Roland AE20 Aerophone Digital Wind Instrument

Purchased to maintain practice through headphones when not appropriate to have my real saxophone due to size and noise. Doesn't assist with embouchure but adds a huge range of electronic effects and accompaniments that spins off into a whole new adjacency - wind synthesiser and electronic music.AE20 seems to have most of the benefits of the AE30 for a smaller outlay. It's a big leap in expertise before I have any need or desire to upgrade.

A great instrument

As a Sax player I bought the AE20 to enable me to practice & play silently, especially in the heat with the windows open! And it does this very well.The key set up , though buttons, duplicates Sax fingering, making for an easy transition.On the one hand it is very simple - just pick up and play. But I’m now delving deeper into the whole world of tones that can be adapted etc. Being able to play up to 4 sounds at once, on different instruments is amazing!It’s true - some of the sounds are awful (sadly the Sax ones especially!), but others are good.My one negative point is that it cannot transmit via Bluetooth. So I can’t play it through my Bluetooth speakers. Shame.

AWESOME!

It is awesome It is really a huge step forward from AE-10. Much more programmable and playable, with much more features I would like to say something that is not so satisfying: I bought this partially because I want to use clarinet fingering mode which I am more familiar with. It does have clarinet fingering, but that does require you to have a BIG hand, this is because the Aerophone is designed physically based on saxophone, not clarinet, So I have a hard time pressing the octave-up key with my left thumb while pressing the C5. I am not blaming this or any complaining, however, this problem exists. Plus my hand is not very big, so I sometimes unconsciously mis-press the left-side keys. But as I'm getting more used to this, I can avoid most mis-touches Even though I ... MoreIt is awesome It is really a huge step forward from AE-10. Much more programmable and playable, with much more features I would like to say something that is not so satisfying: I bought this partially because I want to use clarinet fingering mode which I am more familiar with. It does have clarinet fingering, but that does require you to have a BIG hand, this is because the Aerophone is designed physically based on saxophone, not clarinet, So I have a hard time pressing the octave-up key with my left thumb while pressing the C5. I am not blaming this or any complaining, however, this problem exists. Plus my hand is not very big, so I sometimes unconsciously mis-press the left-side keys. But as I'm getting more used to this, I can avoid most mis-touches Even though I did talked a lot about the down side, I STILL GIVE THIS AE-20 [ 99/100 ]

Fantastic instrument

A fantastic item and just what I was looking for as an amateur musician who doesn't het to practice enough to maintain tone on my aging clarinet. Fast and intuitive to learn and very expressive and responsive to breath control. Also several hundred dollars cheaper than the same item elsewhere (the only downside is that the default language is Japanese, but once you reset to English it's all good - hint: keep scrolling right in the settings menu to find this!) Highly recommended.

Perfect for practicing (discreetly)

Excellent fingering layout, tons of sounds and parameters to play with, excellent connectivity and lightweight. Obviously, the sound is not as good as an acoustic instrument (especially with the integrated speaker), but with tribrid in-ear monitor (IEM), it is quite convincing. Keys are not silent, but the noise level is acceptable and unnoticeable with IEM.

Probably My Forever-Love Favorite-Instrument Now

I have too much to say with a chrctr limit, so doing great disservice by summarizing:AKAI Ewi fun, but synthetic sounds. This? Isn't syntheticReally great sounds, variety,Digital MIDI connection with pan flute, trumpet, etc!!No reed. I. Hate. Reeds. Finally life without reeds!!

Review of Roland AE-20 Aerophone Digital Wind Instrument

This can't match the subtlety and warmth of a real saxophone, or other wind instrument, in the hands of a good player, but it comes a lot closer to it than you might expect. I have seen on-line comments to the effect that the 'Natural' sounds are poor, and it's the Synth-like tones where it excels, but I would disagree, it's all a matter of taste, personally I don't care for Synth sounds much at all, whatever they are played on, whereas some (but not all) of the 'Natural' sounds on the AE-20 allow a good deal of expression, and can be very convincing (for my money, I would say that the Violin, surprisingly, is possibly the best). You can play with a considerable amount of 'feel' by using breath and bite on the mouthpiece, it's amazingly sensitive to the slightest ... MoreThis can't match the subtlety and warmth of a real saxophone, or other wind instrument, in the hands of a good player, but it comes a lot closer to it than you might expect. I have seen on-line comments to the effect that the 'Natural' sounds are poor, and it's the Synth-like tones where it excels, but I would disagree, it's all a matter of taste, personally I don't care for Synth sounds much at all, whatever they are played on, whereas some (but not all) of the 'Natural' sounds on the AE-20 allow a good deal of expression, and can be very convincing (for my money, I would say that the Violin, surprisingly, is possibly the best). You can play with a considerable amount of 'feel' by using breath and bite on the mouthpiece, it's amazingly sensitive to the slightest change, I don't know how on earth they have manged it. So far I haven't detected any latency in the keys or the breath control, it seems to respond in a very natural manner (one exception is the jog wheel for altering pitch, like on a keyboard, I don't think that sounds natural at all, however of course you don't have to use it at all if you don't want to). There are literally hundreds of sounds available, I probably only actually like about ten per cent of them, but that's fine, all I'm looking for is a handful of good tones that I feel comfortable with. Overall, it's a lot easier to play (and play in tune) than a real saxophone, but one thing that caught me out a little is that the 'sax' fingering isn't identical to that on a real sax, it's mostly the same, but there are a few cases where it differs, mainly where you leave your finger on a lower key for convenience, which wouldn't sound at all on a real sax, but sometimes does on this instrument - difficult to explain in simple terms, but if you are already a sax player and you try this instrument, there will probably be a few things that you have to adjust to. Overall I would say the octave buttons under the left thumb are the trickiest thing to get the hang of (I haven't managed this yet).You can make various adjustments to the individual sounds (e.g. level of reverb, transposition), this is easier to do using an App on your phone, however that's not essential if you don't mind scrolling though lots of settings on the small, built-in screen on the instrument itself. One thing I found this editing facility invaluable for, was switching off the function of two little buttons on the back, which I couldn't avoid pressing accidentally, and which I'm not really interested in - but if you are interested, you can set them to do a wide variety of different things. There are loads of parameters that can be tweaked, in some case the meaning is obvious, in others it's a matter of trial and error to hear what they do - the documentation provided is good, but it certainly doesn't tell you everything, and some things remain a complete mystery.In rating this product for 'durability', all I can say is that it seems well-made and solid enough, but at the moment it's new and I can't really know how long it will last before anything may go wrong, after all it is an electronic device with lots of buttons - I hope it remains as reliable as it is right now, for a very long time, as I am really enjoying playing it.

Review of Roland AE-20 Aerophone Digital Wind Instrument in White

The AE20 was an upgrade to my existing AE05. And what an upgrade. The AE20 is one amazing instrument. I have played it every day from purchasing it, and every day I play, I become more addicted to it.

Sound powerhouse in your hands

I can't put this down! I love my new AE-20 and the purchse went smooth as the jazz that's coming from this powerhouse of sound. I like the range of voices that are the same as Roland's higher end instruments. This provides a mind boggling array and options for creating truly unique music whether for online content or your band. Fingering is adjustabl3 so if you are used to using a different fingering there is the option to change. (I want to go back and see if I can remember my trumpet fingering.) What don't I like about the new ae-20? Can't tell yet. I haven't found anything that annoys me to the point where I out it down.

Stellar instrument!

Overall:This is an extraordinary instrument that anyone can play. I absolutely love it. I am not a musician but I can make beautiful music easily and with Rolands famous effects and sound quality, even thought it's built in speakers it's phenomenal. Thank you Roland for a wonderful instrument with standard keying!!