My search for music
In my teens I played the tenor saxophone. It was something I loved, and I got quite good. A minimum of 20 minutes a day of practise for a period of 10 years. Yeah, it did actually sound alright.
But now I live in an apartment, and the saxophone is not known for being a discreet instrument. Not even playing in daytime feels alright to me, since I do not wish to disturb my neighbours. So the saxophone remains in its box under the bed.
But my wish to play lives on, and I went searching for an alternative. This is what I found.
Mini Sax ($159)
The Mini Sax is some sort of hybrid between a recorder and a saxophone, made with the purpose of being easy to learn as a beginner as well as a good portable alternative when you are on the road. It looks like someone took a recorder in metal and put a saxophone mouth piece on it. Is this a good alternative for me?
The highest decibel count you can achieve with the stainless steel mini sax is 106db. Average is around 93db. This is quite a bit quieter than a regular tenor saxophone.
So it is a fair bit more discreet, as well as quite easy to handle. The sound appears to be fairly warm and nice as well. But the main drawback is that it won’t really help me become a better saxophone player. Sure, it might be good to train my lungs and mouth, but the fingering is totally off. And to be completely honest, the price is a bit high for what you get.
Saxmonica ($75)
Now enter on stage, the Saxmonica. Quite a bit cheaper than the Mini Sax, but essentially the same basic idea, a saxophone mouth piece on a recorder.
The perfect comprehensive improvisation Pocket Sax. Take it anywhere , jam anywhere, with anyone. This is an instrument for life.
The body of the Saxmonica is some form of epoxy compund that the New Zeeland based creators claim will last for a 1000 years, a claim I would love to verify myself. The sound clearly reminds you of the saxophone, so it has that going for it.
Travel Sax (€500)
Now we encounter something else, an electronic saxophone. Odisei Music in Spain launched a successful Kickstarter campaign to develop the Travel Sax. A traditional saxophone mouth piece mounted on a sensor that monitors the air that you blow in to it. Then we find a faithful replica of the ordinary saxophone keys in 3D-printed plastic. Even though your hands are closer to your mouth than usual, since the instrument is so small, it actually seems to mimic the act of playing the saxophone quite closely.
From now on you will be able to practice anytime anywhere without disturbing others, enabling to improve your saxophone skills much faster.
One of the fun things with an electronic saxophone is that it essentially is an ordinary MIDI device. It needs to be connected via Bluetooth to a phone or computer. This means that you can make it sound almost any way you want. Imagine being able to record both piano and violin, even though you only know how to play the sax!
Unfortunately this device is not available for purchase at this time, since they are in the process of sending out units to their Kickstarter backers. During the current pandemic this has slowed down somewhat, but they are hopeful to fulfil all orders within a month or two. Then they have a backlog of pre-orders, which will take some time, I guess. This is a small company, without a stable production line yet.
Roland Aerophone GO AE-05 (€500)
And finally we get introduced to the Aerophone Go. This has a few built in sounds, as well as a speaker. So you do not need a phone or computer to play this instrument. Otherwise the idea is basically the same as for the Travel Sax, a sensor connected to an ordinary looking mouth piece, and then the familiar saxophone key layout. Sort of. Instead of faithfully replicated keys, we find buttons on the Aerophone Go. Fair enough, they are positioned in roughly the correct place, but you will not get the same feeling as you are used to when pushing a saxophone key.
The built-in speaker delivers high-quality sound wherever you want to play, without needing external speakers and connections. And using headphones means you can play any time of the day or night without disturbing family or neighbors; just choose a sound, set the volume and start playing.
Roland is a giant in the musical instrument business, and this is a product they have worked on and sold for quite some time now. All the kinks have been worked out, and you know what you get.
Yamaha YDS-150 Digital Saxophone (€837)
One of the largest saxophone manufacturer has recently decided to join the electronic wave, with the YDS-150. It looks like a saxohone, feels like a saxophone and sounds like saxophone, without it actually being a saxophone.
Volume control over a range of fifteen levels lets you play freely, without worrying about the place or time. The instrument can be played quietly at night, and with a set of headphones on, you can apply an ambient reverb and thoroughly immerse yourself in your performance.
Of course the YDS-150 will not react to you trying to use the mouth piece, and that removes a large bit of how a sax should behave. But on the other hand, all the keys are correct, and you can really practice your fingering.
This is a product that takes all the other in to account and then shoots them out of the water. This is the giant Yamaha showing how an electronic saxophone should be constructed. Sure, you would not want this to be your only instrument, but as a compliment in an apartment building, on the road or any other circumstance where you can not play on your tenor saxophone, this seems to be it!
So what will it be?
My gut reaction is that the recorder looking things with a saxophone mouthpiece is not really what I want or need. The Aerophone looks like a nice piece of kit, but I really like the look of the keys of the Travel Sax. And if money were no option the YDS-150 seems to be the clear winner.
I have still not decieded, but perhaps will I soon get to play my instrument of choice again.
