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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 EWI5000 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 create small bursts of air by tonguing the mouthpiece for even more expressive
control.
• If the EWI5000's note keys, octave rollers, pitch-bend plates, or glide plates are not very
responsive, it could be because you are playing with dry hands (the EWI5000 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 EWI5000 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.
To learn how to adjust the note keys' response, please see
Advanced Functions > Adjusting Sensors > Note Delay (Note
Keys).
Octave Rollers: Place your left thumb between any two octave
rollers (and over the grounding plate) on the EWI5000'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.
To learn how to adjust the glide plate's response, please see
Advanced Functions > Adjusting Sensors > Glide Plate.
Pitch-Bend Plates: Touch your thumb to either of these plates to
move the pitch of the note you are playing up or down. Touch the
upper plate to bend the pitch upward or the lower plate to bend
the pitch downward. Before you get accustomed to using these
plates, you may produce unexpected sounds by touching them
accidentally. You can adjust the position of each plate by
loosening its screw.
To learn how to adjust the pitch-bend plates' response, please
see Advanced Functions > Adjusting Sensors > Pitch-Bend
Plates.
Pitch-Bend
Up
Pitch-Bend
Down
Standard
Pitch
Glide
Plate