# I just bought a Yamaha WX5....what instruments do you suggest, soft or hard?



## uhoh7 (Jan 3, 2023)

My first instrument was a clarinet (1980) and I now have alto and tenor as well, but my primary squeeze is keys. I had given up on wind controllers until I saw a video showing the old WX7 with a Moog.....anyway I found a Yamaha WX5 and it's coming. I already own a MOXF, which Matt at patchman has a bunch of instruments for...and I might also try some programing....

I have old Proteus, JV1010, Virus TI, DM12, MPC1000 also...However, I read many love the VL70m especially with patchman turbo...and I've found a few....a bit rich but if it's gonna be much better than MOXF or something else, I'd consider seriously getting one.

Or....Audio Modeling SWAM seems reasonable on IOS and I'll need to test their stuff with a new board coming in Feb due to MPE support anyway. I use a 12.9 iPad Pro. It plays pretty well church organs and harpsichords etc. 

How does Swam compare to VL70m you guys think? Is that "WX cable" much better than MIDI DIN? Or maybe you have some sample libraries you think are way better. I have older Kontackt version 5x or something that works in Logic on a MBP which keeps Mojave for other reasons.

Anyway I need some direction so I don't loose too much practice time wallowing in rabbit holes......

Any and all suggestions, reviews, experiences, greatly appreciated. Sincere thanks in advance.


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## doctoremmet (Jan 4, 2023)

At this point I wouldn’t get hung up on the VL70m / patchman combo, and just get SWAM instruments. And if you’re in need of physically modeled synth sounds, have a look at synths like Rhizomatic Plasmonic, and if you happen to have NI Reaktor there’s a ton of free very cool ensembles, such as Steampipe.

I also absolutely love IMOXplus Respiro for synth sounds and faux wind ones.


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## doctoremmet (Jan 4, 2023)




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## outland (Jan 4, 2023)

I sold my VL70m (with the Turbo block, which is quite an improvement over the stock sounds) years ago after getting Sample Modeling (brass) and then, Audio Modeling (woodwinds, now all) sounds. The VL70m wasn't bad, but I did find myself only using a few emulative brass sounds, (if memory serves) baritone sax (I play the other saxes), clarinet, and bass clarinet. Both Sample Modeling and Audio Modeling are far closer to the acoustic instruments I was composing for, so I switched over when I needed emulative patches. Synth sounds are better accomplished with Serum, Dune 3, U-he, (interestingly) Reason's Thor, and many other soft synths with good modulation schemes.

The WX cable is usable only with the VL70m (I don't think even the VL-1m had an input, though it definitely should have.) Once the data enters the VL70m, the output from the VL70m is back to MIDI, so unless you intend to only use only that unit, eventually you're constrained to MIDI anyway. FWIW, I found there was usually no real perceivable difference between MIDI and the WX cable even within the VL70m's sound and never saw any objective proof that anyone could tell the two input types apart in an A/B comparison in almost any normally usable situation, no matter the hype about it (which, in truth, was minimal.) Also to be considered is the fact that the VL70m was not programmable without the Yamaha software editor (which, again if memory serves, was only PC.) What you heard was what you got with that unit except for a handful of performance parameters. The presets in that sense (unless you had the aforementioned software) were in fact the whole unit. And even if you did have the software (again, if memory serves), programming was nothing like traditional patch programming.

I currently own two WX5's and one WX7. I wish the WX5 was still being made and may still pick up yet another used WX5. I kind of resent Roland's packaging their wind controller only with a synthesizer on board (that I probably will never use.) Akai's controller has no real pitch control at the mouthpiece, so that's been kind of a no-go for me as well. Coming up from the old Lyricon II, the Yamaha WX series was the most natural.


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## achtagon (Jan 4, 2023)

As an EWI player I find the low budget has some very high quality options these days in a DAW. Check out EVI-NER and Lyrihorn.

Also checkout these gems that run under NI Reaktor https://www.native-instruments.com/en/reaktor-community/reaktor-user-library/all/all/all/300659/

The Craftsynth 2 is a little affordable synth that some love for wind controllers, but I bought one that worked for a day and then stopped responding. Got a refund for it but didn't like seeing other people complain about similar quality issues. Sound-wise it was promising but touchy.


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## rsg22 (Jan 4, 2023)

I use a WX7, Akai 4000s, and NuRAD - I second the recommendations for Respiro, EVI-NER, and Lyrihorn 2. AcousticSamples VHorns also works great with wind controllers (they have presets for specific wind controllers).

As you can tell from the Patchman website there are many soft synths that work well with breath control (and many more that aren't listed there).

Some recent hardware synths that seem popular are the Novation Peak, Behringer Neutron, to a lesser extent the Arturia Microfreak, and others. Moog, etc. I have a MakeNoise 0-coast that I finally got decent results from but I'm not sure I'd recommend it over the more popular choices.



achtagon said:


> The Craftsynth 2 is a little affordable synth that some love for wind controllers, but I bought one that worked for a day and then stopped responding. Got a refund for it but didn't like seeing other people complain about similar quality issues. Sound-wise it was promising but touchy.



Yikes - I have one of these on the way - they're getting hard to find and I was happy to finally snag one. This makes me nervous...


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## achtagon (Jan 4, 2023)

rsg22 said:


> Yikes - I have one of these on the way - they're getting hard to find and I was happy to finally snag one. This makes me nervous...


The tip I can give is: only use USB power via a wall plug, computer, or USB battery bank. The AA alkaline battery compartment comes with a warning card about wrong polarity damaging the device. And the required orientation isn't terribly clear! While I know I had batteries in correctly, it was weak batteries leading to freezing and forced resarts that did mine in. I think their circuit design went cheap on the power management.

There's a youtube video cry for help with the same symptoms as mine experienced. I could connect with the android app, lights lit, but no sound. Firmware flashes went fine but some audio output board fried died to low batteries.


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## uhoh7 (Jan 5, 2023)

Thanks so much for all the replies! I found a VL-70 turbo for reasonable amount, and I'll think I'll start with that as I've grown to hate fiddling with software, MIDI config, and wasting precious practice time. One cable...sweet. Once I get up to speed on playing....well there is no shortage of options it sounds like. Swam stuff is loved by many, and I have hardware synths for fun.

I was whining about keyboard expression in another forum, and somebody posted me this vid. That's what got me going. I read the WX7 is tricky, WX5 plastic, but easier to get going on. I'll let you guys know how I like it. I know one thing:

low notes will be easier than on tenor or alto


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## outland (Jan 7, 2023)

uhoh7 said:


> Thanks so much for all the replies! I found a VL-70 turbo for reasonable amount, and I'll think I'll start with that as I've grown to hate fiddling with software, MIDI config, and wasting precious practice time. One cable...sweet. Once I get up to speed on playing....well there is no shortage of options it sounds like. Swam stuff is loved by many, and I have hardware synths for fun.
> 
> I was whining about keyboard expression in another forum, and somebody posted me this vid. That's what got me going. I read the WX7 is tricky, WX5 plastic, but easier to get going on. I'll let you guys know how I like it. I know one thing:
> 
> low notes will be easier than on tenor or alto



Did you happen to notice this (and so, I stand corrected in one comment I made):


https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/NVhvZjAmtw0?autoplay=1

Apparently, the same company that makes Respiro made an editor for the VL70m. You might want to check it out.


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