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Aerophone AE-10 ? New Roland Wind Instrument

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#215 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

After researching for more than 6 months, today I finally got my Aerophone and after so many reviews of “the plastic toy� I may say I was extremely surprised. First the packaging of the A E10 is “classy� to say the least. It comes inside a sturdily and heavily padded black musician style bag suitable for travel. Inside the bag the AE10 is packed inside another cloth black bag for added protection. The further attention to detail of Roland is noticed by its remarkable wedding style ‘thank you’ card. As an owner of an EWI USB and EWI 5000 I was desperate, more than anything, to listen to the sounds of the AE10 to see if ‘The Toy’ was worth its price. First of all its not plastic but ABS plastic and its not white but Classical Mother of pearl, as my wife said, ‘beautiful but I must forget the way the Akai EWIs looked like and get used to the new look�. Once hooked up and ready to go I listened to the sounds and I was “blown away� I can’t believe how come Akai did not think about these. So far I only Listened to the 3 sax and the 2 flutes and they are all marvelous. I am a Flute player but I took to the Sax fingering with no problems. I did notice the leaking of ‘saliva’ by the reed but after 35 minutes of playing it was not significant. Also contrary to popular believe the AE10 works with any regular AA batteries not only with rechargeable as I read in several postings. I wasn’t so thrill when I got my USB or my 5000, I can only thank Roland for their wonderful step forward in the EWI technology. Yes it does look like a toy, but that’s even better, when I play in public they’ll have the surprise of their lives when they hear the sounds that comes out of it, to me that’s more important.
 
#216 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 ďż˝ New Roland Wind Instrument

Hey, my AE-10 finally came in on Thursday!

I got it primarily for use as a practice tool and as a controller for my composition work. So far I've mostly been practicing with it to get adjusted to the feel of it, and thankfully it works almost as well as I want it to! ALMOST!

In the short time I've had with it, I've noticed a couple things that perplex me.

1. Sometimes notes don't speak? Occasionally, I'll go to play a note and it simply won't sound. Usually this happens in the middle of a line, so it messes up my train of thought and is rather annoying. This seems to happen with no change to my embouchure or airstream as far as I can tell, and I've been playing sax for a while now so I'm pretty sure I know how to blow into a thing, though I realize the electronics work differently. Maybe I just have to clean the mouthpiece, I've been kinda glued to this thing since I got it. It seems to be happening less and less but it still happens, so I'm wondering if anyone else is having this issue or resolved it entirely?

2. SIDE Bb - Pressing the side Bb key will not only sharp your A as intended, but ALSO your C, B and G in the left hand. These additional alternate trill fingerings are not needed as these notes are already easy to trill with traditional fingerings, but the only one that will likely be bothersome to you is the C that sounds when fingering B+sideBb together, 'cause in passages where you're going from side Bb to Bâ™®, if you don't release the side key and the A key at the same exact time you WILL either hear a quick A or a C in between. I don't need that stress in my life lol. Changed the B+sideBb fingering to a Bâ™®, now it behaves like it's 'sposed. Uses up one of my 10 alternate slots though, I guess?

As far as onboard sounds are concerned, most of them are EHHHHHHH as you probably already know, but there are some usable synth tones.

I'll report on my findings more as I go, especially once I start using it as a controller. I'm having a lot of fun with it so far though. Love being able to practice anywhere when I have a spare couple of minutes.

also first post hi
 
#217 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 ďż˝ New Roland Wind Instrument

1. Sometimes notes don't speak?
Hello there and welcome!!
I had a similar problem as well and I also had the AE10 for just 2 weeks. Since I am a flute player my problem and solution may be quite different from yours as you are a Sax player. I also had problems with the keys not functioning as desired and sometime missing sounds, what I found out was the "side keys", those keys on the side of the AE10 that are also used in a Sax, was getting in the way of my flute "fingering". I was accidentally pressing them while pressing the note keys. I'm still dealing with this and getting used to them but I've realized that this is definitely my problem. Hope it helps some.
 
#220 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

It sounds like it could be a firmware problem, Tuesday.

Since the hardware works most of the time, it quite probably works all of the time, but software is a lot less reliable. The more sophisticated software gets, the less chance there is of it working properly.

It might be worth chasing it up with Roland, as a bug report. Since they've fairly recently released a new firmware, they should still be in the mood to deal with bugs and release another one.
 
#221 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 ďż˝ New Roland Wind Instrument

I believe I may have discovered a fix this morning! Thanks for the suggestions though y'all.

I'm realizing now that the higher the BreathAdj value, the less sensitive to air the breath sensor becomes, so some VERY slight fluctuations in airstream may result in complete silence! I confirmed this by testing it at 100 and noticing the issue was MORE prevalent. I have to assume the AUTO setting is set to a high value as well. Now it's on 44 (JUST high enough where notes don't automatically sustain at pianississimo after letting go of the mouthpiece lol) and I don't think I've had an issue with notes coming out since.

Hope this helps anyone else running into this issue. Hopefully I'm right about this and didn't just have a lucky hour where all my notes came out haha. We'll see! Cheers
 
#223 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 ďż˝ New Roland Wind Instrument

I believe I may have discovered a fix this morning! Thanks for the suggestions though y'all.

I'm realizing now that the higher the BreathAdj value, the less sensitive to air the breath sensor becomes, so some VERY slight fluctuations in airstream may result in complete silence! I confirmed this by testing it at 100 and noticing the issue was MORE prevalent. I have to assume the AUTO setting is set to a high value as well. Now it's on 44 (JUST high enough where notes don't automatically sustain at pianississimo after letting go of the mouthpiece lol) and I don't think I've had an issue with notes coming out since.
Thanks for that feedback. That's the kind of thing I meant about messing around with breath settings. I'm going to go back and play around with BreathAdj now too. I also played around with BiteCtrl. I turned it off for some voices because I play with a very loose embouchure. I found that when I played with firm embouchure to keep the note at pitch, when I went to loose embouchure the pitch dropped and I was playing out of tune. For voices like lead guitar, organ, synth, etc. you don't actually play with embouchure. You want the notes to sound on pitch regardless of what you're doing with embouchure. I turned BiteCtrl either to Off or Vib for those voices.

It's great for learning parts. I sit at my desk and turn it on to play along to recordings and figure out lines and parts and harmony etc. The beauty part is that I can transpose it so, for instance, if the recorded music is in E and I want to learn to play along in D, I just transpose up a step on the Aerophone and my fingerings will all be in D. This is handy for working out the horn parts for band rehearsal. I can show up ready to play the horn parts on my tenor in the key the band plays it in, if it's different than the original recording we're basing our arrangement on.

I play mine regularly at the Sunday night jam. The jam leader calls it "the thing". The house drummer calls it the "doo-dad."
 
#222 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

That's good. I've had problems with the unintended pp sustain, after a note should have ended, with my Yamaha WX5. I think that probably has analog circuitry between the breath sensor and the CPU, because there are two little pots that can be adjusted with a screwdriver - wind zero, and wind gain.

I tried to find a good level for wind zero for some time (on the WX5), but it always changed once it warmed up. Eventually, I figured out I needed to adjust the wind gain to a level where the variation in the wind zero reading didn't matter so much.
 
#226 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

Another Yamaha WX5 analogy - if I set it to "tight lip", meaning I have to apply pressure to make it play in tune, but don't apply the pressure, it plays with maximum downward pitch bend.

The amount that corresponds to depends on what it's connected to, but I normally have it set to a semitone (a half step). On your AE-10, it will probably be a fixed number of semitones (half steps).
 
#229 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 ďż˝ New Roland Wind Instrument

Another Yamaha WX5 analogy - if I set it to "tight lip", meaning I have to apply pressure to make it play in tune, but don't apply the pressure, it plays with maximum downward pitch bend.

The amount that corresponds to depends on what it's connected to, but I normally have it set to a semitone (a half step). On your AE-10, it will probably be a fixed number of semitones (half steps).
The Aerophone does not lip up or down in semitones. It's very gradual and you can set the degree of pitch bend in very small increments. It's very sax-like.
 
#228 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

Below Live version of One Step Beyond Madness with the Roland AE-10 Software Version 2.0
Played direct into DI
Great fun! What voice? Is it set on growl? Thanks, I enjoyed it. Wish the videographer had focused in more on the player. But I know how it goes with cell phone videos. You get what you get.
 
#233 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

I like that about my Casio DH-100s too, though I have to admit, I don't like the A=442Hz tuning very much. I've taken to putting it through a cheapish Behringer pitch shifter, lately, to tune it down a bit. I have that on two hooks, next to the sofa, and a small headphones practice amp in a tin.

My EWI4000s is self contained, in theory, but I don't really enjoy the built in synth, or trying to edit patches in it, from a PC. I'd rather connect it (or the WX5) to one of my Roland romplers for authentic sounding instrument noises, or my Dave Smith Industries Mofo - which is an a small analog synth module controlled by a built in computer with a MIDI interface. Editing sounds on that from the PC works pretty well.

I envy you being able to use the powered speakers. I have to play as much as I can on headphones. On a good day, I might get an hour or two of out loud practice time, when the neighbours are out, so I only use that time for playing acoustic instruments.
 
#234 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 ďż˝ New Roland Wind Instrument

I like that about my Casio DH-100s too ...
:bounce: I used to have a Casio, when they first came out. That thing was fun, but I never played it through anything. I don't know what happened to mine and I thought about getting another but then along came the WX's and the VL70m. They all failed in the same way but some people learned how to fix them. I suppose you're one of those people. :mrgreen:
 
#236 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

I have an AE-10. I think it's really good. It's not a saxophone but its something you can use the skills learned from practising all those hours on a saxophone with immediately. I wanted something to practice on quietly and while travelling. Its great for that.

One oddity: Tenor Sax Bb and Tenor Sax Bb - they are not both tuned Bb on my AE-10. Tenor Sax Plus Bb is tuned Bb but Tenor Sax Bb (voice #2 is out by a semitone). I have tried updating software and experimenting with everything I can think of but the problem remains. I tried factory reset, etc.

Has anyone else had a similar problem ? I'd rather just fix it and learn a bit more about the instrument than send it back (and I can still use Tenor Sax Plus or transpose the Tenor Sax voice). It seems a bit daft to have to change the key of the Tenor Sax Bb voice in order to play it as a Bb instrument though.

Many thanks in advance for any suggestions/knowledge
 
#248 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

This "Killer Joe" demo certainly got my attention! I want one!
I saw that a while ago, and I noticed in the comments he said "Yes most instruments sounds realistic except the flute and saxes. Lucky I'm a sax and flute player. ". I wondered if violin and cello players would say everything sounds realistic except the strings :)

I kind of play trumpet, and playing it on the Aerophone is not the same as the real thing, obviously, but it's still fun. The brass sounds are among the best on my Roland XV-3080 too, and my Dave Smith Mofo can actually make some quite expressive brassy synth sounds. For some reason, woodwind is harder to emulate.

I can't get on with the alto sax or soprano sound. I quite like the tenor, possibly because I've barely played one. I'm enjoying the flute sounds too - something I attempt but am not all that good at. Maybe if I was, I'd see the flaws and limitations more.
 
#238 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

Based on some of your reviews, and Oh's Killer Joe rendition, I pulled the trigger and ordered one today. I think the ability to shed on it longer with less physical demand on the fingers etc. makes it worth it to me, and it seems expressive enough in the right hands.
 
#239 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

Hey hornstar, I'm thinking about pulling the trigger on one of these too. I have a little duo I play over over the beach. (keys & me on sax, flute, harmonicas and lead vocals.) I think a electronic wind instrument would add a lot of variety.

Please give soe revies when you get yours. Itching ears want to hear!
 
#241 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

Fingering Peculiarity

Because of the sparse matrix implementation of its fingering recognition algorithm, the Aerophone can do some strange things when you finger it wrong. (Just finger it right and you're OK.) So to illustrate this with an extreme example, finger a low 'Sax C' seven fingers down -- IMR IMRP. Blow a note. Then lift all your fingers except your right hand index finger, lifting your left hand first, and blow a note again. It plays the same note again with no change; not at all like a real sax. You can even run your thumb up and down the octave keys and still no change.

I love the Aerophone and it beats hell out of every other wind controller i've ever played, but this is goofy. This doesn't interfere with my playing 99.99% of the time, but it does on occasion. (In particular if my left hand ring finger loosens slightly when i am moving among low Bb, B, C, and Db with my left pinky. This can be changed by adding those particular wrong fingerings to FINGERIN, or better yet fingering it right.)

This is true in both SAX1 and SAX2 FINGMODE; i tested it only with V2.0.
 
#242 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

Fingering Peculiarity

Because of the sparse matrix implementation of its fingering recognition algorithm, the Aerophone can do some strange things when you finger it wrong. (Just finger it right and you're OK.) So to illustrate this with an extreme example, finger a low 'Sax C' seven fingers down -- IMR IMRP. Blow a note. Then lift all your fingers except your right hand index finger, lifting your left hand first, and blow a note again. It plays the same note again with no change; not at all like a real sax. You can even run your thumb up and down the octave keys and still no change.

I love the Aerophone and it beats hell out of every other wind controller i've ever played, but this is goofy. This doesn't interfere with my playing 99.99% of the time, but it does on occasion. (In particular if my left hand ring finger loosens slightly when i am moving among low Bb, B, C, and Db with my left pinky. This can be changed by adding those particular wrong fingerings to FINGERIN, or better yet fingering it right.)

On the other hand, there are uses for the fact that the Aerophone does not change the note until it recognizes a permitted new fingering.

I tested this with both SAX1 and SAX2 FINGMODE; but i tested it only with V2.0.
 
#243 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

So, I received the Aerophone today. First thing I noticed was that it had a latency, where it sounded the note a few milliseconds behind my blowing. I was eventually able to resolve this issue by adjusting the Breath Sensitivity in the settings. Second thing I noticed, is it's bigger for the fingers to reach around than it needs to be, so it's not going to be comfortable to play for long shedding sessions. Maybe I'd get used to it, so by itself not necessarily a deal-breaker. Okay, here's a problem; it quacks! With certain right hand notes in runs and other sequences, it would quack out a 2nd octave B seemingly at random. As some of you know, the Aerophone is programmed with a slew of fingerings for "overtones," mostly altissimo notes but some strange alternate fingerings for some notes below the altissimo range. I know plenty of altissimo fingerings, but many of the programmed ones shown in their manual I've never seen nor used, so I'll be interested to try them on a real horn and see if they work in the real sax world. Anyway, the culprit in this case was a fingering of 123 / 1 x 3 that on the device will play second octave B. On my sax, all that sounds is a fuzzy F, and I couldn't make an overtone out of it. But, when I was playing normal runs up and down, if I had the RH middle finger released but the 3rd finger depressed, it would quack out the second octave B note. I turned off the "overtone" fingering options in the settings and it didn't happen anymore. According to the manual, one can go through and edit these overtone alternate fingerings, eliminating the ones you don't want, and entering the ones you will use.
Finally, the unit has a low static-y white noise that you can hear through the speaker, and plainly hear through the headphones. Roland tech thought it might be an a/c ground lift issue, so I ran it on batteries-only, but the noise is still there. Their tech turned on their in-house unit, and discovered the same white noise issue, admitted they never noticed it previously, perhaps because it's low volume, but he suspects that it may be inherent in the device. I would want to be able to use this live and recording, if I chose, so this is getting returned. I don't like it enough to exchange for another, if I thought I get one without the white noise issue. I can shed most of what I need to on the flute, and it has more practical musical application for me anyway.
 
#245 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

I finally gave in to temptation and bought one, a couple of days ago.

So, I received the Aerophone today. First thing I noticed was that it had a latency, where it sounded the note a few milliseconds behind my blowing. I was eventually able to resolve this issue by adjusting the Breath Sensitivity in the settings.
There's a setting called KeyDelay, added in a recent firmware update. I've set that to zero. I'm not really noticing more glitches, just less lag. I hadn't noticed a change related to breath settings, but I'll look into that more.

When I tried it in the shop, it was still on firmware 1.0. I was aware of the lack of lip response, but I had the muted trumpet working really well. When I got home, I updated it to 2.10, and it was kind of disappointing. It seems to be all about the defaults though, and I'm slowly getting back to where it was before.

Second thing I noticed, is it's bigger for the fingers to reach around than it needs to be, so it's not going to be comfortable to play for long shedding sessions. Maybe I'd get used to it, so by itself not necessarily a deal-breaker.
My hands are on the small side, but all I've noticed is that I tend to hit the side keys by accident, and they're sensitive enough to respond. I seem to be learning not to though. The table keys are a fairly comfortable reach and on most saxes they're a stretch, for me. The only one I have where they're really comfortable is one where I bent them into place myself - my Elkhart 300 series soprano, which I bought second hand, arrived so bent I didn't have much to lose. I wouldn't dare to it to one that already worked though.

Okay, here's a problem; it quacks! With certain right hand notes in runs and other sequences, it would quack out a 2nd octave B seemingly at random. As some of you know, the Aerophone is programmed with a slew of fingerings for "overtones," mostly altissimo notes but some strange alternate fingerings for some notes below the altissimo range. I know plenty of altissimo fingerings
I used to know one, but I've forgotten it :) I turned that off. Much better. The octave keys actually work very well, compared to my EWI4000s or Yamaha WX5 - I like the two up, two down setting for most things (OCT2), or the simpler one for sax realism (OCT1). The palm keys are good too and very easy to use, compared to the real thing. I don't practise using those enough on my saxes, due to the painful shrieking that's often involved. Between those two things, I don't feel the need for altissimo, though I appreciate some people will want it.

Finally, the unit has a low static-y white noise that you can hear through the speaker, and plainly hear through the headphones. Roland tech thought it might be an a/c ground lift issue, so I ran it on batteries-only, but the noise is still there. Their tech turned on their in-house unit, and discovered the same white noise issue, admitted they never noticed it previously, perhaps because it's low volume, but he suspects that it may be inherent in the device. I would want to be able to use this live and recording, if I chose, so this is getting returned. I don't like it enough to exchange for another, if I thought I get one without the white noise issue. I can shed most of what I need to on the flute, and it has more practical musical application for me anyway.
I haven't noticed that, but I'm used to playing with electric guitar gear (on headphones - only because it's an instrument the neighbours can't hear), so I'm probably desensitised to background noise level.

Hi all!

It's possible some of this has been addressed in the 13 pages of this thread, but after receiving AE-10 and playing all day today, some questions:

1) After playing for a few minutes, sometimes the unit will faintly play on its own. If I press keys down, it will sound those notes (even if mouth is nowhere near mouthpiece). This is SUPER annoying and I can't figure out what to do.
The last couple of pages seem to cover most of the problems. Detective Tuesday talked about notes not sounding, and I think notes not stopping, and I've had both of those - notably, not until the firmware update. On 1.0, neither of those happened.

It is just down to turning off Auto for the breath settings and finding ones that work, though. On Medium or lower, Breath Response feels limited - it tops out too easily, with nothing left for expressive loud bits. I'm trying H1, at the moment, which seems fine. Maybe I'll go higher when I get more used to it. You need to adjust BreatAdj to stop notes from not sounding, or playing on their own. I didn't get it right straight away. I think I settled on a value in the mid 50s, but it may be different for each one, or may be temperatute dependent.

The thing I've struggled with most is getting the bite set up comfortably. Like Martin, I use a loose embouchure. On a real sax, it's just a question of pushing the mouthpiece far enough onto the cork to allow it. You can still bend notes down using your throat, and bend them up by biting. The Aerophone doesn't seem to quite have that concept.

There's one setting that covers the amount of squeeze needed to start a note playing (BiteSens), but if it's set low, they get closed off as you bite harder. That also seems to set the point for neutral pitch too, so if I set it how I really want it, I'm playing flat, unless I turn off the pitch bend effect.

I've noticed the reed is very flexible, but of course the sensor only senses one spot, so the response you get depends how far your lower lip is from the end of the sensor - if you have the end of the reed resting on your lip, it bends quite a bit but only moves the sensor a little. I'm used to having to pull out like that for low notes, and practically swallow the mouthpiece for high notes, on a soprano, so it takes a bit of adjustment. The WX5 reed is a lot stiffer, so that isn't as noticeable.

I had a chat with the lad in the shop about replacement reeds; mostly how their weren't any (you have to buy the whole mouthpiece to get one), and how at some point the Aerophone will inevitably go out of production, so we'll have to make our own. I hadn't thought about it, but we might also want to be able to choose them in different strengths. I like soft reeds on a real sax, but on a simulated one, a stiffer one would seem to work better because mouthpiece placement against the lip will be less critical, and maybe more intuitive.
 
#244 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

Hi all!

It's possible some of this has been addressed in the 13 pages of this thread, but after receiving AE-10 and playing all day today, some questions:

1) After playing for a few minutes, sometimes the unit will faintly play on its own. If I press keys down, it will sound those notes (even if mouth is nowhere near mouthpiece). This is SUPER annoying and I can't figure out what to do.

2) With the sax sounds specifically, is there any way to turn OFF the key press sounds? It seems not!

3) If I'm connecting to a mixer, do I need a DI, or will a TRS cable be fine?

Thanks!!
 
#246 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

1) After playing for a few minutes, sometimes the unit will faintly play on its own. If I press keys down, it will sound those notes (even if mouth is nowhere near mouthpiece). This is SUPER annoying and I can't figure out what to do.
You need to set the breath sensitivity. Scroll down a few posts and find the link to the Alistair Parnell video about this.

Edit: here's the link

2) With the sax sounds specifically, is there any way to turn OFF the key press sounds? It seems not!
I'm not sure I understand what you mean by this. When I play in headphones, I don't hear the sound of keys being pressed. If you hear it, it's not in the sound you'e playing, it's in the mechanical noise of the keys moving up and down (I think). I don't hear that very much at all, but I don't think there's a way to dampen that sound. If I'm wrong about this, I'll acknowledge it. I have to get the Aerophone out tomorrow and listen to the sax sound.

3) If I'm connecting to a mixer, do I need a DI, or will a TRS cable be fine?
A TRS cable is fine. I have a stereo cable that splits to 2 mono cables which I connect to my 2 QSC powered speakers. That's all I need to blast the guitar players out of the water-Aerophone, stereo splitter cable, and powered speakers.
 
#255 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

I've made an Excell spreadsheet version of the Tone List:

View attachment Aerophone AE-10 Tone List (spreadsheet).zip {EDIT: Corrected mistakes on the violin and cello CC details}

The advantage is I was able to make it keep the tone name and special CC numbers in view at the same time - I've duplicated the columns for tone number and name, on the right, and added a split for the headings, so those stay still when you scroll down.

You'll need either Microslop Excel 2000 or later (part of Office), or something that can read the format - a lot of things probably can, e.g. Star Office, if that's still going. There's an official free viewer you can get for Windows too.

EDIT:

Here's a reference I've used before, for the list of all MIDI CC values:

http://nickfever.com/music/midi-cc-list

- one of many sources, of course. The undefined ones have no standard meaning, but may do something on a particular synth or soft synth - you'd have to read the manual for it.
 
#256 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 ďż˝ New Roland Wind Instrument

The CC for sustain is kinda cool. I assign it to the thumb left for the Synth Strings sound so I can play a string section unison lead or backing, then play a final chord by using the sustain. It's also good on the Pipe Organ 2 sound. In one of those videos, Alistair Parnell plays a bit of the Toccata and Fugue and ends with that big swelling organ chord. Played through speakers, it's a huge sound.
 
#257 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 ďż˝ New Roland Wind Instrument

The CC for sustain is kinda cool. I assign it to the thumb left for the Synth Strings sound so I can play a string section unison lead or backing, then play a final chord by using the sustain. It's also good on the Pipe Organ 2 sound.
I'll have a go at that later. Did you use CC64 (Sustain) or CC66 (Sostenuto)?

It makes me wonder if there are others that aren't mentioned in the tone list. It seems likely they wouldn't all apply to all sounds, since the others don't, except Portamento.

The documentation seems to lag behind the software updates... It would be good to have a new manual with it all in, instead of reading multiple addenda. No wonder people get confused about the settings.
 
#261 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

Good morning (EST) everyone!

1) So you can move your lip to bend down a note -- is there anyway to bend up a note using your lip?

2) Anyone else experiencing the (what I find to be annoying) key sounds on low C#/D#?

3) this is a bit of an odd one - I ordered my AE-10 from reverb dot com, and from a seller that had lots of positive reviews. The item was shipped immediately, and I was told it was brand-new. Everything looked as it should, except no manuals, warranty card or thank you card was in the box. The seller wrote me back assuring me that it is brand new, and that he will send the manuals immediately (I've of course downloaded them). What do you think - is that possible?!
 
#262 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

1) So you can move your lip to bend down a note -- is there anyway to bend up a note using your lip?
Yes. Have you seen the Alistair vid about adjusting iip response?

3) this is a bit of an odd one - I ordered my AE-10 from reverb dot com, and from a seller that had lots of positive reviews. The item was shipped immediately, and I was told it was brand-new. Everything looked as it should, except no manuals, warranty card or thank you card was in the box. The seller wrote me back assuring me that it is brand new, and that he will send the manuals immediately (I've of course downloaded them). What do you think - is that possible?!
This sounds sketchy to me. Any AE-10 is "brand new" in the sense that they are all new and haven't been made or sold before they came out recently. Did yours come with the fabric sleeve and any other packaging? Sounds to me like you got something that somebody else got first and then re-sold. But I don't know that for sure.
 
#270 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

I've just been playing watching a tuner, and found I was playing flat again, so I've had another go at setting Bite Adj - that's the critical one. I ended up with -18, this time.

When I went to change it in the menu, there was no sound, until I exited that part of the menu again, where you change the number. Eventually I realised that's just what it does when it's not on a good setting.

The trick seems to be to bite how you want, and adust that number til you get some sound. I found there was only a very narrow range where I did - and not where I set it the last time. The size of the range where it makes a sound probably depends on the Bite Sens setting too. I didn't adjust that.

Having found the useful range of a few numbers, I then tried to pick one that felt comfortable, gave a decent volume, and was on pitch - that's the tricky bit, because that setting affects the centre of pitch as well as the range of pressure where it makes a sound. Presumably it's easier for people who bite harder to get it set up right.

IMHO, there should be two separate setting there - one for bite affecting volume, and one for pitch centre. It's possible to make a real reed play with no lip pressure at all, and it's normally possible to get it in tune, by adjusting the mouthpiece on the cork. The aerophone emulation doesn't allow for that, so those of us who prefer a looser embouchure, or "no embouchure" have to do it Roland's way, not the way we're used to, I guess. I am able to get it reasonably comfortable, but it's on a knife edge if I change that Bite Adj setting by just one or two.
 
#272 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

You're welcome Martin, but see my last post about adjusting Bite Adj again, mostly to get it in tune :) Today, it's -18.

Plausible values were only from about -13 to -20, getting very quiet at the edges, and a lot of those values were out of tune with a comfortable embouchure for me.
 
#273 ·
Re: Aerophone AE-10 - New Roland Wind Instrument

On a different note, I've had a play with this today - the Aerophone sound editor / organiser app, in this case on an Android tablet, with an "OTG" adapter cable:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.roland.ae10editor&hl=en

.. or a series of frustrating experiences, to be more accurate. It's not really ready yet, like most software these days. There's an iOS version too, but you need up to date iOS to use it, which rules me out.

I did manage to reorganise my vague collection of slightly altered sounds. It wasn't easy. Hopefully it will get a new version soon. It's still new.

I made Andrew Oh's accordian sound with it, though I settled on an octave higher than his, for the harmonica component - so maybe mine's a concertina. Not sure:



I've seen another Alistair Parnell video about the iOS one, but neither covered the organising sounds part...
 
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