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This article is a little dated, but I think it’s still good reading.

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. 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.

I had just graduated college and had gotten a “dream job” (which was any regular gig playing music and making good money at it). I got an opportunity to tour with the musical “Bubblin’ Brown Sugar”, a jazz musical, throughout Europe. I played Tenor sax and clarinet. Things were riding smooth. Soon, I was able to memorized the whole book and play with reading. I saw a little bit of the world, met interesting people and played with some fine musicians. After a few months, I go back home to New York City and I got a call from a colleague who I was just on tour with. Jackie Byard’s big band (the Apollo Stompers) was playing a weekend gig in the Village and they needed a sub on 2nd alto. I thought, “Great!” I can get to read some charts again, and possibly make some more contacts for more jazz gigs. I asked, “When is the rehearsal?”, I was told that there was no rehearsal. I just needed to show up to the club and play the gig.

Well, Friday evening came and I showed up nice and early for the gig, ready to blow. Most of the band was already there, too. Jackie Byard wasn’t there yet. I heard from a couple of the other guys in the band that there were a number of subs in the band that night. Almost half the band!

The guy next to me playing lead alto sax asked me if I’d like to play lead. I declined saying I was hired to play second alto. He told me that he was a sub too and didn’t know the book! Well, Jackie Byard showed up 10 minutes before the downbeat and brought the music with him. Just so you understand, none of the “new” guys got to see the music at all before we had to play. Tough!

Anyway, Jackie passed out the charts and called out the first tune. We all flipped through the book, looking to the tune and Jackie started counting off! The tune was a “Rhythm changes” at break-neck tempo with a sax soli. You  can imagine how many of us panicked! On top of “fluffing” through a lot of the notes, the big moment came: the first solo with a solo break. Who was it? Yes, you got it. Me! The second alto was to play the first solo! I was barely able to keep the tempo and just made it through by the skin of my teeth. After my solo there was even more sax soli to play.

After the first tune was over, you can imagine how I felt. I was shaken! Jackie was cursing at the band (so that the audience didn’t hear it), and I felt 2 inches tall. The rest of the evening was a little quieter but there were always surprises.

On the way home that night, I was determined to play the next two nights better than ever and really fight to play everything in sight.

The next two nights went a lot better, but nonetheless, after it was over, I got paid, no “thank you”s, and didn’t get a call to play with the band again.

Lesson here? You always have to be ready. Ready to read anything, solo over anything at any tempo, and keep your chops up. You see, although when I was on tour, I always kept practicing (which can be hard to do on tour) but forgot to keep my reading chops up. Well, I paid a dear price for ignoring that.

Now, you all may not live near a metropolitan city where the music scene is so intense as it is in New York, or Chicago, Philadelphia or Los Angeles, but it pays to keep your skills at the highest caliber you possibly can – just in case.

Programs for musicians have also appeared early in the game. The Apps are ranging from simple instrument simulators like, bass, guitar, drums, and percussion for example, but to multitrack recording programs as well. Among those instrument simulators are also clarinets, flutes, trumpets and, of course, saxophones.

Saxophone by Music of Expression

“Saxophone” is a relatively simple program created by Music of Expression (www.musicofx.com), who also produces the programs “Trumpet”, “Clarinet”, “Trombone” and “Flute”. With the “Saxophone” program you can adjust the saxophone voice (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone), setup how you’d like to play the octave, either by an exact tilt of your iPod / iPhone, a “tilt-flex” (which changes around the break), or with “touch”, where you move the octave sliders manually. You can also setup to play a synth sound, or play as MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), where you can connect to, for example, GarageBand, using their “musicofx midi tool” (available for MacOS, and Windows). As far price is concerned, US$ 1.00 (EUR 0,79) , for all that it does, can’t be beat. Saxophone can be quite fun, but with all new things like this, … you’ll have to practice in order to get any real nice results. Check out a demo here.

Saxophone in Reach

Music in Reach (www.musicinreach.com) has produced a small line of educational software which they claim is for beginners and professionals alike. Music in Reach has apps for Saxophone, Flute, Trumpet, Trombone, Clarinet, Rhythm, and Instruments in general. I checked out the saxophone and clarinet apps.

For each instrument, a fingering chart is presented, as well as a trill chart. Videos (that have to be downloaded) are presented by a well-known artist on such topics as embouchure position and such. Real basic stuff. I don’t see how a professional should have any use for this. You also have a list of etude that, again, you’ll have to download. Audio recordings of the selected etudes you have to download as well. For an App that costs over US$ 3.00 (EUR 2,39), I really don’t see the real value here. Niether in the lessons, nor in the use for professionals (as they claim). Well, this app gets a “thumbs down” from me. Check it out yourself here.

Jamstar Saxophone

Jamstar Saxophone is developed by Really Useless Software. They also produce “Jamstar Guitar” and “Jamstar Piano”. All it has are stars with note names in them. They play the notes of the one and only sax sound. There are also stars between the stars. You got it, these are the half-steps. All I can say is that it’s cute, it’s free (for now), it’s totally useless! Check it out.

Summary

There are more Sax Apps and for sure there will be more to come, but right now, among these apps (if you haveto have them), Saxophone by Music of Expression got my vote. But all in all, I think one should spend their time practicing a real saxophone rather fooling around with an App.