Yamaha WX5 MIDI Wind Controller 

Comments about Yamaha WX5 MIDI Wind Controller:

this product is really cool. When you first start using it it's easy to play right out of the box. As a professional musician this Midi device is fun to play live. It gives you unlimited expression of many different instruments. There are hundreds sounds with the patchman synth sounds. I'm selling just the wx5.

Comments about Yamaha WX5 MIDI Wind Controller:

Reedless mouthpiece missing. I hope you will send me the missing mouthpiece.

Comments about Yamaha WX5 MIDI Wind Controller:

I own the WX5 and the VL-70M with Patchman Turbo chip for about two months now. Once you get used to the octave keys, you start rocking. A sax player can now have other sounds to play with. Not only that, I can also transpose my sax to any key. Great product. I highly recommend this to all sax players.

Comments about Yamaha WX5 MIDI Wind Controller:

I have been playing saxophone for more than 30 years. I owned the WX11 and the WX5 and played them for years, but they have some common issues which made me switch. 1. The octave keys on the back. Each key is a button which needs to be pressed in order to play that octave. There is a default octave if none are pressed. When you are playing across octaves it is very easy to sometimes miss the next octave or press it slightly later than you need to. This causes it to jump octaves in the middle of your run. 2. Thin plastic keys. The keys are very thin and, especially the side keys, can easily get snagged on something and tear off. I was very careful with my WX11 but one time it accidentally got snagged on a cable which pulled off the g# key. 3. Contacts for keys. The way it's constructed the keys when pressed make contact with elements which trigger the appropriate note. The problem is there are a dozen of these things and I don't care how well it's tuned from the factory the response of all these contacts is not uniform. On a real sax or flute the key pressed changes the length of the tube so it doesn't really matter much if they close slightly earlier or later. These keys actually trigger midi events so even a slight delay will cause it to trigger a different note. There are other more in depth descriptions of this problem if you want to see more.In short, it's not a bad instrument, but compared to the EWI4000s it's got some design issues which make it alot more cumbersome. When I recorded midi tracks with the WX I had to remove many many false note triggerings. Recording with the 4000s I rarely get bad triggers at all. I'd recommend the 4000s over this any day.

Comments about Yamaha WX5 MIDI Wind Controller:

I have owned my Yamaha WX-5 (along with the recommended VL70-m Tone Generator) for over 5 years, & I LOVE IT. I play semi-professionally in a 5-piece band, in which I play many instruments - the flute, the accordion, the keyboard, and my "electronophone" (my band came up with this more accessible common name for the wind controller). My electronophone receives more awe-inspired comments from my audience than all my other band contributions put together!With the WX-5, you can choose from several different figuring options - I LOVE having the option of being able to choose flute-fingering. I also love how it comes standard with two different mouthpieces - the reeded mouthpiece allows me a great deal of expression, including being able to jump octaves (my chosen flute fingering eliminates octave jumps with fingering changes). The VL70-m tone generator is a perfect match for this instrument - the tone for each instrument is programmed so that human differences in your playing will be reflected by tones appropriate to the chosen instrument.This is a fantastic choice for any wind player who wants to challenge their musicianship and broaden their potential!

Comments about Yamaha WX5 MIDI Wind Controller:

This little "electric flute" or "you name it - it plays it" has been the mainstay of my performances over the past 3 years, mostly Celtic inspired music. Many of Phil Coulter's pieces use celtic instruments (pipe, whistle, flute, oboe, etc) and I don't play any of them. Well, guess what? With the WX-5, I can do this music justice. Read on!I played sax in HS and college - found this WX-5, read about it, tried one out, set the fingering to a sax - and now I play anything - trombone, tuba, celeste, harmonica, flute, bassoon, etc! It can fingered to a variety of instruments: sax, clarinet, flute.Selecting the right tone generator is important (I use Roland's XV-3080 with the several modules). It is great - every time I play, someone comes up and asks about what it is - they are amazed. I've also found it very useful when doing multi-track sessions (I don't need all those people!). You can set not only the voice but also the key, so I can also play music scored for orchestra (Eb, C, or Bb instrumentation). It has the capability of playing two notes simultaneously (like following in a 5th interval); two sounds simultaneously as a clarinet/flute; and breath/lip pressure sensitivity can be set to your preference. There are also ways to play this instrument in a wireless setting - which is REALLY cool! I love it - get extra reeds and mouthpieces when you buy one - they are hard to find. Very effective in a church setting as a solo instrument with the organ - flute this week, oboe next week, etc.A great piece of musical technology!H. Newman

Comments about Yamaha WX5 MIDI Wind Controller:

Amazing control of vibrato, etc.

Comments about Yamaha WX5 MIDI Wind Controller:

Absolutely refuses to sync with USB/MIDI controller. Worked OK, if a little spotty and slow on changes when jstick/MIDI but still no great thunder.

Comments about Yamaha WX5 MIDI Wind Controller:

This will be my 3rd midisax, not that they are so fragile but I beat the heck out of them, and I use the bag for carrying so... I just hope that someone, somewhere, keeps making these suckers, cause I love them big time!!

Comments about Yamaha WX5 MIDI Wind Controller:

First of all I don't know why every woodwind player doesn't have one of these. I love mine and so does my wife since I can practice silently.I wish Yamaha would make a slightly higher end model with heavier construction. I would also like to be able to adjust the key spring pressure and I liked the curved neck of the earlier model. Anyway I would recommended it to every woodwind player out there.