Aerophone / Aerophone Pro, wind controller from Roland

The Lounge Other Gear
#210

Edit*.

As @adamc mentioned, 3K didn’t specify which EWI(s) he used on the album.

I think I recognize a few of the patches. If it’s not Aerophone it sounds just like it. I had Akais EWI 5000/Solo prior, and the sounds were pretty distinct as well. Distinctly terrible.lol

When I get back to mine I’ll try to match the patch with when and where I think they appear on NBS

It’s really moot though. While I enjoy the album and have been greatly inspired by Dre having grown up on Outkast, the album sounds like what many EWI players have been doing for decades. He’s just in a position to draw mass appeal to it which I think is great for everyone.

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#211

Don’t have my Aerophone on me but listening to NBS while driving to Orlando. I really dig this album. The very first track sounds like he was cycling through the the factory Woodwind patches. I remember that and the Brass banks the most as it’s where I spend most of my practice time. Bass Clarinet, Bassoon, Ocarina, etc. Playing with S1 and such.

Trying to identify the sounds actually adds to the experience today.

If anyone still has Akai or another EWI with sounds comparable to Aerophone or the sounds expressed on Dre3K latest album please let us know.

I’ve been on the hunt for the best windstrument with onboard sounds being a key factor. So far I haven’t found anything with onboard sounds comparable to what’s possible/available on Aerophone.

#212

There’s a thread on Reddit where another Aerophone owner felt one of the New Blue Sun tracks used a preset that sounded like an AE-30 preset.

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#213

I would actually bet money on it. However, I must admit I haven’t tried every EWI. Just the Roland, Akai and Yamaha ones.

One of the main reasons I think it is Aerophone is that he specifically mentioned that they recorded all of this without intention or additional fx processing. Just the “flutes”. He later clarified that the primary flute used on the album was actually an electronic wind instrument he had just bought. Aerophone has TONS of fx on the device. Very dramatic processing and sound design can be accomplished on device or on iphone/Zenology and imported on device. In my experience with the other EWIs, the fx are thin and bogus. Nowhere approaching what’s possible on Aerophone and I don’t even have the 30 with extra thumb pad and motion expression mappable to even more fx parameters.

I personally think it was an AE-30. Can’t wait to find out for sure though.

It’s so ironic. I’ve never been this inspired by another device and out of the blue I find out that one of my favorite artists of all time has been similarly smitten with woodwinds.

Regardless of which it turns out to be I’m even more motivated to keep playing daily, finish, share a collection and start gigging again.

*sorry for the excessive editing and broken grammar I’m tapping and driving

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#214

Prior to purchasing Aerophone, this was another EWI I considered. Looks and Sounds great. I’m still very interested but want to wait and see how it is supported. Many companies have come and gone. Even the big boys like Akai come up short where support is concerned.

Roland has been crushing it in terms of support for AE devices. New Hw, sounds, and firmware updates. Hard to imagine anyone outpacing Roland’s momentum in the wind space.

#215

He mentioned there was minimal setup and just got it out of the box so it’d have to be something with stuff built in sounds like Aerophone Pro or EWI Solo but my guess would be one of the Aerophones.

Usually MIDI controller stuff takes some setup to get going.

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So... are we gonna talk about André 3000's new album?
#216

Although I didn’t personally like the sounds of the Solo, it was better than the 5000.

If Andre ran it through pedals it could be anything. Technically, the solo size, shape and touch keys is more similar to playing a double wooden flute that he seems to carry around often.

As a sax player, those touch keys and fat plastic mouthpiece was just too weird.

#217

The Solo is decent but it’s built in effects don’t really help, especially reverb.

It does sound better if you hook it into a separate effects pedal.

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#218

Agreed. I found Akais reverb and chorus to be bogus. Roland’s Zencore and SuperNatural engines are one thing but the fx are really under sold. They sound fantastic.

I’ve sold quite a few of these Aerophone for Roland over the past few weeks. Friends who play winds, other instruments and synth enthusiasts have been really impressed with the sounds and surprisingly—the speakers.

I must say, they are pretty damn good. Especially when you consider the competition.

#219

First song is likely a form of SuperNATURAL Vibrato and is somewhat nasally sounding like either a Soprano Sax or an Oboe but with the other effects on top I can’t tell and it doesn’t go to the deeper portion of the ranges that make it more obvious.

Also I think I can hear a couple Aerophone sort of key glitches in there.

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#221

Does anyone recall Roland ever discounting Aerophone expansions by Matt Traum for Black Friday? A friend recently grabbed an Aerophone and was wondering if he should just buy them for $9.99 each or wait for a sale.

I see AE-30 is discounted on Amazon but don’t see anything from Roland.

#222

I’ve never seen one of the offline expansions AEZ/SDZ/EXZ get discounted, only the software only stuff.

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#223

Figures. At $1 per patch it’s already robbery. The amount of time that goes into crafting really expressive scenes is a lot different than just a typical patch for a synth.

Even I initially didn’t realize that until diving deep into the Editor and Zenology to see everything going on.

As you mentioned earlier, it’s better to consider each scene as its own instrument vs just a patch.

#224

You don’t have to get any of them though, they are completely optional.

#225

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#226

Nice find! I did imagine him blissing out seated on a rug.

Regarding the add-on sound sets, I’m thinking of the layered ones - layered brass, layered woodwind, etc. I’ll buy one as a reward to myself every time I meet some predetermined goal - like playing “Goin Home” in time with the AE Lesson app and with reasonable intonation.

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#227

i had to give this it album it’s own thread

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#228

I’ve been fantasizing about running my AE-20 through pedals for a while now. I think it would pair nicely with the Chroma Console. Also considered AHFX. Does anyone here run their AE through effects?

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#229

I asked about this earlier. Been bumping my head around my local music and pawn shops trying different things out. Mostly looking for things that add space. Learning parity between brands etc. I never played guitar, used pedals or even considered them prior to AE-20.

Will look into the ones you mentioned and hope others share their experience.

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#230

Yes, I’ve run my AE-20 through my HX Stomp XL, which is marketed towards guitarists but has factory presets for bass, keyboards, and acoustic guitar. Quite an enjoyable experiment, but not a total shocker to me as I’ve run other synths like my Subharmonicon through it too.

I do like the FX onboard the AE-20 itself though, so it’ll be a while before I get crazy with outboard processing.

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