Vangoa EWI-100 Portable Mini Digital Electronic Wind Instrument Synthesizer Rechargeable with Removable Mouthpiece for Kids Adults Beginners

I’m a middle aged woman who dabbles with tin whistle and recorder (mainly soprano). One problem with playing those instruments is that they are loud and shrill. Not suitable for living in proximity with other humans.I have been wanting something like this for a while. I bought a similar item a while back and didn’t care for it. This, however, has been fun to play. I can use headphones for silent practice, but honestly, since the volume can be adjusted, I don’t really need to use the headphones. I’m pretty sure my neighbors can’t hear me.Just like with anything, there is a learning curve. I find the fingerings are close enough to recorder/whistle that it’s not a problem. But it took a bit to figure out the best way to use the octave buttons. I found you don’t have to put your finger directly on the buttons; you simply need to make contact with them, so I just slide my thumb until it hits the edge of the button, and I’m good to go.I have played this thing nearly every day since I got it. I like the fact that unlike a whistle and a recorder, you can get dynamics by blowing harder and softer. I’ve had to retrain myself not to blow harder for the second octave, so I can keep the volume steady.I’m not 100% sure if this instrument can be used as a midi controller. I haven’t tried that, since I don’t know what kind of app to put on my phone/ipad. The onboard sounds are fine with me for now. I don’t mind the synth-y sound. Heck, I remember listening to Switched on Bach when I was a kid.I just absolutely love this thing! I have recorder and whistle books that I can play from, but there’s lots of free sheet music online, too. And 8notes.com is a great resource. For a mere 20 bucks A YEAR, you have access to all the stuff on the site, which includes accompaniment for a lot of their songs. Super fun!And frankly, I love the fact that this is ALWAYS in tune. I don’t have to worry about my cheap whistles being out of tune or of blowing too hard or too soft on my recorder and not being in tune. I can just worry about fingering and phrasing. Loving this!

For the price this is excellent, If your expectations are reasonable.The sounds are good,The built in speaker is good,The battery lasts a decent time.Bluetooth connection to my stereo speakers worked.Midi connection to an external sound module worked.Of course it's not comparable to a pro EWI from Yamaha, Roland, Akai, etc. but it is a fraction of the price.It's still way better than a toy and I really enjoy it - I was surprised actually.I wouldn't call it rugged - you probably don't want to drop it - but again, consider the price and it's reasonable.

Or I guess my title could be that Windows doesnt support Midi over Bluetooth. BUT this should have been noted in the product description that the only OS on which you can get BT Midi working is Mac, and maybe Linux. It IS possible to get bluetooth midi working on windows, but it would require a driver, which Vangoa doesnt seem to provide.That said, the instrument is a great deal for someone looking to just start in electronic wind instruments. If you like tinkering you can get some great results via Midi (over USB) and some good patches in your DAW of choice. Personally I used it with great success in VCV Rack 2.

Fortunately, I was within the return window. I opted to get it again, because otherwise I liked it. The breath response is good, though it does take skill to fade notes smoothly. Connecting via cable to Garageband on my iPad is a bit tricky and often requires plugging and unplugging to get it to respond. Wind and voice sound the best. So, for the price I was satisfied until it stopped working. Giving it a three star review for now. If the new one has the same problem, I'll shift that to one star.

This is really a lot of fun to play. I play saxophone and the fingering is similar although some notes are fingered differently. It is not a replacement for a sax, but since I know the fingerings it is pretty easy to play and very portable.When playing through the built-in speaker, the flutes, clarinet, and trumpet sound the best. It is in concert pitch and can transpose so that you can play music for Bb,Eb or any other transposing instrument. The Bluetooth feature has a noticeable delay, the midi via USB is mostly OK although it can skip notes sometimes.This really shines when you just pick it up and play it. If you are not familiar with woodwind fingering it might take a bit of work to get the fingering. It does sense how hard you blow, so you can play with dynamics.It has a little over a three-octave range. The high, middle, and low octaves are controlled via the thumb, and you can go from C-C on each key with the upper C in one octave overlapping with low C in the next.At this price point, it is a great thing to have around and just pick up and play. The negative is sometimes you just don't want to put it down!

The media could not be loaded. For you to understand why I am giving it right you need to listen to what I say in the video about the instrumentIf this is how this instrument is as I describe it in my video, then I would not recommend itMay be I have received an instrument that has some technical issue and I don’t know but if if that so it’s sad because the company should test the instrument and see that it worked properly before they send things out and I am not going to send another instrument back and ask for money return because that can be difficult And it’s too much workSo if the company wants to send me out a whole new instrument that works properly and that haven’t been used by someone else I would like to give it a try but for me to sit and send things back and go through the process again no I’m not going to do thatSo that’s why I say don’t buy this because you don’t know if you’re receiving a new instrument or or an instrument that have been used by someone else as this is not working properly