Way cool! The "meandering pipe" is a way to scrunch up the length between the holes so you don't need to spread your fingers or use lots of extension lever things like a big saxophone. The "branching pipe" at the top is a contrivance to give it a saxophone tone (a conical instrument) instead of the cylindrical instrument that it really is. It works because of geometric math: adding the small branching pipe and blowing into the end of both is mathematically equivalent to blowing into one end of a cone, so it gives more of a high-pitched sax sound. The fingering, as far as I can tell, is plain recorder fingering! The Venova comes installed with a little black Tone Hole Adapter in the 3rd hole from the end of the Venova. This sets it to German recorder fingering. If you are used to Baroque recorder fingering (which is a little more difficult), take this adapter out. But it's not easy right out of the box. You need to learn about blowing across a reed, your "embouchure" or mouth-stance, and you must vary this embouchure and strength of your breath to get different notes and achieve different effects. They give you two booklet manuals and they give a chart with hints in the "Let's Play Venona!" booklet, but practice, practice, practice! There are scant hints in the Venona booklets; you can pick up tricks from books on sax theory. The whole thing can be washed with water, even the reed which is synthetic. Follow the instructions. Some musicians don't like the synthetic reed and replace it with standard saxophone reeds of the correct size, and maybe with a stiffer strength, and they say it gets better tones. I would spring for a more expensive version that has mechanical keys to make the fingering fool-proof. (Your fingering action would then be inverted: press a key to OPEN a hole.)
I'm going to have to get one of these babies. As a guitar/bass player studio rat, you can put this down but, it sure does add the human element and ends up sounding better than any synth sax can, in my opinion. I'm actually looking forward to recording with it and pitching it down to see if it beefs up the sound.
you can play the whole chromatic scale with roughly the same fingerings as a recorder. it's a bit tough to play Gb and Ab (they tend to get sharp, although you can fix it with good embouchure). Eb, Bb and Db are all easy to hit though (Eb and Db because they have keys, I don't actually know why Bb is easy to hit but it just is). it has a 2 octave range.
You sound pretty good after just 3 days! Here is a cool tip for you that gives the instrument a deeper more rich saxophone sound, which I found just by accident - try finding something like a little rubber bung that will fit into that strange looking pipe that sticks forward over the top next to the mouthpiece. You will be amazed at what a difference it makes to the sound.
That's a good analogy. At my work people have a ukulele club who meet at lunch, and they strummed a version of Jerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" but without any sax solo! And now, with this, they can!
It will be interesting to see if given their reputation for producing high quality products, whether Yamaha will eventually rectify the inherent intonation issues.
at the 3:15 mark it even sounds like drums, amazing! No, it's nice to have, especially because it is cheap, and it sounds ok, but it sure doesn't sound like a sax to me. I'm getting it anyway.
Pretty good for a few days of training. Do you have any previous experience with any wood instrument? Recorder, flute, anything? If this was your first attempt, then Venova might indeed be very amazingly beginner friendly and I'm also considering getting it.
Good question! I have had lots of experience with recorders in the past. However, the Venova is quite a bit different, and yet is not too hard to learn. I think it is an excellent place to start!
The fingering seems exactly like a German- or Baroque-system (your choice). Some notes have alternative fingerings. But it's a reed instrument and you need to vary your breath and mouth-shaping for the pitch of the note, and for various effects. Another guy mentioned that, while keeping your upper teeth on the top of the mouthpiece (a plastic mouthpiece patch to prevent teeth-marks is beter), and keeping your mouth sealed on the mouthpiece, you can wiggle your jaw up or down to get a vibrato (or tremolo?) effect.
I don't understand the amount of people saying this sounds like a kazoo. It's no proper sax, but it's a quirky and fun sounding little instrument that could fit well in a lot of casual setups
No offense to rowan because ethat was a Kool mix. But the way he played it it sounds like a kazoo but it really does sound like a mini saxophone on other videos Ive seen
I've heard that Xaphoons have messy fingerings - not as simple as recorder. Also, some Xaphoons have large mouthpiece - sometimes too large to play comfortably. I guess they try to get tenor sax sound from that small tube, that's why they put a large tenor sax mouthpiece, but that doesn't work out that good. Venova is OK but maybe for starters you could get a chalumeau for much cheaper and with the same simple fingerings as a recorder. Although Venova has its benefits - 2 octaves (if I'm not mistaken) without any gaps in between and as easy - or even easier - to play as a recorder. I myself currently am looking for one and having tough time to choose among different kinds of chalumeau, bamboo "saxaflutes" and this Venova. Sometimes Venova sounds a bit plasticky; I wish it was made of more thick plastic to give it more solid, mellow sound. But that would make it sound less saxy.
neither, they're just different. the biggest difference is propably, that the venova uses an alto reed, as upposed to a fatter gruntier tenor one. i havent tried, or even heard of, the venova until just yet, but have bit of practice on a 3d printed pocket sax and a xaphoon. the latter has that odd mouthpiece, copied from bamboo saxes, that gives it a darker tone than chinese knockoffs with a "normal" mouthpiece, or my printed one. prefer the more ''"shiny" tone of the normal one, and it's easier to get to the upper register too jut by gut feeling, i prefer the pocket sax over the xaphoon over the venove .. but thats mostly because i fund the venova pretty ugly. :D
Hopefully this helps! :)www.amazon.com/Yamaha-YVS-100-Venova-Instrument-Included/dp/B074R86GRQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1512882053&sr=8-1&keywords=yamaha+venova
I just use the synthetic one that comes with it. I have never actually played a reed or brass instrument until the venova, so I am not overly knowledgeable about anything regarding reeds. :)
The synthetic reed included is equivalent to a Yamaha 4C soprano sax mouthpiece. Some people may want to substitute a stiffer reed, move the mouthpiece to re-tune for this. Stiffer mouthpieces can articulate higher pitches better but you blow more. Make sure the reed will fit the Venova.
Almost every time you hear a Venova on UA-cam, it has a great sounding backup band or piano or guitar strumming along with it. It doesn't seem to be really good as a solo instrument.
Yes, but keep your upper teeth on the top of the mouthpiece (you can get transparent plastic mouthpiece patches to stick on your mouthpiece so you won't leave teeth-marks), and keep your mouth sealed on the mouthpiece even as you vibrate your jaw.
Saxophone sound? Hardly! Only a broken sax with bell stuffed with stray cats sounds like this. This sounds like a biting cross between the recorder and Armenian duduk. Buy duduk instead - it is much cooler, real instrument.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Way cool! The "meandering pipe" is a way to scrunch up the length between the holes so you don't need to spread your fingers or use lots of extension lever things like a big saxophone.
The "branching pipe" at the top is a contrivance to give it a saxophone tone (a conical instrument) instead of the cylindrical instrument that it really is. It works because of geometric math: adding the small branching pipe and blowing into the end of both is mathematically equivalent to blowing into one end of a cone, so it gives more of a high-pitched sax sound.
The fingering, as far as I can tell, is plain recorder fingering! The Venova comes installed with a little black Tone Hole Adapter in the 3rd hole from the end of the Venova. This sets it to German recorder fingering. If you are used to Baroque recorder fingering (which is a little more difficult), take this adapter out.
But it's not easy right out of the box. You need to learn about blowing across a reed, your "embouchure" or mouth-stance, and you must vary this embouchure and strength of your breath to get different notes and achieve different effects. They give you two booklet manuals and they give a chart with hints in the "Let's Play Venona!" booklet, but practice, practice, practice! There are scant hints in the Venona booklets; you can pick up tricks from books on sax theory.
The whole thing can be washed with water, even the reed which is synthetic. Follow the instructions. Some musicians don't like the synthetic reed and replace it with standard saxophone reeds of the correct size, and maybe with a stiffer strength, and they say it gets better tones.
I would spring for a more expensive version that has mechanical keys to make the fingering fool-proof. (Your fingering action would then be inverted: press a key to OPEN a hole.)
Wow! I cannot believe how much you know about this! :) I literally know nothing about brass or anything wind related accept recorders.
This sounds very great nice job and video
3:57 I see that sneaky otamatone staring at the camera
lol!!! Yeah it's always staring into your soul
I'm going to have to get one of these babies. As a guitar/bass player studio rat, you can put this down but, it sure does add the human element and ends up sounding better than any synth sax can, in my opinion. I'm actually looking forward to recording with it and pitching it down to see if it beefs up the sound.
Awesome man! I would love to hear it!
what is the name of the background music during the explanations please ?
That is some music that I actually made awhile ago on my iphone, so sadly it cannot be found anywhere
@@therowanskye ok thanks ;-)
How to get semi-tones on this instrument? Is it even possible to play chromatically?
It does offer the ability to play chromatically! There are some buttons that allow you to play half steps. Good question!
you can play the whole chromatic scale with roughly the same fingerings as a recorder. it's a bit tough to play Gb and Ab (they tend to get sharp, although you can fix it with good embouchure). Eb, Bb and Db are all easy to hit though (Eb and Db because they have keys, I don't actually know why Bb is easy to hit but it just is).
it has a 2 octave range.
Thanks for the info provided!
Glad I could help!! :)
You sound pretty good after just 3 days! Here is a cool tip for you that gives the instrument a deeper more rich saxophone sound, which I found just by accident - try finding something like a little rubber bung that will fit into that strange looking pipe that sticks forward over the top next to the mouthpiece. You will be amazed at what a difference it makes to the sound.
Dope as hell, I had been looking at this thing for a couple months and this video finally sold me on it
cool! Its super fun! You will love it! Thanks for checking out the video
Does it naturally have a jazzy tone to it? Or do you have to develop it?
This thing is to the saxophone what the ukulele is to the guitar, and I want one, hahaha.
That's a good analogy. At my work people have a ukulele club who meet at lunch, and they strummed a version of Jerry Rafferty's "Baker Street" but without any sax solo! And now, with this, they can!
yup. it actually does
its the like the trumpet to the cornet
It will be interesting to see if given their reputation for producing high quality products, whether Yamaha will eventually rectify the inherent intonation issues.
at the 3:15 mark it even sounds like drums, amazing! No, it's nice to have, especially because it is cheap, and it sounds ok, but it sure doesn't sound like a sax to me. I'm getting it anyway.
Cool, great to get into trying something out without spending a lot of money. Kids could try it at might get into music.
Pretty good for a few days of training. Do you have any previous experience with any wood instrument? Recorder, flute, anything? If this was your first attempt, then Venova might indeed be very amazingly beginner friendly and I'm also considering getting it.
Good question! I have had lots of experience with recorders in the past. However, the Venova is quite a bit different, and yet is not too hard to learn. I think it is an excellent place to start!
The fingering seems exactly like a German- or Baroque-system (your choice). Some notes have alternative fingerings. But it's a reed instrument and you need to vary your breath and mouth-shaping for the pitch of the note, and for various effects. Another guy mentioned that, while keeping your upper teeth on the top of the mouthpiece (a plastic mouthpiece patch to prevent teeth-marks is beter), and keeping your mouth sealed on the mouthpiece, you can wiggle your jaw up or down to get a vibrato (or tremolo?) effect.
Sound like a kazoo with reverb.. :)
I don't understand the amount of people saying this sounds like a kazoo. It's no proper sax, but it's a quirky and fun sounding little instrument that could fit well in a lot of casual setups
4:00 I can see the disappointment in the otamatone face because it knows it’s going to be replaced
HAHA!! Don't worry. He is still being loved. In fact, I just made a new video with him :)
Sounds really good keep doing it
Thank you very much!
Now we can satisfy women with the power of MUSIC!
THANK YOU JAPAN, ONCE AGAIN!
HAAA!!! I can honestly say, that's the best comment ever written!!
Sax player here.
That thing sounds like a kazoo.
But probably a pretty good tool for teaching young kids music and reed instrument fundamentals.
I am totally unexperienced. I guess that is pretty accurate :)
No offense to rowan because ethat was a Kool mix. But the way he played it it sounds like a kazoo but it really does sound like a mini saxophone on other videos Ive seen
Probably takes a lot of skill also
I just ordered one and I'm super excited! I'll tell you how it goes :)
SWEET!! Tell me how you like it!
Can you play this with a bamboo reed, not that plastic reed
Can you make a recording without effects on the sound?
Sure! I'll get around to that at some point soon!
BTW I posted a video of plain venova sounds if you would like to check it out!
He says the strap for the case goes around your neck, which it does not. The strap for the case is used to sling the case over your shoulder.
Xaphoon or Venova? which is better?
I wish I could answer that, but I honestly have not tried the Xaphoon before.
Venova can play 2 octaves. Xaphoon hard to get to 2nd octave. Xaphoon is smaller, hv to moving parts, is stronger. They sound different.
I've heard that Xaphoons have messy fingerings - not as simple as recorder. Also, some Xaphoons have large mouthpiece - sometimes too large to play comfortably. I guess they try to get tenor sax sound from that small tube, that's why they put a large tenor sax mouthpiece, but that doesn't work out that good.
Venova is OK but maybe for starters you could get a chalumeau for much cheaper and with the same simple fingerings as a recorder. Although Venova has its benefits - 2 octaves (if I'm not mistaken) without any gaps in between and as easy - or even easier - to play as a recorder. I myself currently am looking for one and having tough time to choose among different kinds of chalumeau, bamboo "saxaflutes" and this Venova. Sometimes Venova sounds a bit plasticky; I wish it was made of more thick plastic to give it more solid, mellow sound. But that would make it sound less saxy.
neither, they're just different. the biggest difference is propably, that the venova uses an alto reed, as upposed to a fatter gruntier tenor one.
i havent tried, or even heard of, the venova until just yet, but have bit of practice on a 3d printed pocket sax and a xaphoon. the latter has that odd mouthpiece, copied from bamboo saxes, that gives it a darker tone than chinese knockoffs with a "normal" mouthpiece, or my printed one. prefer the more ''"shiny" tone of the normal one, and it's easier to get to the upper register too
jut by gut feeling, i prefer the pocket sax over the xaphoon over the venove .. but thats mostly because i fund the venova pretty ugly. :D
Hey, do you mind telling me where you bought this instrument?
Sure! That's a good question. I got mine on amazon :)
Rowan Skye thanks for telling me, I'm going to pick one up!
Yeah! Tell me how you like it when you get it!!!
Beware of unauthorized dealers on Amazon who sell it at inflated prices. The list price at reputable music-stores is only about US$80.
Where did you buy it from?
Hey, how do you order one in the US?? Can't seem to find it online...
Hopefully this helps! :)www.amazon.com/Yamaha-YVS-100-Venova-Instrument-Included/dp/B074R86GRQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1512882053&sr=8-1&keywords=yamaha+venova
Ya but everywhere I check, It's all out of stock so I have no idea when I can get it by. :(
oh bummer. I know that your local Kennelly keys may have one.
Thank you! I will check them out.
Of course! Glad I could help
where do you buy those?
This instrument could change music in schools.
Price instrument?
Is this thing easy to learn? I’m a keyboard player btw and never play Sax. it’s really interesting.
Id say its relatively easy to learn. Not too difficult :)
You learn it like the instrument called a recorder
Also what type of reed do you use with venova?
I just use the synthetic one that comes with it. I have never actually played a reed or brass instrument until the venova, so I am not overly knowledgeable about anything regarding reeds. :)
The synthetic reed included is equivalent to a Yamaha 4C soprano sax mouthpiece. Some people may want to substitute a stiffer reed, move the mouthpiece to re-tune for this. Stiffer mouthpieces can articulate higher pitches better but you blow more. Make sure the reed will fit the Venova.
Dracopol ty. Also people say 6c is better? So should i by a 6c ?
Dracopol uhhh
The reed is just a no name soprano synthetic at 2 thickness
The mouthpiece is a soprano 6c and a great way to get one at that
Can you get overtones on this thing??
I'm not sure. I would think so :)
Do u know any stores (online too) where i can find it?
Art Lover Soo it's all over amazon but I'm not sure where else you could find it. probably the Yamaha website
Good question! Amazon, EBay, Sweetwater and a few others as far as I know. I think that your local Kennelly keys and guitar center carry them too :)
Don't pay more than about US$80 for it! That's the price from reputable music dealers.
what is the cost?
I got mine for $100!
thanks.
Of course! I'm glad that I could help :)
OMG!!! I have to get one!!!
YESS BUDDY!!!
Damn 3 days? Setting the bar high haha
It looks like a recorder but with a woodwind mouthpiece
Wow yamaha made an intestine kazoo
Almost every time you hear a Venova on UA-cam, it has a great sounding backup band or piano or guitar strumming along with it. It doesn't seem to be really good as a solo instrument.
sounds like a clarinet mouthpiece without the clarinet
I just purchased one and working to get sound out of it
Sweet! Can't wait to hear it! :)
The instrument exploration class got these and my orchestra class hates them
The venova is to a Saxophone what a Recorder is to a Clarinet
Nice ominous track.
THANKS!!
Kazoo kid: no kazoo can beat min-
Saxotamatone
"a lot more buttons and half steps"
I want। Mouth pise of Saxo phone
sax phn is best
Move your jaw for vibrato
Yes, but keep your upper teeth on the top of the mouthpiece (you can get transparent plastic mouthpiece patches to stick on your mouthpiece so you won't leave teeth-marks), and keep your mouth sealed on the mouthpiece even as you vibrate your jaw.
Toooooooooooooooooooo much reverb! Like Turkish bathroom!
Saxophone sound? Hardly! Only a broken sax with bell stuffed with stray cats sounds like this. This sounds like a biting cross between the recorder and Armenian duduk. Buy duduk instead - it is much cooler, real instrument.
haha true!
sounds more like a kazoo
This sounds more like an expensive kazoo, nothing to do with a sax...