For some time now I've been wanting to contribute more to the band I'm a part of.  As a saxophone player in an R&B band, you either don't play much or make up parts for songs that don't originally have just saxophone.  I choose the "always playing" option.  There are always parts within a song that would be nice have but are not covered by other instruments so I do the best I can on saxophone to help fill out the songs.  Some times it works great and other times, not so much.

I was thinking about playing keyboards to help fill out the songs but decided to go the route of an electric woodwind in order to maintain the dynamic effect that can't be achieved with a keyboard without pressure sensitivity or a breath sensor.

I did a lot of research and went with an AKAI EWI.  Although it was considered to be more difficult to play than a comparable Yamaha electronic woodwind, it had other features I liked more in terms of durability.  This was going to be a working instrument and needed to last.  I read that it takes a saxophone player 2 to 3 months to really learn how to play it.  I didn't believe the initial report but after getting the instrument and attempting to play some simple scales, I now understood what they were talking about.  I also bought a Roland Sonic Cell that had preloaded sounds specifically created for electronic woodwinds.

I have upload some clips from our last gig where I used the EWI for harmonica, strings, guitar (just to test the patch), horn section, synth, and marimba.

I'll upload pictures of my setup once I take some at the next gig.

(clip is loaded on my profile music player)