This is a personal story, but I think it may be of interest to some, especially newer players. There are answers to the two questions above this after my life story 
Yesterday I played around with 5 different mouthpieces, using the same reed, and Vandoren (blue) 2 1/2.
First, I used the Jazzlab Silencer on each to "warm up" my embouchure. By the way, this and the Saxholder are probably the two best accessory investments I've made. I also tried to record the waveform of an A on each with a spectrum analyzer. "Tried", because I didn't take a lot of time, and I couldn't get the parameters right to show actual differences with either the Silencer or playing them on the instrument. It's very hard to play one note at the same energy on all these different mouthpieces, having to pull each off, put on the next, fix the reed and get in tune. It may not be possible, but I'll try again soon, taking more care to find settings that work. Another thing the just now occurs to me is that maybe the choice of an A isn't the best way to show differences. Maybe something like a low D key and a high C + octave would be more significant?
The important result of spending an hour changing mouthpieces and blowing through them is that I discovered I could actually play notes on all 5. Two of these were problematic before, the PPT and the Vandoren V16 were both proportionally too difficult to play in previous attempts, but now I can see with work that can be mastered. As a beginning alto player (my one year anniversary is in 6 days), I've wanted to explore the possibilities of mouthpieces and reeds, but for my actual development, I have to stick with the one that allows me the most freedom, the one that plays and sounds the best for where my skill is right now. How ironic that the very first mouthpiece I ever purchased, the Selmer Prologue happens to be that one. I bought it when I rented the Jupiter, because I didn't care for the idea of using a rental mouthpiece.
(@Ne0Wolf7 @saxyjt answers about the Syos)
You answer some questions (there's an "other" field for other genres of music):
Then, there's a web gadget to specify the two parameters and colors. These were my guesses after choosing the beginner level of saxophone prowess. They also ask what your current favorite mouthpiece is.
Brightness
The brightness of the sound is the weight between high frequencies and low frequencies. Put the slider on max if you like sounds that are clear, sharp and metallic. On the contrary, if you like very dark, soft and velvety sounds, put the slider on minimum.
Power
The power of the mouthpiece is related to the response it gives when you blow air in it. Put the slider on max if you really like free-blowing mouthpieces, without any resistance. On the contrary, if you like to feel the mouthpiece resisting when you blow, put the slider on minimum.
This takes away from my current practicing, but it also gives me a wide experience I wouldn't get otherwise, so I accept the compromise.
In other news, my brother reminded me the other day that a guy he recorded with, Peter Ponzol makes mouthpieces. Maybe if I wrote him... nah, better not.
Yesterday I played around with 5 different mouthpieces, using the same reed, and Vandoren (blue) 2 1/2.
First, I used the Jazzlab Silencer on each to "warm up" my embouchure. By the way, this and the Saxholder are probably the two best accessory investments I've made. I also tried to record the waveform of an A on each with a spectrum analyzer. "Tried", because I didn't take a lot of time, and I couldn't get the parameters right to show actual differences with either the Silencer or playing them on the instrument. It's very hard to play one note at the same energy on all these different mouthpieces, having to pull each off, put on the next, fix the reed and get in tune. It may not be possible, but I'll try again soon, taking more care to find settings that work. Another thing the just now occurs to me is that maybe the choice of an A isn't the best way to show differences. Maybe something like a low D key and a high C + octave would be more significant?
The important result of spending an hour changing mouthpieces and blowing through them is that I discovered I could actually play notes on all 5. Two of these were problematic before, the PPT and the Vandoren V16 were both proportionally too difficult to play in previous attempts, but now I can see with work that can be mastered. As a beginning alto player (my one year anniversary is in 6 days), I've wanted to explore the possibilities of mouthpieces and reeds, but for my actual development, I have to stick with the one that allows me the most freedom, the one that plays and sounds the best for where my skill is right now. How ironic that the very first mouthpiece I ever purchased, the Selmer Prologue happens to be that one. I bought it when I rented the Jupiter, because I didn't care for the idea of using a rental mouthpiece.
(@Ne0Wolf7 @saxyjt answers about the Syos)
You answer some questions (there's an "other" field for other genres of music):
Then, there's a web gadget to specify the two parameters and colors. These were my guesses after choosing the beginner level of saxophone prowess. They also ask what your current favorite mouthpiece is.
Brightness
The brightness of the sound is the weight between high frequencies and low frequencies. Put the slider on max if you like sounds that are clear, sharp and metallic. On the contrary, if you like very dark, soft and velvety sounds, put the slider on minimum.
Power
The power of the mouthpiece is related to the response it gives when you blow air in it. Put the slider on max if you really like free-blowing mouthpieces, without any resistance. On the contrary, if you like to feel the mouthpiece resisting when you blow, put the slider on minimum.
This takes away from my current practicing, but it also gives me a wide experience I wouldn't get otherwise, so I accept the compromise.
In other news, my brother reminded me the other day that a guy he recorded with, Peter Ponzol makes mouthpieces. Maybe if I wrote him... nah, better not.
