Yamaha EZ-TP MIDI Trumpet

[mcamilleri]

I finally got hold of a Yamaha EZ-TP MIDI Trumpet a couple of days ago. It is an electronic/MIDI trumpet that is played by singing into a mouthpiece to set the pitch register and volume, in combination with normal trumpet fingerings to select the exact note.

It is great fun, testified to by my already going through one set of batteries! It is actually an expressive instrument and it feels very much like playing a real trumpet - I can let loose all my jazz licks without holding back, and also tackle a trumpet concerto with correct articulation.

My 5 year old son loves it, and this is my last ditch attempt to get him interested in trumpet instead of violin (not sure if it will succeed, once a 5 year old gets an idea in their head...)

The onboard sounds (22 in all) and built in speaker sound, well, OK, but it can connect to a MIDI keyboard or module for better and more expressive sounds. Once I have some good keyboard sounds and controls optimised I will unleash it on my rock band!

I'll post a full review on my website once I have had more time to play it with my keyboard, hopefully with some recordings of it in actual use. It is not perfect by any means, and can't do even half the things that the Morrison Digital Trumpet can, but is an expressive instrument with enough MIDI capability to be very useful. For $300 I think you get more than you paid for, and is a cheap way to try out some of the possibilities of MIDI trumpet.

It has a multitude of uses, from the designed use of making trumpet easier for young kids, to a MIDI controller for live playing or realistic brass sequencing, to a fully portable (and silent) practice horn for when you can't use your acoustic axe, or for playing in venues where a trumpet is just too loud. If you are a trumpet gadget freak (aren't we all) or play trumpet and keyboards, you really should consider one.

They are now available through Ebay, and from www.Xplanet.biz direct from Japan. Full details including the manual are available here: Yamaha EZ-TP

Michael
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[mcamilleri]

No replies at all. So no-one is interested in the EZ-TP?

I took it along to my rock band rehearsal last night, where I play keyboard. Plugged the EZ-TP in via MIDI and just jammed on a few songs, using trumpet, sax (sounds better on my keyboard) and solo synth sounds. The band liked it and want to use it live. So there you go - it is actually useful!

Any of you that play keys will know that mixing it up with acoustic trumpet live is a pain. You need a live mike, and if you don't have a sound man the balance is tricky, especially in a medium sized venue. You also have to pick the horn up stone cold and play, plus have an expensive instrument sitting there exposed on stage.

The EZ-TP is a lot easier. It just plugs into the keyboard or PA, is already sound balanced, with volume control to hand, and no warm up needed. And of course you can play any sound you like, and chords also. Much more versatile.

I'm not about to retire my real trumpet, but the EZ-TP is just good fun.

Michael
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[woo]

Can you post a clip with couple different synth or sampled patches to get and idea of the expressiveness of the EZ-TP? What midi parameters do you have control over with this thing? How do you change 5ths or octaves? Is it more of a breath controller or do you actually sing into the mouthpiece?
thanks

[mcamilleri]

I'll put something up on my website in a few weeks once I am more familiar with it.

Briefy, the EZ-TP is a pitch to MIDI converter that uses the approximate sung or hummed pitch of your voice to select the trumpet harmonic, then the valves to select the precise note. So you get the C-G-C-E-G-Bb-C etc harmonic series on open, and the Bb-F-Bb etc series on the 1st valve. Uses normal trumpet fingering and all alternate fingerings. It feels very natural to play coming from trumpet.

The range is limited to the pitch range of your voice, with a 0 or +1 octave switch. I struggle to play over A on the staff as my voice pitch is low (baritone), although it is improving and I got high Cs last night. I get a 2-1/2 to 3 octave range on it, from pedal C to A or Bb. If you want higher or lower then use pitch bend or octave settings on your keyboard. I really wish Yamaha had put a +2 switch in also - instant monster lead player! It responds from F# below pedal C to double C (which I can get anytime by buzzing into the mouthpiece)

The volume of your voice controls MIDI volume. It sends a MIDI note on message, then instantly sends MIDI master volume commands to control the volume. The initial velocity is a bit strange - it doesn't seem to transmit from 1-127 as I expected, just a limited set, something like 76, 89,91, 101,127. Need more time to explore this. The MIDI velocity always seems to be 127 for the first note of a phrase, then subsequent notes can get a different MIDI velocity. This gives some limited control over note timbre via velocity, but much less than a true MIDI wind controller like the MDT.

Has no built in pitch bend or modulation control, although you can do a volume vibrato by shaking the horn. It is easily played with one hand so you can use the mod and pitch wheels on your keyboard with the left hand.

It responds well to tonguing and articulation, and to volume. You can do staccato and legato tonguing, and effects like marcato, accents, brass swells etc, all of which are VERY hard to do on a keyboard. I can do pretty much any phrase on it that I can play on trumpet, even fast articulated arpeggios like the Hummel trumpet concerto. Multiple tonguing also seems to work, at least on a single note, and of course you have alternate fingerings for some rapid notes. Try doing that on a keyboard!

Come to think of it, it should work well to control strings on a keyboard.

It has a +1, -1 octave doubling switch onboard, with some GM ensemble sounds. If you want 5ths or anything else you will have to use programmed patches on a sound module or keyboard, or an effects box. I'll be setting up some 5th and octave patches to try to do the brass section thing, and if I can control one part alone with +/-1 semitone pitch bend might put in a major 3rd, and use pitch bend to get the minor 3rd or 4th. If it works I'll let you know. I'm pretty sure my N5EX can do all this in a combination.

Oh, it has built in SMF player, so you should be able to load Band in a Box sequences or similar for private jam sessions.

I'll get some recordings done hopefully over the next week or so. It is expressive, but no-where near as expressive as more expensive controllers. Don't try a legit college audition on this! In the right context, like a rock band, I think it is useful, as an easy way to play more expressive wind and string lines. Don't expect much more than that unless you are a whiz on keyboard using lots of controllers. So far I'm having a lot of fun with it, and I'm sure to get some funny looks at our next gig.

For the more serious player with more money the latest Akai EWI4000S woodwind style controller has a trumpet fingering mode, so might be usable as a MIDI trumpet, and only costs $7-800 with a great sounding built-in wind synth module, far less than the $2,500 for the Morrison kit. Best contact Matt at Patchman music about that one.

Michael
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[LittleHendrix]

wow...i really want one now.....does it sound anywhere close to the morrison horn?
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[chopissimo]

Yamaha also makes and/or made other kinds of MIDI wind instruments, like the WX11 a while ago
http://www.swingingsoft.com/wx112.html

Also the WX5
http://www.patchmanmusic.com/wx5info.html

Akai has the EWI system, they used to make one with trumpet keys but I think it was dropped, then re-introduced
http://www.patchmanmusic.com/ewi4000s.html

These are popular among arrangers of electronic music who put together soundtracks without using real bands.
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[BADBOY-DON]

Interesting...I wonder how Maria Carey would sound when she humms through that Midi?
Any one have any link to music that has been recorded with this little Midiyama?

[JakeUND]

Mariah doesn't need that thing with a trumpet player like Carl Fischer working for her . haha. Sounds kind of interesting, but I'll stick with the classic non midi trumpet. Could be alot of fun though just to mess with. I wonder what Miles would've thought of something like that .
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[BADBOY-DON]

Right on!!! About Carl Fisher....
Maria seems to have had so many great musicans playing for many of her recordings.
Also I have noted that Barbra Streisand also has often used some amazingly gifted musicians. That is why I so often check the credits and musicans listed on CD from all kinds of sources.
Interesting to see so many great trumpet players listed within a whole list of musican artists.
I am a real advocate that every artist who has a CD, no matter how obscure...list the players, who help produce their CDs. Who knows, how many of these CD that are sold...buy them, not for the artist on the cover jacket of the CD, but instead....buy them when they see the name of their favorite musician, listed on the credits.

Thanks for pointing that out about Maria utilizing the talents of such a great trumpet player.

[veldkamp]

AKAI is putting out a new EWI. I think that instrument is much more interesting to play.

I did test the MDT and didn't like it at all. As long as you can't do anything with your embouchure, they should not call it an electronic trumpet.
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[mcamilleri]

The Akai EWI4000S is the new Akai, as far as I know? They don't have any plans to do an EVI (electronic valve instrument), and their EVI is long discontinued. The MDT is the only trumpet style fully functional wind controller on the market, although the EWI4000S does, apparently, have a trumpet fingering mode, so might be the next best thing.

The EZ-TP sounds nothing like the MDT, as the MDT makes no sounds and needs a sound module. Plugged into the same sound module they would sound similar although you would be far more expressive with the MDT as it has more MIDI parameters under breath control.

The EZ-TP is more like the Casio DH-100 digital sax that came out in the 1980s, which is still a sought after digital horn.

Michael
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[veldkamp]

Yes, I meant the AKAI EWI4000S. The new model will have a sound module on board.

My feeling about the MDT was that you have to learn to play that instrument. It doesn't play and feel as a trumpet. The subdivision in 5ths is pretty weird playing because after a fifth you have to press one of the 8 buttons on your left hand. Next to that you have to play every C# with 1-2-3 and D with 1-3. It takes time to get used to that.

In the same time you can learn to play the AKAI. It's a better instrument and much cheaper.
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[_dcstep]

Michael, as a keyboardist, you might be interested in something I saw last month. We went to Buddy Guy's club in Chicago and the opening band was trombone (singer-leader)/guitar/bass/alto sax/drums and keyboard. No trumpet. The keyboardist had two boards and then some sort of vocalizer going into a midi-box and then into his system. He was simultaneously playing B3-licks, female-synth and lead trumpet licks via the vocalizer. It was AMAZING. (The bandleader's gotta love that guy).

After the gig I was too busy trying to get the leader to autograph a CD, so the keyboardist got out before I could corner him or even eyeball his rig up close. This guy was playing all the classic trumpet licks, including Es, Fs and Gs over high-C. I assume the midi provided at least the last octave. He had this little flexible mike-like thing strapped to his head and he'd put it right in his mouth when he played the trumpet parts. Still, you'd probably need to sing a G to have a high-G sound. (Maybe he was a tenor).

Did it sound like a real trumpet? No. Did it sound good in the context of a band playing some serious blues? Yes, particularly when mixed with other live horns. He didn't solo on it. It was just adding the trumpet color to the horn licks.

Dave
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[J. Crowley]

The other option that no one has mentioned is Nyle Steiner's MIDI EVI. If i'm not mistaken, he's the original designer of Akai's evi and is no making them privately. I've been playing one for about a year and a half, and find it to be very rewarding. The down side is that it needs an external unit to create the sounds(this is not necissarily a down side). I have never played the morisson horn...but the fact that it is shaped like a trumpet seems kinda cheezy to me. I don't understand the point of playing an electronic trumpet synth, and using a patch to sound like a trumpet...why not just play a trumpet if that's what you want to sound like? The EVI has so many possibilties, why limit yourself to imitating a trumpet? The new AKai with the build in sounds looks promising.
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[TrentAustin]

[mcamilleri]

Glad to see the wind synth players finally coming out of the woodwork (or is it the closet).

DC, chances are that keyboard player was using a breath controller - Yamaha BC3 or similar, and maybe a vocaliser and harmoniser. Some top of the line keyboards like the Yamaha S30 have the inputs and expansion boards (same board as the VL70m) available, or you can use various modules. Still, you have to have the keyboard highly optimised and practice a lot to make it sound as good as that player obviously was. Most keyboards don't have the inputs nor the virtual acoustic instrument boards to give the kind of control and sounds you need. Simulating brass and wind instruments is really, really difficult.

For some reason there seems to be some kind of snobbery attached to playing an acoustic instrument versus an electronic version. The electronic versions take just as much skill to sound good, although they usually overcome some problems with the acoustic version (i.e range and endurance for trumpet). And the usual criticism of 'that doesn't sound as good as a trumpet' is just ^&*% - does an electric guitar sound like an acoustic one? Does a synth sound like a piano?

That Akai looks like one heck of a unit. The more I find out about it the more I lean towards that than the MDT (well, assuming I could afford either). Veld, I agree about playing the MDT, it seems un-natural - the EZ-TP is at least very natural to play as a trumpet player, despite it's obvious shortcomings as a MIDI controller.

I am really interested to find out how playable the Akai is in the EVI mode. Trent - you're the best placed person to answer that. At $700 for the Akai it is in the realms of possibility, and would be a great step up from the EZ-TP if I need a more capable controller. Matt has some demos of his new patches for the Akai and they sound very, very good.

I'll spend the next week or so setting up my keyboard and see what I can get out of the EZ-TP, then post some sound-clips.

Wind players seem to have backed themselves into a corner for rock music and the like. About all you ever hear them playing are brass section type fills and hits, or the odd solo. Most bands cannot afford the luxury of 2-3 extra players doing so little work, and many venues don't have the space or won't pay the fee for the extras. I think the possibilities open up again with a one man brass section, or keyboard/wind synth player. I'm gonna go and explore them...

Michael
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[gchun]

Michael-

I'm glad to see an intelligent conversation going on about MIDI and trumpet players. You guys all have the right idea about these devices practical uses and how it can benefit trumpet players. I've read posts on some other sites like "that thing will never replace a trumpet player" or "that thing doesn't sound like a trumpet.' Those guys just didn't get it. They all saw it as a threat rather than a tool that we trumpet players could use to increase our marketability, or aid as a compositional, arranging and performance tool. You guys get it.

Good luck-
Garry

[mcamilleri]

Thanks Gary. MIDI trumpets and the like are a different animal. If you are playing in a big band or orchestra then use an acoustic trumpet. I doubt the MIDI versions will ever compete in this arena. Some of them sound dangerously close to the real versions though...

I've experimented some more with the EZ-TP and found some neat tricks.

It controls volume on the MIDI channel it transmits, and instead of doing note off messages it does a note on message with volume 0, which effectively mutes that entire MIDI part, not just the played note.

In non-tech speak, this means that if you plug it into a keyboard and press down a bunch of keys, the articulation and volume of these will follow what you play on the EZ-TP. You can do brass section playing by playing the chord on the keyboard along with the EZ-TP!

This is a great bonus, as you can play PROPER chord voicings instead of the usual octaves or octaves + fifth with high note root that MIDI trumpet usually forces upon you (unless you get REALLY clever with pedals and your playing).

Not only that but since the EZ-TP part is independent of the chord you can solo or voice lead over the chord. The volume and articulation does follow the EZ-TP, so best to play reasonably smooth lines.

Had some fun playing the opening to Rocky like that last night, complete with the moving inside harmony line.

Now that is something the AKAI and MDT would struggle to do, as you need two hands to play them.

Another trick is to set up a synth combination (sorry, tech speak, no way around it) where the keyboard is split so that one range plays the chord notes and you define a 'dead' range where you will play a note on the EZ-TP set up with no sound on the keyboard. Once you have done this then you hum notes in this range (like low C), and no note sounds but it still controls the volume, so you can articulate whatever you play on the keyboard. This basically works like a breath controller set to volume control.

Realise that most keyboards don't have a breath controller input, and the controller and special MIDI interface box costs like $250.

The keyboard responds to the sustain pedal, and you can do rip-chords like this.

The next things I want to try are triggering the EZ-TP by buzzing into a trumpet mouthpiece, and also using it like a mike for my acoustic trumpet. It has a semi-tone quantisation mode or true pitch (no valves) so can act as a true pitch to midi converter, so in theory could play the trumpet and have the keyboard follow the volume and attack on whatever chords you play and/or double your line at any pitch interval. If this works I might mod it to take a line input jack.

I've tried making some better trumpet sounds on my Korg N5EX. The stock sounds are just so unrealistic - although the Sax sounds are actually pretty good. I've got one trumpet that is half decent - nothing like what the physical modeling synths can do, but getting close to passable in a rock band mix. Using random modulation of pitch, volume, and VDA (tone) that sounds a lot closer to what a real trumpet does - no-one is 100% dead steady playing a real trumpet. The usual synth pitch modulation just sounds horrid for a trumpet. Also got the pitch bend set to +/- 1 octave, so have an instant octave key to extend the range from pedal G to double A.

For extra control I'll use the expression pedal to control VDA or similar.

Still having a blast!

Michael
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[mcamilleri]

BTW, there is an EZ-TP for sale in the marketplace for $250, shipping included.

Michael
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[Mindlink]

Hi everybody!

Could anyone please post a video of a performance with an EZ-TP or Akai 4000s with EVI setting?
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