[ConnorTsax]

Hello all!

I recently ordered an EWI USB as a combination birthday and graduation gift to myself (these last couple months have been rough so I thought I'd treat myself), and I had a question regarding the software options for this instrument. Everything that I have read or watched has told me that the included Aria software is hot garbage and that I should leave it alone, so I'm wondering what kind of software I should download?

I've seen many options thrown around like Garageband or Kontakt, but I don't know if it's possible to configure breath control on these programs. Is there a program out there that offers a decent library of sounds and also allows for breath control configuration?

Sorry if these are old and tired questions, I did some digging in past threads and on the wider internet, but I still remain a tad confused.

As always, thank you all so much!

 

[milachica]

I don't own an EWI, but my brother does. As far as I know, Kontakt is often used. For instance with the 'Sax Brothers' from Sample Modeling (my info may be old though :bluewink: ).

 

[minous]

Hi ConnorTsax,

Welcome to the world of wind controllers! You’re right, it can be confusing and a bit frustrating to find sound sources that work well with breath control.

By now you’ve probably found Patchmanmusic.com. There’s a LOT of info there, albeit a bit biased towards their own sound modules. A Yamaha VL-70M (no longer being produced BTW) is oft referenced as the wind controller standard for hardware based sound modules. I don’t own one, but would like to. Software solutions I’ve found are mostly synths that you can configure to respond well (Omnisphere comes to mind) or physically modeled sounds leveraging the SWAM engine.

There are other resources out there on YouTube, namely a guy named Tony Ostinato (sp?). He describes his live rig in a video that is a good watch. It’ll make your head spin as to how much time he’s invested! I’d love to hear how you are getting on with your EWI. Any tips that you can share now that you’re a few months in?

Best...

 

[BBMozee]

I’ve used the Thor app on the iPad with the “Instant EWI” patches from berniekenerson.com. They sound great with my EWI5000 and work with the Yamaha WX5 as well.