The Yamaha WX5, WX11, and WX7 are models of

monophonic Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduc ...

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...

wind controller A wind controller, sometimes referred to as a wind synthesizer, is an electronic wind instrument. It is usually a MIDI controller associated with one or more music synthesizers. Wind controllers are most commonly played and fingered like a wood ...

musical instruments manufactured by the

Yamaha Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation and conglomerate with a very wide range of products and services. It is one of the constituents of Nikkei 225 and is the world's largest musical instrument manufacturing company. The former motorcycle div ...

that have since been discontinued. The fingering system is based on the

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

basic fingering. Like a keyboard controller, wind controllers send MIDI note information electronically to an external

sound module A sound module is an electronic musical instrument without a human-playable interface such as a piano-style musical keyboard. Sound modules have to be operated using an externally connected device, which is often a MIDI controller, of which the ...

or tone generator which in turn synthesizes a tremendous variety of musical tones. Unlike a keyboard controller which is usually

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, h ...

, a wind controller is

. The only limits to the kinds of sounds available are the limitations of the external module/tone generator, not the WX5 itself. A WX5 performer can sound like any melodic instrument: wind, string, percussion, keyboard, or purely electronic, including special sound effects. In addition most tone generators a mix of instruments can be programmed. The WX5 wind controller simulates a wind instrument because of the way it is played, the key layout, and because it responds to breath (wind) pressure as well as lip pressure on a simulated reed

mouthpiece Mouthpiece may refer to: * The part of an object which comes near or in contact with one's mouth or nose during use ** Mouthpiece (smoking pipe) or cigarette holder ** Mouthpiece (telephone handset) ** Mouthpiece (woodwind), a component of a woodw ...

similar to that of a saxophone or clarinet. The wind and lip pressure information is converted to MIDI data which is interpreted by the external sound module. Usually the wind pressure is interpreted as loudness and lip pressure is interpreted as pitch bend; thus, the instrument responds much like an acoustic wind instrument and extremely realistic musical phrasing is available to the player. The WX5 has a 16-key layout similar to a standard saxophone. It also includes a built-in MIDI output connector, a dedicated connector and cable for direct connections to Yamaha WX-Series tone generators, a

high-resolution Image resolution is the detail an image holds. The term applies to digital images, film images, and other types of images. "Higher resolution" means more image detail. Image resolution can be measured in various ways. Resolution quantifies how cl ...

wind sensor, and a thumb-controlled

pitch bend In electronic music, a pitch wheel, pitch bend or bender is a control on a synthesizer to vary the pitch in a continuously variable manner (portamento). The first synthesizer with a pitch wheel was the Minimoog, in 1970. Alternatively, pitch ben ...

wheel. Yamaha recommend that this device be used with the Yamaha VL70m Virtual Acoustic Tone Generator. The WX7 was the first model that Yamaha produced, beginning in 1987. This was followed by the WX11 in 1993, and then the WX5 in 1999—2001. The WX5 was discontinued in October 2017. Note: the 1993 date for introduction of the WX11 is in doubt. On the 1991 CD release "Love In" by the Australian band "The Freaked Out Flower Children" (Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/4281005) Sophie Lee is credited as playing the WX11.

References

Electric Wind Music

MIDI Electronic Wind Instrument: A Study of the Instrument and Selected Works

References

{{Yamaha Electronic musical instruments

WX5 This is a list of products made by Yamaha Corporation. This does not include products made by Bösendorfer, which has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha Corporation since February 1, 2008. For products made by Yamaha Motor Company, see the ...

MIDI controllers

See also

References

References