctioning electronic wind instruments have in common? Me and where I live. I do not believe 10 instruments bought over a span of 5 years were coincidentally defective in their manufacture. I do not believe it was me—e.g. I forgot to hit button A or turn off B. If it were something I was doing or not doing, someone should have said what: no one did.My theory is that altitude (I’m at 5200+ feet) causes or exacerbates design or manufacturing flaws in the EWI 5000 and AE10. The transducer (the device that converts air pressure changes from the mouthpiece to electrical signals) is probably vented (although, I don’t know because I have not seen it, in either instrument, nor has anyone commented about this). The nuances that it responds to (pressure, air speed, embouchure, throat and tongue positions) are remarkable and subtle. I hypothesize that there is a difference between venting at sea level (101kPa) and venting at a mile in altitude (83 kPa), which causes problems with the output signal—perhaps this could be called aliasing.I still need a either a new backup, or a new instrument to perform with. The EWI SOLO is a redesigned and retooled instrument, which also has new firmware. And that is why I purchased it.KEYWORK: The key sensitivity is somewhat erratic compared to the EWI 5000. This may be a setting issue (key delay and sensitivity), this particular instrument, or it may be me—120 hours is not much time to develop muscle memory.The capacitance switching keys and the octave rollers will take time to adjust to. There are key settings that help. Note: Key Delay helps clean up unwanted notes (sloppy fingering) but it can also work against even moderately fast tonguing. The rollers take some practice. I, for one, cannot play accurately without first applying hand cream. Goldbond works well for me; whereas Eucerin, for example, stays slippery too long (it's okay if I put it on an hour before I need to play).It is fast and easy to be sloppy. You have to be attentive to not accidentally touch keys (mostly the accidental keys--a fitting name!), which will raise or lower the pitch.MOUTHPIECE: Like all Akai EWIs, the mouthpiece is not as responsive as the WX5 or WX11 (the Roland Aerophone mouthpiece is poorly designed, it pinches the lips, and is not as responsive as the Yamahas—nor does it have pitch up). You can’t lip up/bend a note (some people can use the pitchbend plate effectively this way), but you can give the beginning pitch a little (momentary and small) bend. Keeping the mouthpiece secure between your teeth stabilizes the instrument, assisting in more accurate fingering.PITCHBEND PLATE: It does not have a pitchbend up plate, as the EWI 5000 does.PATCHES/SOUNDS: The onboard acoustic instrument patches are, to my ear, not as good as the comparable patches on the Yamaha VL70-m and the DynaSample Xpresso, and are the same as the EWI 5000, but with 100 more synth sounds. However, the other members of one group I play with thought the sounds are “richer.” Bernie Kenerson’s adjustments (for the EWI 5000), available through his website, in conjunction with the EWI SOLO editor are good tweaks, and may be better once/if he has revised them for the EWI SOLO. I’ve been using it both as a controller with both the VL70m and the Xpresso, and as a stand-alone system.CONTROLS: As for the onboard controls: The various buttons (FX, Global, Programs, etc.) are directly accessible without removing a cover; and the display window with the “encoder” (a dial that also pushes in to confirm settings) is great and, it uses whole words not abbreviations! Breaking the saved programs into 4 banks of 25 makes accessing them much easier.MIDI CONTROLLER: The EWI SOLO is set up for a USB MIDI connection. It functions well with MIDI 5-pin DIN using a USB MIDI Host (not to be confused with an inexpensive USB MIDI to 5-pin DIN adapter).DEFAULT: You can reset either the entire instrument to the factory defaults or everything but the favorite banks! This can be done on the instrument or inside the EWI SOLO Editor.SPEAKER: The speaker is not good; but for some practicing or rehearsals where you can’t be loud, it’s great feature.CASE: The EWI SOLO will not fit a soprano (or similar) case. An expandable document/drafting/drawing tube, approx. 4 1/4 " X 30-45 (this is the general size listed), makes a good case. Cut up an old yoga mat to line the tube for extra protection. If there is a strap, move the upper connection to the body of the tube, not the lid—if the lid is not secure, it won’t inadvertently come off, flipping the EWI to the ground.Update: 02.04.21, the instrument is playing as well as it did the first day I got it, no problems.