AKAI Professional EWI 5000

I have had my EWI 5000 for a year now, so it seems to be time to sum up some of my impressions and thoughts.

The EWI comes in a box containing the EWI itself and its accesories, that is:one battery pack, one USB cable, one charging device/PSU, one wireless audio receiver, one neck strap and documentation. The neckstrap is not very reliable, so it's likely that you'll want to get a better one. It's also likely that you'll want to get a case. Some, but not all, soprano sax cases will do. You can also find cases that are designed for the EWI on the web.

The first step in your career as an EWI player is to install the battery pack in the instrument.. This would be much easier if the battery cables were a bit longer.

Next step is to charge the battery pack. This is done by connecting the USB cable to the EWI and the other end to the included PSU or to a USB charging enabled port on your computer.

When this is completed, the next thing to do is to select fingering. The EWI offers different fingerings, like sax and oboe, the default is ”EWI”, which is almost the same as sax. As I don't play sax, but recorder and tin whistle, I chose the ”flute” option. It's very similar to the recorder, but thankfully without all the cross fingerings. You should also adjust the sensitivity of the breath sensor and the dynamic range, so you can play comfortably on the EWI. All this is explained in the manual.

The EWI5000 has qiute a few good properties and, of course, there are also some shortcomings.

Good things are:

Robust build quality.

All parameters and settings can be controlled directly from the instrument. You can play the EWI for years without any need to ever connect it to a computer.

Many of the included instrument sounds are very good and useful. Others are not.

All audio outputs can be used simultaneously (very useful in some situations).

The EWI is a great controller for hardware and software instruments. It has a DIN MIDI output for use with hardware synths and USB MIDI connection for software instruments. You can also use it with euroracks and other CV devices if you have a MIDI to CV-converter. The EWI has no MIDI input, so it can't be played from other controllers.

Shortcomings are:

Ridiculously inconvenient battery installation.

The audio receiver can pick up interference from the computer if it's powered via a USB port. The remedy is to power it from the included charging device/PSU instead.

It's difficult to find service information and how to get spares. Thomann sell spare mouthpieces, but I can't find information on where to buy a new battery pack.

It's too easy to accidentally reset the current patch to number 00. This is very aqnnoying until you learn how to avoid it.

Many of the included sound patches are great and useful, but some are not. In fact, one can get the impression that some of them are there just to fill up the memory space. The acoustic instrument sounds are generally fine, but the electronic, or ”synth” sounds, are more questionable. There is too much of the same kind. I would have preferred some folk-and-early music sounds, like crummhorn, bombard, bagpipes, cornet etc, instead of some outdated and not so very interesting DX 7-inspired synth sounds.

As the EWI has no way of changing octaves by overblowing, this is done with help of the octave rollers on the back of the instruments body. This is the most difficult part of learning to play the EWI. Practice will help, and may eventually make perfect.

To sum it up: The EWI is a very useful instrument/midi controller. The design is well thought out and the build quality seems to be robust. The sound editing possibilities are limited, so don't expect any advanced sound creation using the built-in synth. If you need more capable sound creation, an external hardware or software synthesizer will be necessary..

If I do recommend the EWI? Maybe, depending on your expectations and needs.

I bought this instrument mainly to use in silent practice when I am away from home. This has changed recently because I now have studio monitors (KRK Rockit 5's from Thomann) which I'm using to amplify it and also play backing tracks on it simultaneously.

But, it will still have it's uses for silent practice. There are some differences in the fingerings between the EWI and the sax, even though it can be set up to play as a sax, you still need to get your head around certain differences, but this is fairly intuitive.

The other difference is that there's no need for a strong embouchure for higher notes, as you just roll your thumb up the octave rollers at the back to span 7 octaves effortlessly (compared to the sax's 2.5 octaves, which can be tricky to play at either end.

The issue I have is with the various sounds. They are not very authentic for some of the woodwind "programs" and (ironically) the saxophones are the least authentic of all, to my ears. But it you treat it like a completely different instrument, it's fine.

The program editor that comes supplied (or at least by download) is an essential tool in helping to tweak the various in-built sounds, but it takes some getting used to. I bought pre-sets for all 100 sounds from an expert in the USA and used his settings which really do seem to have made a difference to the onboard sounds.

The main advantage of this model over the less expensive EWI4000 is that it can be wireless. This is a major plus for anyone using it on stage or in a performance stetting (as the EWI does not have to be tethered to the amplifier (the wifi box is attached to the speakers.)

Even just using it at home, I have found the freedom I get from not being attached to the speaking with the USB cable a real bonus as I can have my music stand at the opposite end of the room from the speakers.

Overall, it's a fascinating instrument that will take a lot of time to use properly, but one that I am very glad to have bought.

I've played the EWI 4000S during almost five years. The EWI 5000 is a great step ahead, the instrument maintain the overall characteristics of playability and capacity of adjutment to personalize it.
the sounds are clearly better, also the selection of instruments, mainly wood wind and some brass, I agree to the discard of the string sounds. It is a wind instrument ! Of course the sounds don't match a real instrument. Who like a real sax sound, must buy a sax ! The degree of expresivity is the same of the 4000S.
The wireless work very well, I've tested it far away of the receiver, it brings to the instrument a fantastic freedom.
I still haven't tested the soun edditor. It is an useful characteristic to have a default sound bench and a personalizable user sound bench.
At the next link Peter Climie show the 100 default sounds:
Peter !
I'm really satisfied with my new Akai EWI 5000.

When I first bought this instrument, it was great and worked out okay. However, after using it and working to use it in performances, I have had many issues with the batteries and code 88. This basically means that your batteries are dead, and it is not very easy to get them replaced.

Thomann were very helpful with the whole process, but it took them almost 2 months to get new batteries out to me, and now the new battery has the same problem as before. Basically the unit is junk without a battery and cannot be used at all. It is not very reliable and I wonder how many others are having these issues with batteries?

If I had to do it over again, I would not have purchased it, but maybe it is just my unit?