Super fun to play and highly flexible
The media could not be loaded. The ability to play privately with headphones is such a killer feature! It's been just amazing what a difference it makes for me psychologically and practically. I also love the three octave range, especially since the higher and lower octaves aren't any harder to sound than the middle octave. That note spread can cover just about any song, no more running out of notes like other small woodwinds. No need to sit up straight and maximize your airflow either, slouching on the couch is ay-okay, as you don't need a lot of breath to make a good sound. Sharps and flats have been a bit of a challenge for me as my pinkies are not too good at finding the modifier keys, but I'm slowly adapting. Still loads better than trying to partially cover a hole just right or memorize some random fingering. I think having universal modifiers that lower or increase any note pitch by a half step is a great idea, super easy to remember. Having 12 tones to choose from has been so much fun! Trying them out on a song you want to play and choosing your favorite(s) adds a whole new entertainment level to playing. I bought this for the flute-adjacent sounds, but loving the sax, clarinet and violin, too, very inspiring. I would have loved a few electric guitar tones, but there's certainly plenty to play with. I feel like they all sound so great that they really elevate my mediocre playing and between that, the vast supply of in-range songs, and the headphone jack, I've been motivated to play so much more than I have my past small woodwind splurges. Sorry little guys, I know you're getting dusty waiting for me to pick you up again... I'm not a big midi person (yet?) but I was able to use a midi record website on my PC to connect via USB and record some notes as a proof-of-concept (and then another app to covert the midi to sheet music!) so that was pretty cool and suggests anything midi you want to do should work fine. Bluetooth connection also worked on my kindle tablet and android phone. The audio jack makes it easy to record via an audio cable (no background noise!), which is how I made the attached video. As for the learning curve, if you've played tin whistles, recorders, ocarinas, flutes or other woodwinds, you should be up to speed quickly, and not too hard for a novice to learn the mechanics either. The included documentation is not wildly helpful, but after some experimentation, it became intuitive and easy to work with pretty quickly. I'll attach my notes to this review. The default c (3 top fingers down, no octave adjustments) is piano middle c for most of the tones, but an octave higher for piccolo, bamboo flute, recorder and alto sax (per an android tuning app; oddly the bamboo flute registers c4 in midi and c5 with the tuner app. All the others are consistent). The octave keys and sharp/flat modifiers are pretty sensitive. There are times I swear my finger was only near, not touching, but they trigger anyway. However it's been happening less as time goes on, so I think it's working as intended, I just need to improve my accuracy. If you are an advanced player, you may miss certain note bending, alternate fingering and embouchure things you can do on analog instruments, but if like me you are happy as long as you are more or less hitting the right notes at a decent clip, good times await. Portability is of course fantastic and the battery has been lasting 2-3 weeks for me (playing around 3-6 hrs a week, always with headphones) before needing a recharge. It will play while charging, which is useful when it starts flashing 'lo' at you but you still want to play. To sum up, my six weeks of ownership so far have brought me a lot of joy, much better than doom scrolling. Great impulse buy, highly recommended for the musically inclined or merely musically hopeful. Read more
