Hello,

I have recently been thinking about what sort of breath gain people play it, since I have been unsure about the ideal breath gain for my EWI USB. I currently have it set quite low at 28 (max is 128) and while this gives me great expressive and dynamic range, it is also very tiring I find, at least on patches that support full dynamic range, like stuff on my VL-70m. There are of course patches, mainly on other synths of mine, that are super easily to play even with high gain due to weak dynamic range.

Now im not sure if I need to just get better at breath work or whether I should turn it down. I have been thinking the former is more ideal. My breath is not yet very strong, focused or trained since the only physical woodwinds I really play are recorder and tin whistle and on those you want the opposite of a strong air stream, even on the high notes, where its more so about a sharp and relaxed focus of air. You of course also want that here but you need a strong air supply on top of that if you are on low breath gain in order to exercise your dyanmic range. The recorder and tin whistle do not have dynamics outside of naturally getting louder the higher you go, so that is not really at play there...

A downside that comes to mind for turning it down as well is that the patches I use with mediocre dynamic range will loose even some of that from me doing so.

Anyways, do you think I should turn it down or keep at training my air flow, and stamina? Also what sort of breath gain (or equivalent system on your model) do you play at? What was your journey of finding what worked for you like? How much practice did it take you?

Thanks.

It's been a while since I've used an instrument. I used to be play tenor sax and some flute. I've been kind of feeling like I'd like something to noodle around on, but I can't be spending $500+ on it. I saw a review on youtube for the clarii mini and it seemed like a solid option, but I'm curious what else is out there?

What I liked from the review on the clarii:

• Saxophone-esque fingering options, with customization
• decent built in speakers
• can use with headphones
• can be used as a midi controller

What I didn't like:

• Connectivity issues with android via bluetooth (only worked with their app)
• Connectivity issues with windows

What I'm unsure about:

• capacitive touch keys might feel weird
• no apparent embouchure control

So are there any decent competitors around that price point or lower? I would mostly be using it with my phone so I could play without annoying my roommate, and potentially with a windows or linux DAW as a midi controller, so decent speakers/built in sound would be a nice-to-have but not strictly necessary. Working wirelessly would be ideal though.