MIDI keyboards are a kind of missing link in the modern world of computer generated audio. A great many music hobbyists and professionals working in the field of electronic music are generating their sounds and music from inside their computers. The sounds themselves are synthesized by the computer in a virtual environment, and it is the job of a MIDI controller or MIDI keyboard to control these sounds and make them playable just like a traditional musical instrument.

It is a little more complicated than that and MIDI controller keyboards can come in many varieties, differing in price and in features between different models. Piano keyboards will generally try and imitate a piano playing experience with sampled piano sounds and familiar hardware like foot pedals. A MIDI keyboard controller on the other hand either includes a hardware synthesizer on board in which case it is probably best called a synthesizer, or it acts as an interface to a computer running virtual synthesizer programs.

The models that do not include their own synthesis engine are much cheaper but can still be complex pieces of equipment due to the controller functions that they include. Yamaha MIDI keyboards and Roland MIDI keyboards are two popular brands but other companies have developed innovative models in recent years. The remote midi keyboard by novation has become a standard in many music circles, and they have many varieties of this model available. Korg MIDI keyboards and casio MIDI keyboards are also popular with different features and models available.

One function that effects the price is weather the model has a weighted action in the keyboard, many cheap MIDI keyboards do not and have a plastic kind of feel when they are played. More expensive MIDI keyboards will have either a full or a semi weighted action and will feel much more responsive to touch. Aftertouch is another feature sometimes left out on cheap MIDI keyboards, yet most professional keyboard players find this to be a necessary function. The third effect on price is simply the number and quality of the knobs and sliders that control the MIDI data along with the piano style keys.

Most keyboards today are USB MIDI keyboards and connect through the USB port to a host computer. Some however do require a MIDI interface that will need to be installed on the computer before they will work. MIDI keyboard controllers connect through the MIDI data protocol and effect and alter how the synthesizer engine creates sound, whether that engine lies in the MIDI keyboard itself or on a host computer running virtual instruments. There are many different models and brands available, it is best to do your homework before you buy, and probably better to not get the cheaper models as you can grow out of them rather quickly.

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Here we are in the next Millennium! The music industry continues to evolve and musicians are being afforded more opportunities to create music.

What’s definitely here to stay is the marriage of traditional acoustic music and computers. Whether you’re performing music with a combination of acoustic instruments and electronic instruments (such as samplers and sequencers), solely electronic, or just using the computer to write your acoustic music scores, MIDI (that’s Musical Instrument Digital Interface for those who’ve still shied away from electronics) continues to play an integral role in all of this.

In the electronic perspective, as synthesizers are for pianos, electronic wind instruments are for wind instruments. Over the years there have been many instruments that have sprung up to meet the challenge with varying degrees of success. Starting from the low-cost “toys” like the Casio MIDI sax, to more professional models like the AKAI EWI, Yamaha WX7, WX11 and WX5, and the seldom used or heard of Synthophone from the Swiss saxophonist and computer specialist Martin Hurni.

We’ve come a long way from the first electronically amplified saxophone using a wah-wah pedal or other effects to fully electronic instruments that use saxophone-like fingerings (like the EWI and WX-models) to actual saxophones jam-packed with electronics, such as the Synthophone.

Many saxophonists have experimented with this new challenge in different ways. Greg Osby and Gary Thomas electronically amplified their horns and used Pitch-to-MIDI converters in order to drive synthesizers and sequencers on various recordings with Jack De Johnette’s band “Special Edition” and their own recordings.

Michael and Randy Brecker used a wah-wah pedal in earlier recordings of the “Brecker Bros”, and Mike later picked up the EWI with “Steps Ahead” and his own recordings. Concert saxophonist John Sampen has used the WX-7 in specially hired works for the instrument. Saxophonist Chico Freeman used a Synthophone on a live recording while on tour in Germany. Steve Coleman has also used the Synthophone although solely in his home studio for sequencing purposes. I’ve even heard that Branford Marsalis has experimented with it.

Whether you’re considering using one on stage, in the studio or just for fun, there are a few obstacles connected with these instruments, but may be well worth the effort to investigate them.

The Yamaha and AKAI models are what I call “new animals”. They are intended to use saxophone-like fingers but they are not saxophones in any sense. That may please you in the way that you will treat it like a new, unfamiliar instrument. It may bother you because you have to learn to play another instrument and not just let loose and play as you do a sax.

The Synthophone is an actually saxophone stuffed with electronics but mind you, it generates no acoustic sounds at all, just like the other instruments. You may like that because the learning curve is a lot smaller. Again, that may bother you that it is a sax because it doesn’t really respond the sax way as a sax does. All in all it is a matter of personal preference which electronic wind instrument may be worth your time and money.  They can be expensive.

If you use music software such as Steinberg’s CUBASE, Elogic or CODA’s Finale, you can hook up your “e-sax” to your computer to enter notes into your scores the same way you would do with a MIDI keyboard. Instead of struggling to play a piano solo for your sequencing project, maybe you want to play it with your “e-sax” instead.

I personally have experimented along this direction. I’ve used a Roland VP-70 Digital Voice Processor (in Pitch-to-MIDI mode) with Korg Poly 800 (Monophonic/Analog sounds) and Yamaha TX81-Z (Polyphonic/FM-Snythesis) synthesizers with a contact microphone on my sax bell.

This worked very neatly in the studio, but it was a catastrophe on the stage. The problem there was that a Pitch-to-MIDI converter can only process one note at a time. This was fine in the secluded cabin of a recording studio. But on stage you get “spill over” from the guitar, the drums, the bass, etc. – too many signals – the VP would just shut down. I had to change programs in order to get it to kick in again. I should have used a built-in microphone, but really didn’t want to have a hole drilled into the neck and I really didn’t want to change necks in the middle of gig.

Anyway, while using an “e-sax” many things have to be learned and taken into consideration. Sounds are the biggest issue in my opinion. I’ve heard many failed attempts at it. The most common mistake of the “newbie” is to use synthesizer sounds that are really made for a keyboard instrument in mind. If you try to play the sound as though it’s a wind instrument, it really sounds terrible. One really has to pick sounds that are more adept for a wind instrumentalist’s technique.

Evan Tate is a Faculty member at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich, a Julius Keilwerth saxophones endorser, podcaster and author of the book “250 Jazz Patterns” and more. You can contact Mr. Tate at http://www.evantatemusic.com/.

USB MIDI Cable Converter PC to Music Keyboard Window Win Vista XP, Mac OS X

• Supports: Windows Vista/XP/7 (32 bit only) and Mac OS X
• Turn your PC into a music studio by connecting a music keyboard to your computer with the USB MIDI cable
• Easy to install with built-in driver; USB powered, no AC adapter needed
• 1 in + 1 out MIDI interface; 16 MIDI input channels & 16 MIDI output channels
• LED power indicator; MIDI in & out signal indicator; Supports: Windows Vista/XP and Mac OS X

This sturdy MIDI interface cable is self-powered and connects to your computer’s USB port. No need for tools or computer disassembly, it’s the simplest & most convenient way to connect a keyboard or controller to a computer. Gives you the power to play songs on your keyboard or other controller, then mix and edit them on your home computer/laptop with any sequencing or recording software you have installed & play them back on the built-in synth or an any out-board synth!

Price: $ 0.86

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