Your help on BLE midi led me to getting the WIDI master for my WX5. The master version removes the hanging dongle and is just a plug. I love it, and don’t get any cutoffs or lag. Thanks.
Hello Calvin,in your opinion which DAW has the best instrument realistic sounds for such electronic wind synths,for many years I have used the wx5 in conjunction with the VL70M,great sounds ,far superior to some of the modern wind synths built in sounds. Great video thanks again.
Hello Patrick. You would know from my videos that I do have access to the VL70 with the Patchman patches installed. I've actually moved away from relying on external hardware soundbanks because of the advances on the software side. My opinion is that software is much more affordable but more importantly, more responsive allowing for more authentic expression in music making. It's not so much which DAW is better because I find DAWS sounds quite unnatural. For orchestral sounds, my best pick would be Audiomodeling's SWAM instruments which allow you to play really nice expressive winds, brass, and string instruments. My absolute fav among them would be the English Horn, Oboe, and Cello sounds. (incidentally, their summer sale ends August 2023 audiomodeling.com/) For more experimental synth type sounds, I would go for Rudy Verpaele's Respiro www.imoxplus.com/site/ or Davidson Carpenter's Evi-Ner or Lyrihorn 2 www.davidsonaudioandmultimedia.com/ All these use physical modeling which allows more dynamics and expression over samples and midi. Note that they can be used as plugins in most DAWs (hence my comment about it not being the DAW that matters since the DAW only serves as host). SWAM and Respiro are also standalone so you just connect directly to your windcontroller either via BLE-midi or with a USB-C to USB-C (or A depending on your computer) cable. SWAM also has their full range of sounds in iPad for much lower price and Respiro has an app you can download for free (they only have a limited number of sounds and parameters can't be played around like the computer version). Again, these need to be connected via BLE-midi if you are using the WX-5 (see below) Of course, the old yamaha windcontrollers only have 5 pin midi ports. To overcome that, you can connect your WX5 to these sounds using the CME widi master which helps older instruments to bypass cable compatibility issues. If you really want to stick to hardware soundbanks like the VL-70, I hear good things about Ingo Scherzinger's Xpresso soundbanks. Alot more expression involved in the newer hardware which makes playing more pleasurable. www.dynasample.com/ Hope that helps!
Thanks for the video. It would have been nice if you could have had a camera capturing the the view screen of the VL70-m as you were playing it using the R1. As a test you could probably get either a WIDI Master or another WIDI Jack to again turn the WX5 into a wireless MIDI controller and connect to the VL70-m with the initial WIDI Jack plugged in to see if you get the cutouts with that configuration. Please also note that the CME WIDI products can be configured so if there are issues you may be able to update firmware and/or adjust parameters to address connectivity issues. What kind of store did you walk into to pickup the CME WIDI products locally? That is somewhat convenient. Again, thanks for the videos.
Thanks for your feedback. The store is www.citymusic.com.sg/ - they bring in legit CME gear and know the folk at CME well. Mike tells me the CME guys are really really nice and actually wanted the pairings to be documented. We did three tests at the store - started with pairing the WX-5 with the VL-70, then went on to test WX-5 with iPad/Mac and finally the R1 with VL-70. All worked well. Mike let me have an extra widijack to bring home but I couldn't pair the WX-5 and VL-70 successfully when I got home and experienced glitches with the R1 and VL-70. Will work with them again to see if we can trouble shoot where the issue is...
Hey Calvin! I think if the connection goes off for real, it won't just go back to normal by itself. I suspect it is just MIDI configuration. Do you hear any dynamics playing R1 with VL-70? You might try turning off "Note On Velocity", or try a lower Breath Sensitivity number. From my personal experience with the current firmware, the threshold of strength could go lower. Let me know if this is the case!
Hello again Calvin,I recently purchased the WIDI jack in conjunction with my WX5,downloaded the Swam audio modelling flute app,done the connections,and got the wx5 to play wirelessly,what I cannot get the setup to do is respond to breath sensitively,same level all the time,I only recently got the setup running,so am I missing some setting that I need to tweak,or is their some advanced app that only allows you to control breath sensitively,I would be obliged if you could advice me,I would be curious also to know what make of workstation you work with. Thanks again Calvin,very well explained midi topics.
O I wish I could help you better but I'm not very familiar with the WX5. It was a gift from someone but I passed it back to him as I was persuaded that I wasn't going to use it much. I remember there was a rubber cover on the WX5. Underneath that are some manual settings you can play with (p6 in the manual) mybreathmymusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Yamaha-WX5-Manual-English.pdf . I think if you follow the instructions on p22, you might be able to make some adjustments and hopefully address the issue. Best wishes. O by the way, are you using SWAM on your computer or on iPad? In SWAM, you have your midi mapping presets which have all the current major windcontrollers. So in my case, I just select Robkoo and everything works just fine. Unfortunately, they don't have a WX-5 there. I think you just have to select the generic Wind Controller default as the preset (just my guess).
Yes the housing is made of plastic. Its one of the lightest midi windcontrollers I’ve held which you will appreciate after playing your instrument for some time. The aodyo sylphyo is another very light high performance plastic instrument. I’ve had my R1 for over a year already. Still looks pretty good. It has a matt finish which doesn’t scratch easily. Robkoo is now kickstarter launching their new Clarii which is even smaller than the R1. I’ve ordered mine but don’t hv actual playing experience on it to make comments. My guess is it’s a smaller version but still big on features like it’s big brother.
Your help on BLE midi led me to getting the WIDI master for my WX5. The master version removes the hanging dongle and is just a plug. I love it, and don’t get any cutoffs or lag. Thanks.
Hello Calvin,in your opinion which DAW has the best instrument realistic sounds for such electronic wind synths,for many years I have used the wx5 in conjunction with the VL70M,great sounds ,far superior to some of the modern wind synths built in sounds.
Great video thanks again.
Hello Patrick. You would know from my videos that I do have access to the VL70 with the Patchman patches installed. I've actually moved away from relying on external hardware soundbanks because of the advances on the software side. My opinion is that software is much more affordable but more importantly, more responsive allowing for more authentic expression in music making. It's not so much which DAW is better because I find DAWS sounds quite unnatural. For orchestral sounds, my best pick would be Audiomodeling's SWAM instruments which allow you to play really nice expressive winds, brass, and string instruments. My absolute fav among them would be the English Horn, Oboe, and Cello sounds. (incidentally, their summer sale ends August 2023 audiomodeling.com/)
For more experimental synth type sounds, I would go for Rudy Verpaele's Respiro www.imoxplus.com/site/ or Davidson Carpenter's Evi-Ner or Lyrihorn 2 www.davidsonaudioandmultimedia.com/
All these use physical modeling which allows more dynamics and expression over samples and midi. Note that they can be used as plugins in most DAWs (hence my comment about it not being the DAW that matters since the DAW only serves as host). SWAM and Respiro are also standalone so you just connect directly to your windcontroller either via BLE-midi or with a USB-C to USB-C (or A depending on your computer) cable.
SWAM also has their full range of sounds in iPad for much lower price and Respiro has an app you can download for free (they only have a limited number of sounds and parameters can't be played around like the computer version). Again, these need to be connected via BLE-midi if you are using the WX-5 (see below)
Of course, the old yamaha windcontrollers only have 5 pin midi ports. To overcome that, you can connect your WX5 to these sounds using the CME widi master which helps older instruments to bypass cable compatibility issues. If you really want to stick to hardware soundbanks like the VL-70, I hear good things about Ingo Scherzinger's Xpresso soundbanks. Alot more expression involved in the newer hardware which makes playing more pleasurable.
www.dynasample.com/
Hope that helps!
Thanks for the video. It would have been nice if you could have had a camera capturing the the view screen of the VL70-m as you were playing it using the R1. As a test you could probably get either a WIDI Master or another WIDI Jack to again turn the WX5 into a wireless MIDI controller and connect to the VL70-m with the initial WIDI Jack plugged in to see if you get the cutouts with that configuration. Please also note that the CME WIDI products can be configured so if there are issues you may be able to update firmware and/or adjust parameters to address connectivity issues. What kind of store did you walk into to pickup the CME WIDI products locally? That is somewhat convenient. Again, thanks for the videos.
Thanks for your feedback. The store is www.citymusic.com.sg/ - they bring in legit CME gear and know the folk at CME well. Mike tells me the CME guys are really really nice and actually wanted the pairings to be documented.
We did three tests at the store - started with pairing the WX-5 with the VL-70, then went on to test WX-5 with iPad/Mac and finally the R1 with VL-70. All worked well.
Mike let me have an extra widijack to bring home but I couldn't pair the WX-5 and VL-70 successfully when I got home and experienced glitches with the R1 and VL-70. Will work with them again to see if we can trouble shoot where the issue is...
Cool❤
Hey Calvin! I think if the connection goes off for real, it won't just go back to normal by itself. I suspect it is just MIDI configuration. Do you hear any dynamics playing R1 with VL-70? You might try turning off "Note On Velocity", or try a lower Breath Sensitivity number. From my personal experience with the current firmware, the threshold of strength could go lower. Let me know if this is the case!
Yes, thanks for the feedback. I'll try that and let you know!
Hello again Calvin,I recently purchased the WIDI jack in conjunction with my WX5,downloaded the Swam audio modelling flute app,done the connections,and got the wx5 to play wirelessly,what I cannot get the setup to do is respond to breath sensitively,same level all the time,I only recently got the setup running,so am I missing some setting that I need to tweak,or is their some advanced app that only allows you to control breath sensitively,I would be obliged if you could advice me,I would be curious also to know what make of workstation you work with.
Thanks again Calvin,very well explained midi topics.
O I wish I could help you better but I'm not very familiar with the WX5. It was a gift from someone but I passed it back to him as I was persuaded that I wasn't going to use it much. I remember there was a rubber cover on the WX5. Underneath that are some manual settings you can play with (p6 in the manual) mybreathmymusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Yamaha-WX5-Manual-English.pdf . I think if you follow the instructions on p22, you might be able to make some adjustments and hopefully address the issue. Best wishes.
O by the way, are you using SWAM on your computer or on iPad? In SWAM, you have your midi mapping presets which have all the current major windcontrollers. So in my case, I just select Robkoo and everything works just fine. Unfortunately, they don't have a WX-5 there. I think you just have to select the generic Wind Controller default as the preset (just my guess).
Is there a delay on playback without a wire? Or is there no delay?
I don’t notice it much when I play but if you’re playing in a live set, you should use a wired set up. I think most of the pros do it that way.
Is the housing from plastic? Does it scratch easily or no?
Yes the housing is made of plastic. Its one of the lightest midi windcontrollers I’ve held which you will appreciate after playing your instrument for some time. The aodyo sylphyo is another very light high performance plastic instrument. I’ve had my R1 for over a year already. Still looks pretty good. It has a matt finish which doesn’t scratch easily.
Robkoo is now kickstarter launching their new Clarii which is even smaller than the R1. I’ve ordered mine but don’t hv actual playing experience on it to make comments. My guess is it’s a smaller version but still big on features like it’s big brother.
@@calvinchong8740 Thank you kindly for your reply! 🤗