5
4. Play!
Hold the mouthpiece gently between your lips with your teeth, and exhale so your breath passes
through both sides of your mouth. The EWI Solo detects this wind pressure with the breath sensor
and expresses the change in sound volume and character, depending on how you blow. (It should
not take much breath to activate the instrument.)
Tips:
•
There is a bite sensor in the mouthpiece. You can produce a vibrato effect by gently biting the
mouthpiece, which will bend the pitch up each time you bite, but do not bite too hard.
•
You can articulate the notes you're playing by tonguing the mouthpiece for even more
expressive control.
•
If the EWI Solo's note keys, octave rollers, pitch-bend plate, or glide plates are not very
responsive, it could be because you are playing with dry hands (the EWI Solo works by using
the body's capacitance). If this happens, you can use a very small amount of non-greasy hand
lotion to improve the connection between your hands and the keys.
Note Keys:
The note keys are sensors that let you produce sound with
only a light touch. The EWI Solo has multiple fingering options, so it
can feel familiar to saxophonists, flutists, etc. You can adjust the
position of the three lowest keys by loosening the screws that hold
each of them in place.
Octave Rollers:
Place your left thumb between any two octave rollers
(and over the grounding plate) on the EWI Solo's back panel. Slide
your thumb up or down across the octave rollers to shift its octave
range up or down. While playing, keep your left thumb in contact with
the octave rollers. The position between the two knurled octave rollers
indicates the standard pitch.
Glide Plate:
While playing a note, move your thumb across the octave
rollers (without rolling them) while touching the glide plate on their right
side to create a "glide" effect. This will smoothly and continuously slide
the pitch up or down—a technique known as
portamento
.
Pitch-Bend Plate:
Touch your thumb to this plate to move the pitch of
the note you are playing up or down. You can adjust the pitch bend
settings in the
. Before you get accustomed to using this
plate, you may produce unexpected sounds by touching it
accidentally. You can adjust the position of the plate by loosening its
screw.
Standard
Pitch
Glide
Plate
Pitch-Bend
Plate
