Roland Aerophone AE-20

The delivery was fast and the communication with Thomann was fine, thanks a lot :)

I am upgrading from AE-10 to the new AE-20, I can describe my first comparison after one week. Overall - the AE-20 is much better, I am satisfied (although there are small things that could be improvement).

AE-20 design and construction (compared to AE-10):
- visually the instrument has moved a lot further, it looks good and professional and not like a vacuum cleaner (as the AE-10 was nicknamed in my band)
- it has improved key mechanics, quieter with better strokes
- it is slightly longer and heavier with a different center of gravity
- the position of the right thumb is adjustable (2 attachments), but beware of losing them (cannot be bought now)
- the tight palm keys have improved significantly, I do not longer have a problem with Bb :)
- left palm keys moved inwards the hand palm. I sometimes find difficult to distinguish between pressing Eb and D in fast bound runs (eg in A - D bound run I often press s right before D and Eb :( ) D should be higher and in a slightly different location.Hopefully a few layers of duct tape on the key will help.
- significantly improved HW of mouthpiece and bite force detection and regulation (vibrato, tuning)
- I find it more breathable
- It has a standard small headphone jack, cable holder on the bottom :)
- It has a diode that shows discharge warning and the display that shows the battery status :)
- It has less solid package. But it is dimensionally more efficient than the half-round one from the AE-10. I would like something in between here. I had to make reinforcements, otherwise I would be a little worried about the instrument during transports. The zips inside are also not very practical and they stick to the sides.
- Slightly shorter battery life.
- 2 listening speakers now go directly against the face (in the AE-10 one went to the front) and are closer so I can hear myself better (if I don't have headphones)
- The octave keys are higher and more on the tip of the thumb, I have to get used to them. Again, I would like something between the AE-10 and the AE-20.
- The neck strap distance to eye is a bit shorter than the AE-10, otherwise it's the same as the AE-10 and scratches my neck.
- The AE-20 eyelet for the neck strap is metal (not plastic).
- I made my own neck strap with open hook from one of my old tenorsax straps (it needs shortening). The original (same as AE-10) has hook with locking part which I don't like - I change sax, clarinet and aerophone often..

Electronics and software
- wireless bluetooth connection for background songs while practising and for app (scene settings)
- better SW for Android with more detailed setting options
- slightly improved SuperNatural sounds (not more sounds/scenes, but improved)
- much more ZenCore sounds/scenes and better, here I can finally choose and choose :) (synths, guitars, keyboards)
- faster harware/CPU (On the AE-10, the HW could not keep up with 3 layered parallel sounds - it had noticeable delays; here it is OK)
- better settings (e.g. added tuning for the whole instrument and not just per scene... but there's a lot more)

So those were my first impressions a week after the upgrade.

Perfektní nástroj.
-lehký nástroj
-tiché cvičení
-možnost výběru nástrojů
-možnost transponovat
-možnost nastavit efekty "delay,chorus atd"
-spuštění doprovodu přímo do nástroje
výstup jde mix doprovodu a toho co hraji.
-dobrá aplikace pro editaci
-zapojení do repro hlasitost kterou požaduji
Je to hudební nástroj u kterého bude dlouho trvat než narazím na limity které by mě omezili. Nástroj dodán s praktickým bezpečným pouzdrem na přenášení s praktickou kapsou na další příslušenství. Jediné co jsem dokupoval ( 6x AA NiMh baterie, audio kabel,kvalitní sluchátka,
jiný popruh na krk"). Sluchátka koupena tato: Audio-Technica ATH-M40X taktéž na shopu thomann mám v tento shop důvěru a co jsem vždy objednal byl sem velice spokojen.

I expected a glorified digital recorder but I got a real instrument. Initially, I was disappointed with the sounds, but on further review using headphones, I see that there is more to the sound layers than was initially told. The marketing by Roland does not do this product any justice. There is a lot more than has been said. If you think this will make you a better musician, it won’t; it will only magnify your flaws. Only if you are ready to fill in for different parts and to build your craft the right way should you think of getting this instrument.