Vangoa S55 MIDI saxophone / EWI review

Here's a look at the Vangoa S55 EWI / MIDI Saxophone, which was sent to me for review. ( www.amazon.com/dp/B0CTCP9PKB?... ).
Some demos of the internal synth 6:36, using it as a MIDI controller for software plugins 8:20 and a Novation PEAK hardware synthesizer 9:40. Please excuse my lame attempt at humour. ;-)
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MPC One, Novation PEAK, Reface DX, Source Audio Collider, Strymon Iridium, Zoom MS 70 CDR, Donner N-25, Akai EWI USB, Zoom R20, Zoom H5, Yamaha MT7, Roland Aira:
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Some bands / artists I've been following for a long time are (among others) Massive Attack, Pink Floyd, Pet Shop Boys, Archive, A-Ha, Yes, Porcupine Tree, John Mellencamp, Jean-Michel Jarre, Metallica, Peter Gabriel and Perturbator. So my music will kind of sound like those (without ever reaching the greatness of those artists, of course). :-)

[@dyscotopia]

Really appreciate the creative skit at the beginning. Having known at least one busker who alternated between two of those songs all day I agree that they should have several laws forbidding their use

[@mr_floydst]

Haha! Guess he's never gonna dance again. I'm sorry.

[@drakelacy2358]

You’re not sorry! 😂😂😂

[@swardcr]

Thank you for this review very good love your gear set up

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching!

[@lummsmusik3219]

Haha, you as a cop with sunglasses makes me ROFL all the time 😄😄😄

[@_mickmccarthy]

I used to work somewhere that had a regular sax busker, they played nothing but Careless Whisper, Baker Street, and the theme from The Godfather. Fun times indeed....

[@mr_floydst]

I guess you felt like it was another crazy day, and you had to drink the night away to forget about everything?

[@_mickmccarthy]

@mr_floydst Funnily enough, it was in London! But down on the Southbank as opposed to Baker St!

[@dyscotopia]

This seems to be a intercontinental global problem!

[@zoned7609]

@@_mickmccarthy The assumption here might be "He only knows those 3 songs?!" The reality might be: these are the 3 songs everyone knows and it maximizes his chance of getting some money

[@_mickmccarthy]

@@zoned7609 That was not my assumption. It was the fact that listening to the same 3 songs on loop for 8 hours a day multiple days a week is a pretty annoying experience.

[@chrisw1462]

Awesome job!

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks!

[@the_trevoir]

Thanks, Floyd. The thing I love most about your channel is your willingness to “get into the weeds”. I’ve been wanting more expression for my MIDI adventures (keyboard player). Not sure what’s the best option yet. Video idea: the current state of expressive MIDI controllers. Obviously that expensive expressive-e keyboard would be great, and I haven’t checked, but I’m guessing it’s probably way out of my budget.

[@mr_floydst]

I'd love to do that, but I think I'm not able to get review hardware for such a project, so all I could do would be a reaction-style video, which would be awkward ;-)

[@WoodyPianoShack]

great review of cool device, quite fancy one. leather floyd is rocking!

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks :-)

[@axs203]

This looks interesting Floyd!

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching! It certainly does.

[@dyscotopia]

That last bit with the peak could very easily be a "music to align your chakras" to videos, or possibly the intro to an Enigma song

[@mr_floydst]

Yep. I totally hear that ;-) I like Michael Cretus 90s stuff. His albums had plenty of filler material pieces, but the good stuff is _really_ good.

[@budgetkeyboardist]

Great video. I was going to click "Subscribe" but it turns out I was already subscribed. But I did give it a thumbs up. This is an area that has been begging for low cost MIDI controllers, and it looks like there are now a few on the market. I need one of these for sure.

[@mr_floydst]

Thank you very much! There's something going on in "the far east" at the moment, to put it like this - in the past years, we've seen chinese / taiwanese companies coming up with fresh ideas, testing the waters if these products are viable. There are some really interesting things in the pipeline, so to speak.

[@Grimmwoldds]

@@mr_floydst Chinese manufacturers boomed in exports during lockdowns of cheap musical instruments, but now they're getting crunched by the current economic/geopolitical Chinese situation. Just in the last year I've seen the "cheap" stuff all get upgrades, from 3D printers to musical instruments. Bought a 30 dollar 37 key melodica(student stuff usually 50-60 USD) and 8 dollar harmonica(cheap is typically 20 USD) from a Chinese company on Amazon and they are actually on par with the products twice their price from Japanese companies(Suzuki/Yamaha). Esp the melodica, because in Japan they're just a bit under recorders as student instruments(cheap, easy to carry, small when playing)

[@ponkiemusic]

@budgetkeyboardist Exactly the same happened with me as your subscribe + like story 😅

[@midinotes]

Really hope they sell this in the UK, I must get my hands on one of these! Amazing expression for the price point.

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching - I'll forward your message...

[@newshoesbigblister]

Really enjoyed this - I may get one of these EWIs.🙂👍

[@SuperGinkgo]

Got me chuckling there Floyd, seems a useful controller, saying that dunno I was god awful with a recorder as a kid oh and I detest Wham, but for balance I LUV Gerry Rafferty stuff. Nice work. 🖖🎶💯

[@mr_floydst]

Thank you very much! If I had known as a kid that one day recorder-like instruments would sound so cool and stuff, I'd have paid more attention to my teachers ;-) But the basics are there and one never un-learns them.

[@DJKickstarter]

You have inspired me to buy one, I was looking at the re.corder at first but price is double of this one.

[@mr_floydst]

The re.corder has the benefit of being an actual recorder - which can be quite handy in certain situations...

[@planetweed]

For the price this seems like an excellent instrument/controller

[@jimbotron70]

Indeed! These controllers used to be soo expensive in the past.

[@mr_floydst]

For that price, it's really hard to complain! (The more expensive controllers will give you a bite controller too, which can be used for "growl" type effects)

[@Zzibbubby]

No way Floyd you read my mind, I was recently looking for something like this!😀

[@mr_floydst]

Lucky coincidence! :-)

[@cresshead]

hi, i have 2 electronic wind instruments, a similar recorder ,sized ewi bought on amazon for £50 with ''touch buttons'' all round including the octave switches on the back and also an akai EWI Solo which is similar size and look to a clarinet. i think all synth artists can benefit for also having a EWI in their set up as it adds a different way to play notes 'you' (your breath) is the adsr. I really like my Akai ewi solo in the studio and the little recorder ewi is great for out n about or play anywhere in the house at a moments notice.

[@mr_floydst]

I agree! Using a breath controller automatically adds more depth and nuance to your music.

[@dosuserx]

good laugh at the end.

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching to the end ;-)

[@InkyDaCaT]

Great video!😂 I got a similar mwe for same price, they're great!

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks! Yes, this is a nice controller. For that price, the internal synth sounds really good and the breath pressure sensor is very responsive.

[@InkyDaCaT]

@@mr_floydst yep they're great for price! Did a track but someone (mate) 😅 accused me of doing samples? No mate took me 4 hours to learn that scale ffs 😂

[@4mb127]

Hey Floyd would it be possible for you to do tests on MIDI wind expression controllers? Where you still use piano keybed, but use your breath as a control for the synth? Also people have been designing MIDI wind instruments for themselves and combining electronics with smart 3D printing. Adding only mouth piece as a pre-made hardware was necessary. Those are some really cool projects.

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for you input - I'll look into it! (I've got a mountain of obligations in the next weeks, though, so it could take some time!)

[@spud4242]

well done! wonder if there is a nice tin whistle patch? if the replaced the octave buttons with something like the toggle/strum switch on a guitar hero guitar you could just push it up or down to get the other octaves...

[@mr_floydst]

There is no tin wistle sound in the internal sounds, but I guess you can get something similar by using the tune and octave transpose function simultaneously.

[@SproutyPottedPlant]

Wow that would be great if you’re a bit clumsy with keys like I am! Also if it’s not possible for some reason to play saxophone or recorder you could just blow in the rhythm (with random or 1 note) of your tune and adjust on the piano roll afterwards and then it will be expressive too!

[@mr_floydst]

That's great advice, actually!

[@kentaccordionist]

I have been considering one of these. I already have an ewi usb but this would be more portable and I wouldn’t mind as much if I damaged it. Plus having Bluetooth I can use any number of synths etc on my iPhone for busking.

[@mr_floydst]

You can't really go wrong at that price. The AKAI instrument feels more professional, but the S55 really has the advantages of being light, battery powered and super quick to set up.

[@synaesmedia]

Thanks for covering the thing I always want to know about these cheap EWIs : does it do MIDI to PC over USB? A remarkable number of videos about this type of hardware only talk about Bluetooth to iOS. How did you find the latency of using this with the USB midi? Was there a noticeable lag?

[@mr_floydst]

Latency depends on your system settings. On Windows PCs, it's highly advisable to use ASIO drivers, otherwise you'll have a huge delay between playing and hearing a note. On mobile devices, the latency is barely perceptible (around or slightly below 10ms)

[@synaesmedia]

@@mr_floydst Thanks. Yeah, I'm using ASIO. So should be OK.

[@TerenceKearns]

That's pretty impressive for the price. Even the internel synth sounds great and wouldn't be out of place with a live band. Wouldn't have been good if they added a delay effect with tap tempo for the next model.

[@mr_floydst]

You're right, some of those 13 sounds are pretty good (I liked the Flute, the Trumpet and the Clarinet most) Some of them sound too plasticky or have to much "default vibrato".

[@Grimmwoldds]

@@mr_floydst You'll always get the "too much default vibrato" on cheap EWIs. If you hold a note longer than the barest moment it adds it to simulate the bite sensor on more expensive EWIs.

[@Klangraum]

Seems to be a good MIDI breath controller.

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching - yep, it's quite good, especially considering the price. A bite sensor would have been nice-to-have. But I guess I shouldn't complain.

[@pirateradioFPV]

Ass55, you can't unhear it now. You're welcome 😁

[@mr_floydst]

It's a wind instrument.

[@valley_robot]

It sounds ace, 56 quid, it's a bargain, shame I can not get my head round fingerings on wind instruments

[@mr_floydst]

I feel you. Moving from a lower octave to a higher octave while playing a half-note step within a sudden crescendo nearly broke me, haha. Damn you, classical composers with your tendency to create beautiful, simple-sounding melodies that are not simple at all. ;-)

[@MreenalMams]

Wait why is Shine On You & Us & Them not allowed?

[@mr_floydst]

Both songs have some very well-known sax solos in it ;-) As do the others. I admit that those songs might be less of a musical cliché, though ;-)

[@matthewgaines10]

The best Windows Bluetooth drivers are from Korg and are free for the downloading. I also use a separate driver application for Bluetooth MIDI on Android that is free. Let me know if you need more information.

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for your input! I know of these and have them installed, but the S55 didn't want to connect (same on my Android phone, and I have that MIDI+BTLE app installed as well)

[@SeanMichaelNorris]

Do I need a fourth Wind Controller...I guess I'd still be getting off lighter than most guitar players I know in the GAS department, haha... Knowing you have somewhat of an inclination for wind instruments now, If you're looking for a really good quality portable controller (no internal sounds), I'd check out the WARBL, out of Bend, Oregon. Definitely a different price point, different use case, but has been a great value, and they just came out with a version 2 that has so many features I'm kicking myself I hadn't found it a year or two later.

[@mr_floydst]

You probably don't, but you're right, compared to the cost of guitars and their periphelia, electronic music hardware is suprisingly cost-effective.

[@SeanMichaelNorris]

@@mr_floydst Not to mention more space and sound production efficient..,just maybe not as cool to hang or display on a wall

[@bornach]

The recent crop of EWIs seem to be using Bluetooth 5.0+ for wireless MIDI which might explain why it is not working on older PCs. Try a Raspberry Pi 4 or later which technically works but latency will be atrocious. Perhaps consider investing in a CME WIDI interface if you want to play your other synths without being tethered to them with a USB cable.

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks, I really need to try one of those!

[@synthfluencer]

0:42 "My Heart Will Go On" is clearly missing from this list😆

[@mr_floydst]

Oh, ok. I don't remember a saxophone solo in there, but there's the flute theme of course. I really don't want to check ;-)

[@synthfluencer]

@@mr_floydst At 7:00 you're not that far away from it 😉

[@christophborowski725]

LC Display? I see a LED Display.

[@mr_floydst]

Yep, that's what happens if I don't write a script :-) (also: "please come in" instead of what I said there)

[@electronicmusicartcollective]

6:16 😅Frohe Pfingsten

[@mr_floydst]

Danke gleichfalls! :-)

[@72ndHUMAN]

Thought it said $55

[@mr_floydst]

It's not that far off ;-)

[@badpioneer]

Same! But then it was actually $56. I want my $1 back! Also, impulse purchased and it's on its way today. 😂

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

These things never appealed to Me, maybe of I played a normal wind instrument then that would be different.

[@mr_floydst]

You mean those breath controllers that go with the keyboard for extra expressiveness? I never tried one of those, ... another one for my bucket list :-)

[@HOLLASOUNDS]

@@mr_floydst Anything electrical going in the mouth kinda seems pointless.