Roland AE-30PRO (Aerophone)

Here is my journey with this new instrument

A wind controller, sometimes referred to as a wind synthesizer, is an electronic wind instrument. It is usually a MIDI controller associated with one or more music synthesizers. Wind controllers are most commonly played and fingered like a woodwind instrument, usually the saxophone, with the next most common being brass fingering, particularly the trumpet. Models have been produced that play and finger like other acoustic instruments such as the recorder or the tin whistle. The most common form of wind controller uses electronic sensors to convert fingering, breath pressure, bite pressure, finger pressure, and other gesture or action information into control signals that affect musical sounds. The control signals or MIDI messages generated by the wind controller are used to control internal or external devices such as analog synthesizers or MIDI-compatible synthesizers, synth modules, soft-synths, sequencers, or even non-instruments such as lighting systems.

The first widely played wind controller was the Lyricon from Computone which came about in the 1970s era of analog synthesizers. The Lyricon was based on the fingerings of the saxophone and used a similar mouthpiece. It set the standard for hardware-based wind controllers with a number of features that have been preserved in today's MIDI wind controllers, including the ability to correctly interpret the expressive use of reed articulation, breath-controlled dynamics, and embouchure-controlled pitch variation. The Lyricon also expanded the playing range several octaves beyond the accustomed range for woodwind players. Tone generation on the Lyricon was limited to a dedicated analog synthesizer designed specifically to interpret various wired analog outputs from the instrument. Notable early recording artists on the Lyricon include Roland Kirk and Tom Scott. Third-party adaptations would later bring the Lyricon into the MIDI era.

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I know There are so many unboxing videos so here is mine. No fluff.

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Order Number ZZ7266178 placed on 12-16-2020 at 1:07pm

I purchased from Zzounds.com because I like the No Credit Payment options. I recommend them for musicians who are credit challenged.

February 1, 2021

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Why Consider the Roland AE-30?!!!

I have seen many posts online and You Tube with people performing on these smaller Roland and other wind synth devices and none really caught my attention. I have been looking for some better sounds with my EWi5000 but, I don't want to carry all of these other peripheral's. I want it all in the device!

I was on Facebook and watched a video with Alistair Parnell showing a demo of this new AE-30 Aerophone PRO and it caught my attention. The other aerophones looked like toys to me so they didn't catch my eye. I started to look up other videos and came across Keith Mitchell McKelley and his song "Future" and oh my, I was hooked. This would be my replacement for the Akai EWi5000! It had amazing sounds from his video and it seemed easy to play (thanks Keith, you sound amazing). Enjoy his video.....

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I bought the Akai Ewi5000

The main reason was the conversion from Analog to Digital Sampling and the built in Wireless.

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I bought the Akai Ewi4000s

This instrument took alot of getting used to and tweaking before I could perform in public.

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To start the trip down the Rabbit Hole of Wind Synths

Although I am new to the aerophone, I am not new to wind synths. I purchased an Akai EWi4000s after watching a youtube clip of Jeff Kashiwa in 2006 demonstrating what all it can do. I was hooked! I later purchase an Ewi5000 and gave up the 400s which I wish I hadn't after a month of learning the new 5000. This is a documentation of my transition to the Roland AE-50 and to document the differences and share my learning process for others that are interested in these devices. I do not claim to be more than a musical enthusiast even though I do perform publicly often.

Here is the video of Jeff Kashiwa demonstrating the EWi4000s