Vangoa EWI-100 Portable Mini Digital Electronic Wind Instrument Synthesizer Rechargeable with Removable Mouthpiece for Adults Beginners

A fun product

Not happy with this. The octaves in some of the voices are not in tune. There doesn’t seem to be any way to complain about it.

There are several versions of this instrument available. I decided on the Vangoa because it was the one that seemed to be the original. I'd seen a few YouTube videos featuring it and they were very positive. It plays straight out of the box as it comes charged. I was immediately pleased with it. The sounds are good and it's very responsive. I then attached a small speaker to the headphone output ... and it sounded excellent. When played through my Sony XR-41, the sound is incredible. Like any instrument, you have to be accurate with your fingers and articulation. I play mainly jazz standards which require a lot of accidentals; they are easy to play. Swapping octaves is easy using the buttons on the back. (If I had any complaint it would be that it's sometimes easy to swap octaves when you don't want to. There is no "home button" to tell you when your thumb is is the middle octave position. That comes through experience.) One point is very important: the sounds are consistent throughout the 3 octaves. As an example, the clarinet setting sounds like a clarinet throughout the entire 3-octave range. (I also have a CarryOn electronic recorder which is similar and the sounds are very inconsistent.) It is incredibly well made and very feels good in your hands. The plastic mouldings are perfect and the plastic of very good quality. I highly recommend this as a fun instrument that sounds good, is well made and is straightforward to play. So why did I say that it's perfect for buskers? First off, the charge lasts for ages. Secondly, you can play it through a small battery amplifier. You could fit everything you need in a small backpack and be out wowing the crowds after 2 or 3 days' practice. If I were still busking, this would be my go-to instrument.

PRO: A very handy and easy instrument for avocational use. Still ok for small group performance. Connect with earphones or monitor produces much nicer sounds than the built-in speaker. CON: Breath control is needed as there are only 2 small holes / tunnels for receiving the airflow. Changing key function is good but you almost not posible doing that during the play unless you change your mind and fingering.

The good points: 1) it is well designed and seems solidly made. 2) lots of well-thought-out configuration possibilities (responsiveness to breath pressure, 10 'tones' or wind instrument sounds, 2 fingering options, reverb, transposition, volume) 3) the device transmits MIDI over a cable and I did not notice any latency or hiccups when playing into GarageBand on a Mac. It was nice to have breath control of dynamics. 4) the price seems quite low for such a sophisticated device. I was able to connect to my Mac via Bluetooth, but that simply caused the Mac to play sounds back through the EWI speaker. GarageBand only recognized the EWI as a MIDI instrument when I used the USB-C-to-USB-A cable (provided with the EWI). a USB-C-to-USB-C cable did not work for MIDI. Things that could be better: a) I like only about half of the built-in sounds b) it would really help to have a clip-on thumb rest for the right hand c) the fingering is based on simple wind instruments like pennywhistles. This is great for children, but it makes playing over the octave breaks tricky. I can't fault the makers; I think they made a reasonable compromise between ease of playing and speed of playing. Problem a) can be solved by playing through a synth. Problem b) can be solved by taping something onto the instrument. Problem c) can be solved by dedicated practicing (to some degree). I am generally extremely pleased with this instrument.

This midi instrument is very light, it has a weight of an acoustic recorder. It charges very fast and plays for 2-3 hours. It has 10 sound presets, my favourites are flute and a clarinet. Sounds better than acoustic recorder. But doesn’t work as a controller, as advertised. My DAW sees it sometimes but the sound latency is very big, it stops working sometime. Both wired and wireless connections has a big latency.

I’m a middle aged woman who dabbles with tin whistle and recorder (mainly soprano). One problem with playing those instruments is that they are loud and shrill. Not suitable for living in proximity with other humans. I have been wanting something like this for a while. I bought a similar item a while back and didn’t care for it. This, however, has been fun to play. I can use headphones for silent practice, but honestly, since the volume can be adjusted, I don’t really need to use the headphones. I’m pretty sure my neighbors can’t hear me. Just like with anything, there is a learning curve. I find the fingerings are close enough to recorder/whistle that it’s not a problem. But it took a bit to figure out the best way to use the octave buttons. I found you don’t have to put your finger directly on the buttons; you simply need to make contact with them, so I just slide my thumb until it hits the edge of the button, and I’m good to go. I have played this thing nearly every day since I got it. I like the fact that unlike a whistle and a recorder, you can get dynamics by blowing harder and softer. I’ve had to retrain myself not to blow harder for the second octave, so I can keep the volume steady. I’m not 100% sure if this instrument can be used as a midi controller. I haven’t tried that, since I don’t know what kind of app to put on my phone/ipad. The onboard sounds are fine with me for now. I don’t mind the synth-y sound. Heck, I remember listening to Switched on Bach when I was a kid. I just absolutely love this thing! I have recorder and whistle books that I can play from, but there’s lots of free sheet music online, too. And 8notes.com is a great resource. For a mere 20 bucks A YEAR, you have access to all the stuff on the site, which includes accompaniment for a lot of their songs. Super fun! And frankly, I love the fact that this is ALWAYS in tune. I don’t have to worry about my cheap whistles being out of tune or of blowing too hard or too soft on my recorder and not being in tune. I can just worry about fingering and phrasing. Loving this!