Wind Instrument Microphone Buy

I have wanted one of these for years and with the B&H sale price I just had to buy it. Great for testing instrument and microphone cables as well as several other common types

I have very little wind noise when I use this with a Sennheiser lavalier microphone.

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.

Excellent sound quality for such a small microphone, even in the wind.

I really should have bought the ADX20IP Cardioid Condenser Instrument Microphone WITH the APS910 Power Supply ... but oh well ... live and learn. I use it connected to the Tascam DR-100 MKII and have loved the results.

You simply can't buy a better microphone for under $.

This a VERY good microphone especially for the price. It provides clear accurate sound of acoustical instruments. Being able to change the directional pattern is a great plus. It allows me to pickup just the instrument or the instrument and room reverberations when recording. The violin and viola musicians I have recorded love the sound this microphone produces (so far those are the only instruments I have recorded with it). It would be nice to be able to change the pattern of the mic without having to change the tip but is is not a big deal to switch tips. For the price this is a great microphone it compares very favorably with mics costing 2 to 3 times the price.

I've used this particular microphone for over 40 years. I've probably purchased 100's of these. It is a standard and is best for dynamic vocal and instrument applications.

I have used this versatile microphone for instrument recording and tested it's use as a spare/secondary film dialogue microphone. For instrument recording, It sounded excellent used as drum overheads. It captured the full sound of the drums, and did especially well with the highs produced by the cymbals. I also used it as an ambiance mic to record a guitar amp from a distance of roughly 6 feet. It was able to capture details that the up close dynamic mic could not pick up. This mic combined with a close up dynamic mic makes an excellent guitar amp recording combo. As for film dialogue, It actually worked really well. It is not as bassy as other mics, but it captured the voice really well from a distance of about 2 feet, and the voice sounded crisp. It also did well rejecting noise from the room.. I am happy to have added this little mic to my gear inventory

The microphone is my universal instrument, whether i have to record vocals or ambience. Outstanding quality and good price !