Yamaha WX5 Sounds like Anything You Want!

I was at a rehearsal for a musical today when a fellow musician arrived with two fascinating instruments. Besides the gorgeous golden bass saxophone he lugged in was a trim little tube that looked like a digital clarinet designed in 2011. It turned out to be the Yamaha WX5. This amazing device sounds like whatever you want it to because it's a midi sound generator. The guy with it today had it sounding like a saxophone, but it could be a piano or a guitar or a bass or whatever.

It works just like any other midi tone generator, so it's completely compatible. You can set different fingerings to approximate various instruments. And it only weighs a little over a pound!

Apparently it's not too expensive--about $500, my musical colleague told me.

And check out the gorgeous bass saxophone (which sounded fantastic when he played it):