Hi all,
I don't really know where to post this, but I'd have to say there's a serious need for many to rehearse sax fingerings, and practice reed on a practice sax that is not loud at all!
I've heard people say you can use a recorder, but that is only true for a minority. The recorder is missing a lot of keys.
What comes closer is an EWI or electronic sax. They have more key finger combinations, and the fingerings are very similar to the sax.
Yet none of the electric saxes have anything to rehearse the reed on.
A Xyphoon is basically a recorder with a reed, which could work for reed rehearsal, but not fingering positions.
Some people prefer a soprano sax, because it has the correct fingerings, and has a reed that requires much more precise reed control.
That combined with a soft reed would give you less volume.
But a soprano sax is a full blown sax, rehearsing on it WILL wake your next door neighbors when you're going all out on it!
I just wanted to bring to people's attention that there is a great need for something accurate like a sax, but without the noise levels.
The problem is that you can't put a damper on the horn, because it'd still be loud!
Perhaps a soprano sax, paired with a trumpet damper could reduce volume to some extend. What are your opinions?
Ow, btw, I'm not so fond of the sax bag where you put the sax in and your hands...
It's just gross becomes all damp inside and stuff!
We really really need something else!
Like an electric wind instrument like the akai ewi, but with the correct sax buttons on the correct location, a reed, that goes into a damper, and a sensor that can deduce which is the right algorythm of sound to calculate from the sound of the reed.
Total cost:
Seeing that the akai EWI USB costs $300, that one could be made for a good $600!
Benefits:
- Low cost,
- Midi (?2?) controller for controlling software (preferably over a connection with higher bandwidth (at least twice the bandwidth and bit depth of a midi connection (eg: 256 volume settings instead of 128, and double the data transfer, as well as accepting new MIDI commands)
- Nearly silent for rehearsals
- Software based, so good for (amplified) Live, or studio work (noiseless)
I think there's a serious need out there for a silent sax like this!
It just needs a company who's willing to work on something like this.
The hardest part will be creating a newer (updated) standard for midi, which allows more control, and greater precision, and make it backwards compatible with standard midi.
The EWI4000s for instance has a breath control that has several thousand steps (midi only 128).
Electronic drumsets that work with piezzo pickups, use analog signals (millions of steps), convert it down to several thousands of volume steps.
Why midi still uses 128 steps goes beyond my logic; it can artificially upboosted to 256 by assigning 2 analog sensors with an intensity difference of 0.5 midi steps between eachother.
128 volume settings was ok for studio work, where audio signals are compressed and volume is always limited.
In live situations more steps are necessary to reach near to analog levels, to handle the dynamic differences between low and high volumes in live settings.
I know this is not really a forum where a lot of manufacturers or business men who will want to invest in things, are going to look; but I seriously hope to start communication already, plant the idea, that hopefully one day someone who has the resources, skills and money could make this idea a possibility.
I don't really know where to post this, but I'd have to say there's a serious need for many to rehearse sax fingerings, and practice reed on a practice sax that is not loud at all!
I've heard people say you can use a recorder, but that is only true for a minority. The recorder is missing a lot of keys.
What comes closer is an EWI or electronic sax. They have more key finger combinations, and the fingerings are very similar to the sax.
Yet none of the electric saxes have anything to rehearse the reed on.
A Xyphoon is basically a recorder with a reed, which could work for reed rehearsal, but not fingering positions.
Some people prefer a soprano sax, because it has the correct fingerings, and has a reed that requires much more precise reed control.
That combined with a soft reed would give you less volume.
But a soprano sax is a full blown sax, rehearsing on it WILL wake your next door neighbors when you're going all out on it!
I just wanted to bring to people's attention that there is a great need for something accurate like a sax, but without the noise levels.
The problem is that you can't put a damper on the horn, because it'd still be loud!
Perhaps a soprano sax, paired with a trumpet damper could reduce volume to some extend. What are your opinions?
Ow, btw, I'm not so fond of the sax bag where you put the sax in and your hands...
It's just gross becomes all damp inside and stuff!
We really really need something else!
Like an electric wind instrument like the akai ewi, but with the correct sax buttons on the correct location, a reed, that goes into a damper, and a sensor that can deduce which is the right algorythm of sound to calculate from the sound of the reed.
Total cost:
Seeing that the akai EWI USB costs $300, that one could be made for a good $600!
Benefits:
- Low cost,
- Midi (?2?) controller for controlling software (preferably over a connection with higher bandwidth (at least twice the bandwidth and bit depth of a midi connection (eg: 256 volume settings instead of 128, and double the data transfer, as well as accepting new MIDI commands)
- Nearly silent for rehearsals
- Software based, so good for (amplified) Live, or studio work (noiseless)
I think there's a serious need out there for a silent sax like this!
It just needs a company who's willing to work on something like this.
The hardest part will be creating a newer (updated) standard for midi, which allows more control, and greater precision, and make it backwards compatible with standard midi.
The EWI4000s for instance has a breath control that has several thousand steps (midi only 128).
Electronic drumsets that work with piezzo pickups, use analog signals (millions of steps), convert it down to several thousands of volume steps.
Why midi still uses 128 steps goes beyond my logic; it can artificially upboosted to 256 by assigning 2 analog sensors with an intensity difference of 0.5 midi steps between eachother.
128 volume settings was ok for studio work, where audio signals are compressed and volume is always limited.
In live situations more steps are necessary to reach near to analog levels, to handle the dynamic differences between low and high volumes in live settings.
I know this is not really a forum where a lot of manufacturers or business men who will want to invest in things, are going to look; but I seriously hope to start communication already, plant the idea, that hopefully one day someone who has the resources, skills and money could make this idea a possibility.
))
