Haxophone
Creative
electronic wind instrument
SHOW HN2022
526points
71comments
#47of 2,570 in 2022
Top 2%of 2022 by points
How HN took it
CuriousMostly questions and neutral comments
11 positive, 24 neutral or asking, 2 mixed, 3 critical, out of 40 comments about the project. Thread score +0.24.
Idea: 4 for, 0 againstExecution: 2 for, 0 againstPerformance: 0 for, 2 againstDesign: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Cool, brilliant, awesome project
From 4 comments
I'm not exactly in the target audience, but this is brilliant. Bravo!
mftb on HNThis is one of the coolest things I've seen on HN. I am definitely going to try to follow the instructions on this in the near future! I don't even play saxophone, but now I am…
throwaway413 on HNThis is extremely cool. Surprised how good it sounds in the example video. Wish I knew enough about hardware to build one (OK, i also wish i knew how to play sax). Shame there's…
WickyNilliams on HNLove this! Well done OP and thanks for sharing the code!
matthewhartmans on HN
Sounds good in demo video
From 2 comments
This is extremely cool. Surprised how good it sounds in the example video. Wish I knew enough about hardware to build one (OK, i also wish i knew how to play sax). Shame there's…
WickyNilliams on HNI had the chance of making one in Oct 2021 following Javier's advices on his docs. This was a lot of fun. I printed the 3 required parts on my Prusa MK3S 3D printer. Perfect at…
pom34 on HN
Objections
Only an air pressure sensor, no reed sensing, so limited expressiveness
From 2 comments
Reading the assembly instructions it's only an air pressure sensor. You can use a real mouthpiece with reed or not, but it won't make noise actually. It also won't detect…
jefftk on HNNeeds a reed sensor.
willcipriano on HN
No vibrato
From 1 comment
Before I’d do any of that would be vibrato. Without it it is a emotionless keyboard with a blowtube.
ruleforty on HN
Raspberry Pi hard to buy and expensive
From 2 comments
You can overcome the RPi scarcity by migrating the code to the Teensy platform, which aside being cheaper and less power hungry than the 2,3,4 RPi, is a lot cheaper and more…
squarefoot on HNI like Teensy but it looks like their boards are either low-inventory or out of stock too: https://www.pjrc.com/store/teensy41.html
skybrian on HN
Requests
Port to Teensy platform
From 1 comment
You can overcome the RPi scarcity by migrating the code to the Teensy platform, which aside being cheaper and less power hungry than the 2,3,4 RPi, is a lot cheaper and more…
squarefoot on HN
Add vibrato via pressure sensors
From 2 comments
Pretty challenging to do vibrato w/ momentary switches (discrete). For vibrato you need something like flexforce pressure sensors[1]. [1]…
schappim on HNBefore I’d do any of that would be vibrato. Without it it is a emotionless keyboard with a blowtube.
ruleforty on HN
Ship a kit of parts
From 2 comments
This is great! As someone who used to play sax a lot but doesn't have hardware experience, it's 100% the sort of thing I would buy if it were commercially available. Makes sense…
xavdid on HNThis is extremely cool. Surprised how good it sounds in the example video. Wish I knew enough about hardware to build one (OK, i also wish i knew how to play sax). Shame there's…
WickyNilliams on HN
Questions
Is the mouthpiece a real reed and does it make noise
From 2 comments
As the owner of a (recently revived) ewi-usb… I’m really curious about the mouthpiece bit. What kind of analog sounds are happening while playing this? Do you notice that reed…
code_runner on HNAs a sax player who also plays a Roland Aerophone, I have a similar question. Is the mouthpiece a real sax mouthpiece and reed? If so, that means it's making a lot of noise. One…
bwanab on HN
How the air pressure sensing works
From 2 comments
Yeah and is the pressure sensor closed so you're actually not blowing but just increasing and decreasing pressure?
polishdude20 on HNAhh that makes sense! So is this actually sensing a lower pressure than ambient? Since moving air results in lower pressure?
polishdude20 on HN
Alternatives named
Akai EWI
From 2 comments
Reminds me of the EWI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EWI_(musical_instrument). Which several people in my high school band would play in the locker rooms.
mdmglr on HNI have an akai ewi sitting on my desk
dmead on HN
Yamaha BC-1 breath controller
From 1 comment
The design says that it measures air pressure. So it's just blowing into a tube, much like e.g. the Yamaha BC-1. I've got one, and in the demo video, I hear the same rapid…
tgv on HN
Roland Aerophone
From 1 comment
As a sax player who also plays a Roland Aerophone, I have a similar question. Is the mouthpiece a real sax mouthpiece and reed? If so, that means it's making a lot of noise. One…
bwanab on HN
Eigenharp, Linnstrument, Soundplane
From 3 comments
Here are other innovative electronic instruments. The Eigenharp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MR5qBtPRrM The Artiphon Instrument1: https://artiphon.com/pages/instrument1 The…
rudolfwinestock on HNThe Soundplane: https://madronalabs.com/soundplane
chuchana on HNI own a LinnStrument and it's fantastic. I created a custom note layout for it to make it easier to play: https://github.com/flipcoder/linnstrument-wholetone. The firmware is…
flipcoder on HN