[NewMusic] Mats and his Weevil electronic sax

[David Slusser]

> Subject: Re: [NewMusic] Mats and his Weevil electronic sax
> From:    "jacob felix heule" <jfheule at gmail.com>
> Date:    Tue, August 7, 2007 1:08 pm
> To:      "Bay Area New Music Discussion Group"  
> <newmusic at music.mills.edu>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 
> ----
>
> At the 7/31 1510 show (Jorrit's improv pool), the Lyricon playing...
> ...sounded really weird (timbrally) at times
> ...often seemed excessively simplistic
> ...at various times sounded good or bad due to how simple and corny  
> it was
> ...at other times blended in just right
>
> I was completely happy with his synth contribution to the
> Ettrick+Dijkstra set on 8/2... possibly for all of the above reasons,
> which can probably all be applied to Ettrick's music. Really, I  
> felt like
> it was a very satisfying set, and the rock crowd seemed to be into  
> it. I
> don't think he's playing any more shows before he leaves. Nothing's
> scheduled now, anyway.
>
> John Butcher's sax feedback is pretty great.
>
> I'd like to hear the Weevil (though I agree it seems somewhat
> gratuitous). I'd like to play it.
>
> I'd like a MIDI wind controller.

Look around for the Casio midi sax.  They were cheap new.   They also  
had
a fatal capacitor that gave out after a few years, so it would only  
play a single
squeal.  People threw or gave them away at this point, or just put  
'em in their
parts pile.  If you're lucky enough to find one free or cheap in this  
condition,
there are several web pages that tell you how to replace this common  
capacitor.
I did the replacement on mine, and it's good as new.  When I first  
got it, I took
it into Leo's (Pro Audio) and did a comparison with the EWI, driving  
the same
synth modules.  The Casio was just as effective 96% of the time - at  
a miniscule
fraction of the price.