This Roland Arrow phone ae30 Pro is the sax player wannabes dream.

I really hope you enjoy it. All the best and thanks for commenting.

Kind of you. Thanks for watching. Hope you're well.

Glad you like them!

Glad it was helpful!

Patchman Music has them is stock now. They worked on the team that made this.

@@alphabeets Thanks but I already purchased mine from a local music store, Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center. Got a great deal, too. Had it in my hands before it even hit the shelf. Loving it! 😊

Thanks very much. I love Jay’s channel and I’ve learnt so much from him in many ways. I think the Aerophone is pretty niche, so having a thorough understanding of it takes a great deal of time. He’s a pretty busy guy.

Coming soon!

Thanks Adam. Love Brecker of course.

Many thanks Nicolas.

Thanks

Thank you very much.

You're very welcome!

@@isax.academy I am pretty sure Mr. Franklin meant to say the Aerophone PRO, NOT the EWI!

I have major problems with the AE buttons and vastly prefer the EWI touch buttons, especially the octave controllers

Thank you! 😃

Great to hear!

Glad you enjoy it!

Agreed. Thanks for watching this.

Unfortunately the new AE is really expensive, far more than any other popular windcontroller.

My experience is the AE-10 has some qualities/expressivness lacking in the AE-30. I somehow got a Ae-10 violin patch to increase volume in the high reg like a real inst and the delay/reverb is very easily added ....AE-30 is very tough to edit well.

@@mannytuzman3461 All I know is I'm very pleased with my AE-10 and see absolutely no reason to upgrade to the AE-30, if it truly is an upgrade? The 2 things that bug me about the AE-10 they corrected in the AE-30, but I've been able to mod mine so it's not an issue anymore.

Thanks for the comments. I don't know when the shipping starts I'm afraid. The bluetooth will NOT send the sound of the Aerophone to a bluetooth speaker. There would be too much delay and it would be very difficult to control. The AE=30 send MIDI over bluetooth to play sounds on an external device like a computer or an iPad.

Hi, I am in UK and mine (pre-ordered a month ago) is expected to be despatched from the retailer 2nd week of Feb. Having read comments elsewhere I believe this is same for USA but other than that I can't help.

Very pleased you enjoyed it. As for the tunes. 1. Wichita Lineman Glen Campbell (my own arrangement) 2. James by Pat Metheny 3. Sentimental Mood (in the style of Brecker but absolutely nothing like his. This was the tune that first inspired me to take up wind synths) Anything else is just noodling. Thanks for watching.

@@isax.academy thank you for taking the time to answer - you noodle excellent!

Hi. Can you be a bot more specific? Are you thinking, setup with amplification, sound selection, backing tracks etc?

Alistair, thanks for your response. I am mostly interested in setting up a set list with the AE-30. I can handle the backing tracks, and amplification. For example, if I have a set list of songs to play, and I have this set list in backing tracks that I play sequentially, I would like to match the AE-30 "scenes" to the backing track playlist... so I can play the AE-30, song after song, without having to fiddle searching the instrument for each sound/scene. The preselected scenes would be synchronized to the set list.

How’s that AE 10? Want to learn the sax. Are the keys right in same spot as a real tenor sax? Trying to decide the 10 or 30. Thanks!

I am a sax player and woodwind doubler. I really enjoy adding the AE-10 to my offering. The fingering is like the sax in so many ways. I have the EWI’s but I find the AE-10 learning curve much easier than the EWI. You have to respect the EWI as an EWI. Hope that helps.

Hi. There’s a version 2 Pro now that has a quieter mechanism. The folks that have it say it’s super quiet and not an issue at all.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. ZEN-Core. www.roland.com/uk/promos/zen-core/

Hi. Yes it will be possible on the Pro and there will be many more options as well.

Yes, I find the fast repetition much more responsive for speed and control of dynamics at speed. This is more obvious when playing more percussive sounds or as you say double-tounging.

@@isax.academy thanks again !

Thank you ! Will do!🤗🤗🤗

Not in UK it isn't! I checked after reading this and found I can download the scene/tone lists but no user guide. Hey-ho!!

I'm using it with my DAW and many soft synths and its working really well. I don't have info about where to get one I'm afraid. I assume all the usual Roland dealers will get them in time.

Hi. Yes it does have a trumpet fingering mode devised by Matt Traum. The backing tracks for those tunes are my own. Thanks for watching.

I wonder if a mic would just pick up all the sounds not just a players hum and therefor be unusable? Have you tried using the app to disable pith bend on the thumb lever so you don't accidentally trigger it?

@@isax.academy Hi Alistair... actually I use the pitch bend more than the "growl" so I wouldn't want to do that, but thank you for the suggestion. I feel confident that the master minds at Roland could "tune in" a microphone that could distinguish the player's "humming", but again just hoping you might use your "influence" with Roland and see if they seem receptive or balk at the idea. I am an engineer, so I feel quite confident their engineers could create a solution for this... usually just a matter of selling the idea that this would be a worth-while addition... it certainly would be the first in the EWI world to offer this feature? Thanks again for all your efforts and videos! Vm

Yes, the key layout and instrument shape is certainly better for smaller hands.

Hi. I've not had chance to try the Yamaha yet but it looks like its aimed at quite a different purpose. Much more towards feeling and playing like a sax. The AE-30 is more of a controller with a monster sound engine.

It has been expanded. The best yet.

@@PatchmanMusic Thanks Matt, I couldn't find anything in the published user manual. Any sneaky peak?

Hi. Yes indeed. Well, I did this over a midi cable.

The modes are the same on both. The sax setting is most like a real sax allowing the lip to control the rate and amplitude of the vibrato. The Ewind setting allows for vibrato but automatically centres the pitch after a dip in lip pressure. However, the feel of the response is better on the AE-30 in my opinion. Having said that we have to realise that nothing can feel exactly like a real saxophone because the oral cavity/ mouthpiece and reed plays such an important part on the real saxophone which the Aerophone can’t imitate. .

Yes you can use a standard guitar audio wireless with it. There is a now also a global Stereo/Mono setting so you can set it to Mono and get the proper blended sound going to your amp. No more need for an adapter!

@@PatchmanMusic thank you sir!! Can’t wait to get mine!

O a30 e melhor que o a10?

Hi. First answer is no, you have to use the octave rollers. As you know, on a flute the octaves change when the air is redirected slightly higher or lower. The Aerophone can’t detect that. The second question is similar. The change of timbre is programmed into the patch or sound. For instance many sounds on the Aerophone will open up filters and modulate the sound as you crescendo. The bite sensor can be programmed to change up to 4 different parameters up and 4 down. The Aerophone does send a velocity message as well as breath so sound can change accordingly but it will be a different feel to anything else. The Aerophone like any other instrument an imitate certain features of other wind instrument it they are instruments in their own right and should be played as such. Hope that helps.

@@isax.academy Thanks for answering my questions. Very understandable that a wind synth does not emulate all features of a particular "real" instrument, but you demonstrate how a wind synth can still be very versatile and creative, with many articulation options. Thank you!

Yes. Lots of people use a guitar type radio transmitter. I believe boss make one that fits well into the Aerophone.

Unfortunately I've never tried the Yamaha so I can't comment about playing it. I do think this Aerophone and the Yamaha are for a very different purpose.

@@isax.academy Thank you for your answer! What do you mean by different purpose?

@@juliabette6497 Hi Julia, I am not qualified, nor am I, answering on behalf of Alistair (and I doubt VERY much he would wish me to) but I thought I would comment from my 'average musician' perspective. From my research I believe that the Yah-150 is aimed at players mainly interested in sax sounds and experimenting across all the 4 models. I believe there are another 9 wind instruments also so, for me, very limited in it's target market/usage. The Pro has 600+ tones so your world is only limited by your imagination and, in my case, my limited talent(!) and that, I feel, is why there is such a huge difference in price. Unlike Alistair I am less interested in the synth sounds but by all the other instruments, especially the ethnic and string tones. Hope that may help you in some small way?

@@nuttysquirrel8574 It does! Thank you for taking the time to answer my question :)

So the Wave list is the building blocks for the tones and up to 4 tones can be combined in to a scene.

Hi there. Thanks for watching. Have you searched out Matt Traum from PatchmanMusic? He's the guy that developed the brass fingering and has an excellent website. I think you could get some good advice from him.

Thank you for your reply!👍

Personally I don't like the sax sounds on any wind synth but all the sounds are better on the AE-30 than on the AE-10. If you want to play tenor sax, play tenor sax.

The truth is, I haven't tried them much. I know this is something folks are interested in. The sax sounds in particular are almost impossible to replicate. I've tried the Soprano sax which you can hear in the demo I did for Roland and one of the other Roland demos has the Bari on it, both of which I think sound better than the AE-10. As I've said in this video I'm really into the synth sounds on the Pro and those instrumental sounds that I don't already play myself.

I'd say all the sounds are better and more responsive than previous models but for violin I'd still use the SWAM violin.

It is the same for me, it il a real problem

I think there design is more like the AE-05 which is better than the AE-10 for that. It's important to leave the Aerophone standing upright when possible to allow for the drain. The other thing is some players are just a little 'wetter' than others.

Thanks Alistair for your explanation of how this works on AE-30. Much appreciated. 🙏

You can programme up to 4 voice harmony which will then move in parallel.

Sorry for not researching but based on another comment answer, I am very certain that there will be multiple fingering presets in addition to having user defined fingerings.

Yes indeed in fact the palm keys can be completely disabled if you prefer. There is a great EWI fingering mode and you can program your own fingerings or set keys to do different things like make a palm key always step up a semitone no matter what note is pressed. So you can have a kind of hybrid system which is what I do.

Matt Traum and I did some programming of sounds. There were others I believe but I don't know their names I'm afraid.

I think in January.

I use Bose speakers. Expensive but great. Have a look at the S1.

Portable public address (PA) speakers used by buskers may also be a good fit. I think it is recommended to avoid electric guitar setups but a keyboard or bass setup should be okay.

Actually, Jay Metcalf from Better Sax claims in his video that the octave keys of the AE30 need even more pressure than those of the AE10

@@FA-fl9sz This is a prototype. Jay has the one with the spit can.

Hi. I'm surprised to hear you say that. I've always found the keys to be easy to press but I guess I come from a saxophone background. The keys on the AE-30 are smoother to press down and feel more positive both in terms of the physical movement and the contact with the sensors to change notes. Again with the octave keys I have not found that the octave keys are at all hard to press down. Perhaps some of the photo-type instruments can vary slightly.

@@isax.academy as mentioned not my personal experience, just something I remembered from Jay's video

Yes indeed.

No, I don't think so, and even it it could the improvement here is in the internal mechanics not just there mouthpiece.

I've tried it going from AE-30 to a synth but not the other way around. I'll try to test that and get back to you.

@@isax.academy Great, thanks Alistair!

Yes, the MIDI In port can be used to play the sounds in the AE-30! The AE-30 works extremely well as a "synth module" for other controllers- even other wind controllers! The breath response going into it via MIDI is very fast- perhaps even slightly faster than using the AE-30's own breath sensor!

@@PatchmanMusic excellent, thanks for letting me know. Makes it seem less expensive if I'm getting a "module" included. I wonder if it comes with 19" rack ears? 😁

Yes you can!

Many thanks.

I have spent many hours on the Aerophone practicing things I will play on the saxophone and it’s been very helpful. I use headphones so the key noise isn’t a problem. Of course you don’t get the response of the subtle changes of response from a real saxophone it as far as fingering is concerned it works well. Remember the Aerophone is a different instrument. To play saxophone well there’s no substitute for a real saxophone. To play wind synth well you need to practice the wind synth. There’s no shortcuts.

@@isax.academy Hi Alistair Many many thanks for the reply many people on KZfaq do not reply and I truly appreciate that. I have been playing alto sax since last august and it is going quite well and I love it , and I practice my alto sax every day for an hour at least but its a problem with neighbours to do mor. So the silent practice is the most interesting thing for me I had been looking only at the YDS 150 but then I saw the Aerophone AE30 and found that even more interesting. I am not worried about the E sax sounding same as a sax, as I get that with my real sax but I do truly like the idea of exploring and expanding my abilities with an E- Sax as well as the benefits of silent practice. When you say practice wind synth how does that differ from the real sax with regards to fingering and playing is there lessons for this matter online or teachers ? I live in the Netherlands.

Hi Barrie. I think we got this fixed on the iSax FB group?

Hi Dan. Do you mean the Akai EWI Solo or have I missed something?

@@isax.academy Yes - I'm hoping there is no conflict with your work with Roland instruments.

Tricky question. You can set the key of the instrument and the fingering system is pretty easy to learn but like anything else if you want to do it well you'll need to practice I'm afraid.

@@isax.academy so do you think that AE30 is for more of a professional or someone that's a newbie? And what's the difference between the AE 30 and the AEO5 or AE10

The Aerophones do not send audio out over bluetooth. This would cause a delay in hearing the sound which would make it very difficult to play.

The AE-30 and the recently released AE-20 now feature a clarinet fingering mode. It is not perfect but it should allow you to apply some of your playing technique to this instrument. While these are not perfect replacement instruments for physical old school instruments, they are good robust electronic instruments in their own right, possibly worth an investment of time and effort to make music with.

Yes indeed. Sorry if that wasn’t clear in the video.

Yes!!!

Yes, but it won’t sound great on anything but bass sounds.

Thanks for listening. I think you mean "James' by Pat Metheny.

@@isax.academy that's the one. Thanks for all you do!

Do you have the right cable to connect it? Some people have had problems using 3rd part adapters and cables that aren't fully supported. Mine connects every time.

Not true, but I have read that the audio limitations of some Android devices can cause latency.

Yes indeed. Just one thought. Many players don't actually use the wireless very often. They prefer a good solid cable connection. The synth in the Pro is excellent but might be more than you need. The AE-05 actually works very well as a controller and is small and light. Probably not much help to you but some more ideas to consider.

It may be possible to add Bluetooth MIDI to the AE-10 these days and there is now a Goldilock’s model, the AE-20 available.

it’s $1,500

According to Alistair in this video it doesn't transmit audio via Bluetooth even though it does receive audio.

Great question!

Unfortunately this is not possible directly. If you're talking about Super Natural sound then the onboard SN sounds on the Pro should be the same or better. If its synth sounds you'd have to search through to find something similar.

It may also be possible to find someone who try to replicate the sound using the Zen-core synth editor.

I’m afraid I don’t get any sticking keys. I wonder if yours will ‘play in’ a bit as you use it more.

I will try. It is just frustrating when it happens.

I’ve been looking around for acceptable lubricants to help overcome the stickiness.

Hi. The tune is James by Pat Metheny. Thanks for watching.

Very subjective. There are so many tonal variations a saxophone can produce. Personally I don’t use the saxophone sounds because I play acoustic saxophone but there are many people who are happy with the saxophone sounds onboard.

To anyone who's listened to any meaningful amount of saxophone music, it does a very poor job, as does any modern saxophone emulation. The technology just isn't there yet and probably has a long way to go.

The sounds of the Aerophone can't be sent over Bluetooth. There would be too much delay. The AE-30 send MIDI over bluetooth to play external gear like a laptop or iPad. You can sen something like a backing track from an iPad to the AE-30 and this sound will be mixed with the internal Aerophone sounds so you can play along with it.

@@isax.academy Thanks for the reply, love your channel.

Hi. I will try to get round to this but I have many videos to produce first. Thanks for watching.

Sorry you’ve had problems. I’ve tested many of these and not had any issues with sticking keys. Perhaps hand positioning is an issue?

The synth-sax thing is great for me because my keyboard skills will never approach my sax skills for playing synth solos in my compositions.

Don't forget Samplemodeling which started the highest quality virtual instruments, and specifically designed it for wind controllers, not just for keyboards.

The EWI was first conceived to play synth sounds, because guess what? You can't do that on a saxophone! And you can't compare it with a keyboard, unless you have a breath controller, but it's still not the same thing. I don't get why you would want to play sub par "acoustic instruments" if you can play the real deal. I can see the need for it for wedding gigs and such if that's your line of work. But then why not just play the saxophone and perhaps the flute? Not a lot to carry around. Rather sound good on two real instruments than ridiculous on 10 fake ones.

That’s why Roland subsequently made a graphite grey model...

Isn't it interesting that, after all these years of real wind synth advancement, that none of them have come close to what Brecker was able to get out of his relatively primitive instrument at the time. Quite a testament to him.

I don't think that is what Alistair is saying! The speakers v key click are two separate issues. If you play without an amp you will still be able to hear well, what he is saying is that this only represents around 5-10% of it's potential; an amp opens up a whole new world. The key clicking is permanent 'come what may' but as a player using an amp/headphones you will not be bothered by this irritating clicking but your audience may depending on your genre. Loud, synthy, jazz/impro - no probs; soft, classical stings, or ethnic tones - big probs!!!

Great video very informative.I too have the small hands problem. I can cope on the finger notes but the octave key arrangement is a real problem as my thumb picks up the other octave keys when crossing up the octave. .I gather the octave keys are raised on the 30 but I haven’t been able to find any where I can check one out. I purchase the 10 last October and was told there was a new model coming out shortly. Due to the lock down I couldn’t return the 10 within the four week return policy although I had been told they would take it back if I purchased the 30. In the event because I was two weeks over the time period. They wouldn’t even take it back at an exchange price so I am stuck with it. So much for their first class after service claim. Many thanks for your videos. John Varney Great video very informative.I too have the small hands problem. I can cope on the finger notes but the octave key arrangement is a real problem as my thumb picks up the other octave keys when crossing up the octave. .I gather the octave keys are raised on the 30 but I haven’t been able to find any where I can check one out. I purchase the 10 last October and was told there was a new model coming out shortly. Due to the lock down I couldn’t return the 10 within the four week return policy although I had been told they would take it back if I purchased the 30. In the event because I was two weeks over the time period. They wouldn’t even take it back at an exchange price so I am stuck with it. So much for their first class after service claim. Many thanks for your videos. John Varney