[jasongoblue]

I'm considering the purchase of a used WX7 or Akai4000 to cover some brass and synth parts etc. for a band. I own a Roland keyboard with sufficient sound banks, but I'm a hack on keyboard. Can I use the keyboard sound banks with the wind controller?

JW

 

[Nefertiti]

I'm pretty sure you can. I use a Wx-5 with a Roland XV-5080 sound module. Contact Matt at patchman music and get the patches for your keyboard if he has them. It will save you a lot of time and frustration.

 

[jasongoblue]

Just to be clear, I actually want to plug the wind controller into the keyboard and eliminate the need to purchase another sound module for the WX7.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Morry]

The short answer is yes. The WX will send midi control info to the keyboard. The individual patches may handle that info in varying ways, though. The sound modules like the vL70-m are specifically designed to use the breath info, and will give you the most realistic sounding horn parts.

 

[Spooner]

I think that the WX-7 (if it's the same as the WX-11 like I have) has it's own type of cord (I think it's called a WX cable) that will plug directly into:

-the sound module that came with it originally
-WT-11 (the controller for the WX-11)
-BT-7 (which is a battery powered adapter that has a standard MIDI out)
-VL70m which has a direct input for the special cable.

There's an auction on Ebay right now for a full WX-7 set up.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=300148115007&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=020

I don't know much about the Akai EWI.

 

[Nefertiti]

The cord isn't just a standard midi cable? that's what I have with my WX-5. the Roland patches aren't programmed for a breath controller. That's why I say get the patchman tweaks. He takes sounds already in the Roland and makes them suitable for a breath controller.

 

[Spooner]

I really must admit that I'm not well versed in the world of MIDI stuff in general, but the WX cable that I have for my WX11 is quite a bit smaller than a standard MIDI connection, and I have to use the BT7 adapter to provide phantom power and convert it to a standard MIDI cable.

Here's an alternative to the BT7 made by WindWorks Design

http://frontiernet.net/~whitfield/wwd_web/wwbat.htm

 

[tjontheroad]

The WX series has both the WX cable and midi outputs. The WX cable also provides power the controller along with midi. Without it, you need to run batteries in the unit. That adds some weight to it making it harder to hold/play, but it will lighten your wallet The BT-7 moves the battery pack to your belt or wherever you clip it to. The best setup is directly into the VL70m or the MFC10 foot controller.