Why I prefer Sylphyo to Ewi Akai
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- In EWI Akai you have the feeling that you play always mezzo forte.
Imposible to transmit your art. Nice sound, but no pianissimo, no fortíssimo. - In EWI Akai you have to blow hard. It is tiring and dificults the expression.
- Akai EWI is quiet heavy (900 grs).
- In EWI Akai you have the feeling that you play always mezzo forte.
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I do not agree with all your arguments.
First of all, one of the most important difference between them is that sylphyo is wireless as midi controller.
Sylphyo is light weight, that's true
I play EWI 4000 and 5000, and it's first of all a need to calibrate your way of blow (strength, bite, etc). It need a bit of time but you can get something that be usefull studio and live.
What a difference that exist really between the two is fingering. Sylphyo is less of key and need really to practise a lot to integrate the fingering and octaving keys that are for me easier with my AKAI.
The way to rules the différents parameters with sylphyo is much easier, first of all because you have the screen on the back. But i think that aodyo is probably working on OS updates that may exploits in a much better way all the possibilities of their instrument. And last but not least, you can work with the EWI mouth piece. The first time i use my Sylphyo put my teeth in a dangerous way because of hurting the mouth piece. I really waiting on what their futur mouthpiece will bring to the instrument.
For me, the 2 are really different and bring the ability to make really different things, with a different price:wink: -
@zenasium Thank you very much zenasium for your ideas. I agree with you: Akai and Sylphyo are different instruments. I agree with you also with the importance of the WiFi system.
I guess each musician will prefer one or the other instrument depending on their needs and the way the feel the music.
Having both is also great.
I understand that what is important for me, perhaps it is not for others. Why the weight and the expressivity are important for me?:
Weight: I am a Physiotherapist, specialized in musician injuries. And in my long career, I have seen many many wind musician with serious injurys (tendinitis d'quervain in the thumb, for example). And I can tell you that a little difference in the weight of the instrument can take you to the injury.
Expressivity: I come from classical music. So, expressivity is very important for me. Before buying my Shylphyo a was testing the Akai. And, even after doing all the blow adjustment, I felt that I had to blow hard: much harder than in a recorder. So I found impossible to do pianissimo-piano- mezzoforte and so one. I understand this is not important for some musicians or for some kind of music. But for me, is fundamental.
Any way I think both are great instruments. -
@flautista thanks for your kind and wise comments. I also came from classical world. I'm a "classic learned" flutist. You are totally right a propos the strenght you need to blow in an EWI and most player that i know have made additionnal hole in their mouthpiece to get more comfortable with blowing in it.
What i first notice as i get my sylphyo was that amplitude of blowing you can use to modulate your playing.
Now i'm playing essentialy jazz (jazzrock, funk, soul and rock) with a Sample Modeling collection of sounds.
The good news is that now, i know a physiotherapist and that is certainly a good new.:smiley: -
@zenasium Thank you very much, Zenasium. And have a lot of fun with Sylphyo and Ewi. :thumbsup: :smile:
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as an EWI perfomer that is NOT true.. one can play ppp to FFF so easy on Akai,best to use VL70m or <sample modelling patches or Patchman EWI 4000s patches for the ana synth..100% improvement or Akai's. Also the octaves are much smoother on the EWI and larger range (7)
The Sylphyo is lighter,but not as intuitive to play (for a sax/flute player) as the EWI
EWI can also have wireless MIDI for €100 MIDI Beam & Line & G10 for wireless audio
As the Slyphyo is still a work in progress, future updates I'm sure will make it better..but would prefer the 5 octaves to be in 1 routing/groove -
Keep in mind you modified your Sylphyo significantly, Shanti, especially with your custom mouthpiece. Then you should also modify breath response setting (Range and maybe curve).
One can achieve breath technics like flutter tongue with the Sylphyo which are impossible to get with the EWI. -
Hi everybody
Flautista => where do you work as a physiotherapist for musicians please ?
Thanks for helping
Best regards
zined -
@zined Madrid
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Thank you flautista
Have a nice week
best regards
zined -
I also disagree completely. Evidently you have not adjusted the breath sensor in your Akai.
I am short of breath with Sylphyo, but not with Akai.
With some synth I have hard time to get louder sounds increasing air flow, blowing harder will not help if initial blow is not sufficiently hard. I am trying to play with controls to change it but so far with little success.
My problem with Akai (I have all 3 models, USB, 4000 and 5000) is that I have developed allergy to nickel, it is fairly common, my skin breaks when I touch it playing for a longer time.
Wireless MIDI is great and instrument is light, and these are real advantages of Sylphyo. -
@Wlodzislaw The Sylphyo was designed to allow a wide range of breathing preferences, thus it had to be "open" by default, even though some people find it "too open" for their personal taste. A simple solution is to cover part of the hole in the bell with a piece of adhesive tape, and to adjust your Breath settings (in the settings menu) afterwards.
As for the "blowing harder will not help if initial blow is not sufficiently hard" problem, disabling Dynamic velocity and setting a fixed one (127 or 100 being the first values to try) usually solves it.
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@join Many thanks, will investigate your advice.
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Works like charm! Many thanks.
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Flutter-tongue, really? I have been doing that on EWI for decades! It is so very easy. Try growling. It also works well on EWI, especially on the older analog-styled 3000m to 3030 modules.
