This is a new vibratosax thread for discussion of the actual saxes now that people have started receiving them.
Vibratosax user experiences
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edwin
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baritone and alto is also possible
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:sign5::male::female::love34:
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Still no tenor?
I'm not sure if this has been linked to already (I wouldn't be surprised), but I just read Stephen Howard's (Mr Haynes Saxophone Manual) review of the Vibratosax. It's definitely worth a read, and I have to say, it matches my opinion of it. As a technician, he goes into a lot more depth than I could:
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk/Reviews/Saxes/Alto/vibratosax.htm
I can think of another advantage he hasn't covered - the plastic construction makes it ideal for drilling holes in to fit micro switches. Since I never play it. I'll probably do that eventually, and fit the innards of a Casio DH-100, or similar, to make a half decent MIDI sax. At least I'll get some benefit from it, that way.
http://www.shwoodwind.co.uk/Reviews/Saxes/Alto/vibratosax.htm
I can think of another advantage he hasn't covered - the plastic construction makes it ideal for drilling holes in to fit micro switches. Since I never play it. I'll probably do that eventually, and fit the innards of a Casio DH-100, or similar, to make a half decent MIDI sax. At least I'll get some benefit from it, that way.
Grafton + TH & C alto || Naked Lady 10M || TT soprano || Martin Comm III
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How would that be any different to a DH-100? Apart from the fact that it would be a very complicated adaptation.
Plus, a DH-100 is quite an iconic design, whey ruin it?
That's a coincidence. I've just been looking at your website, Pete. I checked my email to get the link for your free download pack (sounds interesting), and saw you'd replied to this.
Since you ask (I'm hoping you won't be sorry you did
), I've had a bit of an on-going project for some time with the Casio DH-100s. I now own three, only one of which was bought working (except for a broken portamento key). Only one of them can have the simple vibrato mod done to it - i.e. it has the original main board, not the later one, that's based on the newer chip - not an improvement, just a way of reducing costs, I think, by basing all the later ones partly on the same hardware design - same chip as the DH-500, I think, but with different software, and it doesn't scan a key matrix (as on the DH-500), it still responds to each key as a simple switch, like the original DH-100.
The thing that bothers me most about them is the simplified keywork. It makes perfect sense for an electronic sax to have less keys, but what I really want is full sax keywork, so I can get more practice time - i.e. when the neighbours are in, especially the one who lives directly above my flat, separated by a very thin ceiling (it's a converted house, not purpose built as flats).
I did one fairly simple mod to one of them where I stuck on some extra switches and wired them up to the general sharp key. Provided you just use them in the normal way, that works fine for the Bb and C side keys, the F# key, the D palm key and the low D# key - I did the mod to add the low D#, and move the C down first, just based on what other people have done. I plan to take it further by putting in a small microcontroller board between the switches and the inputs to the DH-100s main board, which will let me add the bis key, the other palm keys and side E key (by slaving the switch inputs to finger those notes), and eventually make for a bit more realism in the fingerings, - allowing more alternative fingerings, and possibly even deliberately misbehaving if I use fingerings that wouldn't work, though that would be harder to do.
You may have reached the "sorry I asked" stage by now
The other bit that bothers me is the (bloody) vibrato effect - and I only have one board where that's fixable, i.e. can be turned off permanently, or have a switch fitted to turn it on when/if it was actually wanted. I got that one working with the usual capacitor replacement, but it stopped working again with a new fault - it now doesn't respond to blowing into it. I can probably fix that when I get around to it though.
So, I have three nearly complete DH-100s, but only really parts to make two complete ones. One of them is part of the way to being converted to a rough simulation of a soprano, with most of the standard keys except for the table keys (there never was a low B or Bb on the DH-100, so that would take more extreme measures), and I may not bother adding another key for low C#). I'd happily sacrifice one of them to make an alto sized one, though that's some way off. I need to at least get on with sorting out the first one a bit more before I get that ambitious.
In theory, I could make the whole innards from scratch, using an Arduino or two (microcontroller board - various different types available). In reality, I probably don't have the energy and motivation for a project that big, so I'd be better off breaking one of the DH-100s for parts.
I realise all you can really practise on something like that is fingering, and reading music while playing, but those are still things I need to work on more. The Vibratosax keywork is pretty horrible, in my opinion, but that's not a major issue for working switches on an electronic sax. Mostly, the problem is the coil springs - the further down you press them, the harder they fight back, and as Stephen Howard pointed out, they get kind of twisted over, as you push the key all the way down. That's much more of a problem for playing an actual woodwind instrument than an electronic one with just switches though. Plus, I could conceivably replace the lot with much softer ones.
I like the fact that you see it as a potential waste of a perfectly good Casio DH-100, not a waste of a Vibratosax I can definitely see that point of view, but not the other way around. I don't want to be too harsh about the Vibratosax, but I see it as the Sinclair C5 of the woodwind instrument family. Both my Venus curved soprano, and my second hand Trevor James alto, have been much better purchases for me. The Vibratosax wasn't cheap,and I gave up playing it quite a while ago. I could try to sell it, but I'd take a big loss, and I really don't want the hassle. At the moment, it's just taking up space, and I'm very short on space.
Incidentally, having "A1S" as part of my user name was very short sighted of me. At the time, I thought I'd probably just have that one sax, and be quite happy with it.
Since you ask (I'm hoping you won't be sorry you did
), I've had a bit of an on-going project for some time with the Casio DH-100s. I now own three, only one of which was bought working (except for a broken portamento key). Only one of them can have the simple vibrato mod done to it - i.e. it has the original main board, not the later one, that's based on the newer chip - not an improvement, just a way of reducing costs, I think, by basing all the later ones partly on the same hardware design - same chip as the DH-500, I think, but with different software, and it doesn't scan a key matrix (as on the DH-500), it still responds to each key as a simple switch, like the original DH-100.The thing that bothers me most about them is the simplified keywork. It makes perfect sense for an electronic sax to have less keys, but what I really want is full sax keywork, so I can get more practice time - i.e. when the neighbours are in, especially the one who lives directly above my flat, separated by a very thin ceiling (it's a converted house, not purpose built as flats).
I did one fairly simple mod to one of them where I stuck on some extra switches and wired them up to the general sharp key. Provided you just use them in the normal way, that works fine for the Bb and C side keys, the F# key, the D palm key and the low D# key - I did the mod to add the low D#, and move the C down first, just based on what other people have done. I plan to take it further by putting in a small microcontroller board between the switches and the inputs to the DH-100s main board, which will let me add the bis key, the other palm keys and side E key (by slaving the switch inputs to finger those notes), and eventually make for a bit more realism in the fingerings, - allowing more alternative fingerings, and possibly even deliberately misbehaving if I use fingerings that wouldn't work, though that would be harder to do.
You may have reached the "sorry I asked" stage by now
The other bit that bothers me is the (bloody) vibrato effect - and I only have one board where that's fixable, i.e. can be turned off permanently, or have a switch fitted to turn it on when/if it was actually wanted. I got that one working with the usual capacitor replacement, but it stopped working again with a new fault - it now doesn't respond to blowing into it. I can probably fix that when I get around to it though.
So, I have three nearly complete DH-100s, but only really parts to make two complete ones. One of them is part of the way to being converted to a rough simulation of a soprano, with most of the standard keys except for the table keys (there never was a low B or Bb on the DH-100, so that would take more extreme measures), and I may not bother adding another key for low C#). I'd happily sacrifice one of them to make an alto sized one, though that's some way off. I need to at least get on with sorting out the first one a bit more before I get that ambitious.
In theory, I could make the whole innards from scratch, using an Arduino or two (microcontroller board - various different types available). In reality, I probably don't have the energy and motivation for a project that big, so I'd be better off breaking one of the DH-100s for parts.
I realise all you can really practise on something like that is fingering, and reading music while playing, but those are still things I need to work on more. The Vibratosax keywork is pretty horrible, in my opinion, but that's not a major issue for working switches on an electronic sax. Mostly, the problem is the coil springs - the further down you press them, the harder they fight back, and as Stephen Howard pointed out, they get kind of twisted over, as you push the key all the way down. That's much more of a problem for playing an actual woodwind instrument than an electronic one with just switches though. Plus, I could conceivably replace the lot with much softer ones.
I like the fact that you see it as a potential waste of a perfectly good Casio DH-100, not a waste of a Vibratosax
I can definitely see that point of view, but not the other way around. I don't want to be too harsh about the Vibratosax, but I see it as the Sinclair C5 of the woodwind instrument family. Both my Venus curved soprano, and my second hand Trevor James alto, have been much better purchases for me. The Vibratosax wasn't cheap,and I gave up playing it quite a while ago. I could try to sell it, but I'd take a big loss, and I really don't want the hassle. At the moment, it's just taking up space, and I'm very short on space.Incidentally, having "A1S" as part of my user name was very short sighted of me. At the time, I thought I'd probably just have that one sax, and be quite happy with it.
Grafton + TH & C alto || Naked Lady 10M || TT soprano || Martin Comm III
Joined
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30,083 Posts
OK, I take it back.That's a coincidence. I've just been looking at your website, Pete. I checked my email to get the link for your free download pack (sounds interesting), and saw you'd replied to this.
Since you ask (I'm hoping you won't be sorry you did
The thing that bothers me most about them is the simplified keywork. It makes perfect sense for an electronic sax to have less keys, but what I really want is full sax keywork, so I can get more practice time - i.e. when the neighbours are in, especially the one who lives directly above my flat, separated by a very thin ceiling (it's a converted house, not purpose built as flats).
It actually makes sense if you give the DH-100 saxophone fingering. What puts me off the DH-100 is the sort of recorder fingering and I must take my hat off to you if you can reconstruct it with actual saxophone fingering.
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