Just got this home yesterday, and I replaced the reed. I am not a Sax player, so the amount of pressure I had to put on the reed with my teeth bugged me. Made a new one with a piece of plastic from an old 3.5 inch diskette and it's great. Why doesn't Roland sell the reeds? Why does the mouthpiece only come with a hard reed? There is a business opportunity there I think!
Forgive me if you’re an experienced player. One way to check things is to set the breath to be always on. Go to hold mode and select breath. Blow once into the Aerophone. A note should sound even without you blowing. Now test the bite range as follows. Use your thumb to push the reed up and see what happens with the pitch. Can you hold it in tune - flat and sharp? It can be hard to judge our lip pressure.
Hello, Alistair. I have walked through the steps in your video several times. I have version 3.02. You mention Assgn Bite Source, and on my Aerophone AE 30, mine says Assgn Src Bite. Perhaps the same thing, not sure. The menu says System, and I have it set to Scene. You also mentioned that you have your Bite Down and your Bite Up Range set to off. I do not see Bite Up/Bite Down Range anywhere. In the Assgn section in the menu, I see several BiteDn_1 functions and Bite Up_2. Perhaps because of these misunderstandings, I am not getting the same. "whole tone" lip-down bend you speak of at the 7:51 section of your video, or am I able to get the lip-down harmony. I wish that I could see your screens when you are going through these sections, which may clear up my confusion. Unfortunately, I am not experiencing this beautiful benefit yet.
I think I landed on the answers to my questions from "Setting the breath sensor on the Roland Aerophone Pro & AE-20." Thank you, Alistair. Some of the setting titles were a bit confusing, but I am on the right path of bite control now.
I’m still a novice with theAE-20 but I’m wondering if this adding harmony by scene would create a more realistic sound for harmonica - to have it sounding like you’re blowing 2 or 3 holes rather than single notes.
Is there a way to have the controller play multiple notes and patches so it can emulate a 3 or 4 piece horn section and program the intervals between each patch?
Yes indeed. I have a whole course at www.iSax.academy that takes you through all the advanced features of the AE-20 and AE-30. The AE-30 also has intelligent harmony where the intervals will adhere to a certain key if required. Also check out our podcast at www.aerophoneacademy.com for a great resource on wind synths.
When are we getting a bite update for the AE-10, to _finally_ let us bend up or down from a note, like a real reed instrument? When I bought mine, shortly after it came out some years ago, I assumed they'd be fixing that soon. It never happened, of course.
@@unclemick-synths No, it really only bends down from Equal Temperament, never up. It's not considered a bug, it was their intention. It's what happens when a keyboard manufacturer tries to make a woodwind instrument.
@@noelgillett346 Yes, the WX5 is a far better instrument, IMO. The AE-10 also has annoyingly "tactile" (clicky) keys, which get in the way of playing it - like a tiny little obstacle for each finger to overcome before it's allowed to do what it came for. I have a VL70m, but just the standard ROM in it. In theory I can use VL-Wizard to edit patches, and as a patch librarian, so it's like having more Cust slots. In practice it as some usability flaws but the librarian part works well enough. The AE-10 has been a bit of a disappointment, really. As you say, the reed response is very important, and they blew it. It's kind of late, wayward and drunken feeling in the way it responds too. The AE-10 sounds are based on the same system as the Roland Integra basically just a cleverer ROMpler. Some of them are okay, but the VL70m feels more alive, responding more like a real instrument, even if it doesn't sound as realistic to the casual observer.
Hi Garry. The settings in this video are directed at AE-20/30 owners. The AE-10 has different menu options and settings. I have covered those in earlier videos. You should also find help in the Aerophone Basics Course which I believe you are a member of.
I need help using the ae-30 or wx5 as a controller! I have tried my WX5 (just bought used-ebay) with reason europa vst and swam cello- these are capable of use with wind controllers ..... after adjusting all parameters, I have no breath/volume or bite response but it did play sounds. So I tried my aerophone. It also had no breath/volume or bite/bend ability either...it works well with its built in sounds. Good bite-breath features. Can anyone help. I bought the wx5 used and need to find out if it will work. Without breath/vol or bite/bend there is NO expressiveness and its garbage.
Adding Harmony Switch to Bite control... Brilliant! Thanks.
Glad it was helpful!
Alistair, thank you ever so much for this and all your other marvelous aerophone videos. I'd be lost without them! Kudos to you.
Many thanks!
Thanks for another fun filled video Alistair. These tips were really helpful to learn and will be practicing this new teqniuqe when I practice.
Great to hear!
Just got this home yesterday, and I replaced the reed. I am not a Sax player, so the amount of pressure I had to put on the reed with my teeth bugged me. Made a new one with a piece of plastic from an old 3.5 inch diskette and it's great. Why doesn't Roland sell the reeds? Why does the mouthpiece only come with a hard reed? There is a business opportunity there I think!
I think I need to send mine back to Roland for them to look at. I only sporadically get bend up after calibration.
Forgive me if you’re an experienced player.
One way to check things is to set the breath to be always on. Go to hold mode and select breath.
Blow once into the Aerophone.
A note should sound even without you blowing.
Now test the bite range as follows.
Use your thumb to push the reed up and see what happens with the pitch.
Can you hold it in tune - flat and sharp?
It can be hard to judge our lip pressure.
Hello, Alistair. I have walked through the steps in your video several times. I have version 3.02. You mention Assgn Bite Source, and on my Aerophone AE 30, mine says Assgn Src Bite. Perhaps the same thing, not sure. The menu says System, and I have it set to Scene. You also mentioned that you have your Bite Down and your Bite Up Range set to off. I do not see Bite Up/Bite Down Range anywhere. In the Assgn section in the menu, I see several BiteDn_1 functions and Bite Up_2. Perhaps because of these misunderstandings, I am not getting the same. "whole tone" lip-down bend you speak of at the 7:51 section of your video, or am I able to get the lip-down harmony. I wish that I could see your screens when you are going through these sections, which may clear up my confusion. Unfortunately, I am not experiencing this beautiful benefit yet.
I think I landed on the answers to my questions from "Setting the breath sensor on the Roland Aerophone Pro & AE-20." Thank you, Alistair. Some of the setting titles were a bit confusing, but I am on the right path of bite control now.
Hi. Glad you got sorted. Sorry if I got the menu title slightly confused.
Please put the model number(s) in the title of the videos so we know right away what models your clips apply to. Thanks!
This video is great!
Thank you. 🙏
I’m still a novice with theAE-20 but I’m wondering if this adding harmony by scene would create a more realistic sound for harmonica - to have it sounding like you’re blowing 2 or 3 holes rather than single notes.
I think that could work very well.
Is there a way to have the controller play multiple notes and patches so it can emulate a 3 or 4 piece horn section and program the intervals between each patch?
Yes indeed.
I have a whole course at www.iSax.academy that takes you through all the advanced features of the AE-20 and AE-30.
The AE-30 also has intelligent harmony where the intervals will adhere to a certain key if required.
Also check out our podcast at www.aerophoneacademy.com for a great resource on wind synths.
When are we getting a bite update for the AE-10, to _finally_ let us bend up or down from a note, like a real reed instrument? When I bought mine, shortly after it came out some years ago, I assumed they'd be fixing that soon. It never happened, of course.
AE-10 should bend notes if you have BiteCtrl, Pit Down, Pit Up, and BiteSens set appropriately unless some other setting is overriding them.
@@unclemick-synths No, it really only bends down from Equal Temperament, never up. It's not considered a bug, it was their intention. It's what happens when a keyboard manufacturer tries to make a woodwind instrument.
@@noelgillett346 Yes, the WX5 is a far better instrument, IMO. The AE-10 also has annoyingly "tactile" (clicky) keys, which get in the way of playing it - like a tiny little obstacle for each finger to overcome before it's allowed to do what it came for.
I have a VL70m, but just the standard ROM in it. In theory I can use VL-Wizard to edit patches, and as a patch librarian, so it's like having more Cust slots. In practice it as some usability flaws but the librarian part works well enough.
The AE-10 has been a bit of a disappointment, really. As you say, the reed response is very important, and they blew it. It's kind of late, wayward and drunken feeling in the way it responds too.
The AE-10 sounds are based on the same system as the Roland Integra basically just a cleverer ROMpler. Some of them are okay, but the VL70m feels more alive, responding more like a real instrument, even if it doesn't sound as realistic to the casual observer.
On my ae-10 it says bend range not bend range source. I’m stumped! There is no system setting. Help please!!!!!!
Hi Garry. The settings in this video are directed at AE-20/30 owners. The AE-10 has different menu options and settings. I have covered those in earlier videos.
You should also find help in the Aerophone Basics Course which I believe you are a member of.
I need help using the ae-30 or wx5 as a controller!
I have tried my WX5 (just bought used-ebay) with reason europa vst and swam cello- these are capable of use with wind controllers ..... after adjusting all parameters, I have no breath/volume or bite response but it did play sounds.
So I tried my aerophone. It also had no breath/volume or bite/bend ability either...it works well with its built in sounds. Good bite-breath features.
Can anyone help. I bought the wx5 used and need to find out if it will work. Without breath/vol or bite/bend there is NO expressiveness and its garbage.
Did you set the Aerophone profile in the midi settings of SWAM?
Bedankt
Many thanks Pieter.
What is a scene?
Hi. A scene is just the name Roland use for a sound.