Instrument Sounds In The Band

Wow, this works really well. I bought it for the band at our church. Makes it very easy for someone who plays an instrument and sings to have a decent in-ear monitor without spending a fortune. Very solid all-metal construction. Setup and use are very simple; the diagrams & labels silk-screened onto the top make it easy to see what should plug in where. As a nice additional touch, it doubles as a direct box for the instrument input. I highly recommend the optional MSC106 mic stand adapter if you're using this on stage. Only drawback is that you need a long cable or an extension for your ear monitor / headphones. If you mount this on a mic or music stand, you don't have a lot of room to move. We'll be buying a mix of these and the 1-channel PM50s to move our whole band to in-ear monitors.

We use a snake combining vocal mic, instrument mics, D.I.s, and monitor cables for each band member, running to their area of the stage from the stage digital mixer, and this product makes it easy to customize those changes and change out cables when necessary.

If anyone in your band wants more me control of their in-ear foldback for both their vocals and an instrument (or two instruments), then this is THE box for them! Ok so it costs more than the 2 channel competition, but this has the essential 3rd channel the others lack, plus an integral stereo DI box, so the total cost is much the same. What is really nice is the way it can be set for mono or stereo inputs on both the instrument channel and the main foldback. The cct diagram even contains instructions to convert the mic channel for line level inputs. A really useful box, and a much better buy in real terms than the competing products, for use by real musicians!

I love this mic. Sounds really excellent in a mix, and whatever bleed from the band actually sounds good and adds something positive - like another nice room mic. Takes EQ very well. I would say it does the things a 58 does for live vocals while sounding like a supercharged SM7. It's pricey, but I'd buy again.

Need I say any more? It works!! Excellent reproduction of Brass Instrument Sounds! How can this be possible at sub $100??

Thei s a great amp for the money. We use this amp in our band to run our monitors and it sounds great.

The Theremini is a very nice little instrument. With it's 32 presets you get a variety of sounds out of this little instrument unlike a regular Theramin. I'm not a musician but learning how to play this is a challenge but it's also a lot of fun !

I'm gonna put it to you straight: I love this thing.Great things about it? Multiple fingering modes, two banks, rechargeable, wireless with ridiculously low latency (even when battery gets low) and a sound editor software that delivers. Having higher quality sounds compared to EWI4000s is great and being able to layer or octave those sounds without being hooked up to a computer is great for random creativity. For starters, it has a good sound that is actually adaptive to your style of play. I went through the whole of the sound bank and was pleased as I believe it's a true update. There will be uninformed haters out there that will say the sounds are not realistic or sound kazoo-like after listing to samples through a YouTube video, but what they're failing to realize is that it is an EWI, not a reed instrument; and, YouTube sound quality considering the source material and player isn't always that great. The EWI accomplishes everything it set out to and does not misrepresent what it can do in its instruction manual or marketing. I find that if I do a forceful brass hit or a strong blow using the saxophone sounds that there is a distinct difference in how the sound is presented and how it is carried. I find this ability built into the vast majority of sounds I use. These are the great things about the instrument.Areas in need of improvement? Let's see.. some thought that having a wireless MIDI ability would be useful, but honestly, I don't find this that important. Use a cord or acquire a wireless setup that you trust and believe in. Being able to load your own sounds? Get an iPad or a computer, VST library and software and use a cord. Again, I don't find this to be a hang-up. I owned the EWI4000s and did just fine with cords. I did fine then and I'll do fine now.All in all a great buy. Highly recommended. Highly responsive. Highly customizable. And a highly prized member of my instrument collection.

I must admit, the first time I unboxed the instrument, I was amazed at the build quality. It has some heft, the keys are properly and ergonomically placed and you know Akai really took their time to perfect this wind controller. But as a long time saxophone player, the first time I actually played some scales, I was quite disappointed - it didn't feel like a saxophone. I was beginning to regret my purchase and thought about exchanging it for the WX5. So I gave it a few more days. Days turned to weeks, and I am beginning to appreciate this instrument. Keep practicing those scales, breathing with the mouthpiece and you realize how this is such an amazing wind controller. I made a mistake thinking that this is a replacement for a saxophone in an apartment situation. In reality, you should think about how this instrument can be an extension to your musical endeavors. The possibilities you can do with the sounds and playability are endless. There are a few usable synths prebuilt, but I suggest using the Akai EWI 5000 Editor to really play and edit your sounds then save it to the user bank. Also there are synths out there that can be used if you plug the EWI as just a midi wind controller; unfortunately you can't upload other synth sounds into the controller. Definitely give it some time to get used to the instrument especially moving from one octave to another. Keep practicing and you'll appreciate that there's hardly any moving parts here. I was opposed at it first since horns have that tactile and key feedback. But with the touch sensitivity, it really felt I was playing an instrument from the future. Again, you just have to get used to it - think about when mobile phones shift from physical keyboards to the modern phones we have today. And here I am today still keeping my purchase and writing a review. I thank Akai for making a top-notch wind controller and continuing the support for the modern electronic wind musician.

The depth of the sounds in this virtual instrument is staggering. It's like going from an SD TV to an OLED 8k HDTV. Very pleased with my purchase especially from B&H. Super fast shipping and the best price I could find online anywhere. Cheers! W. Oliver