EWI (from electronic wind instrument, pronounced EE-wee) is a type of wind controller, an electronic musical instrument invented by Nyle Steiner. The EWI has been used by many artists across many different genres. History The EWI was invented by Nyle Steiner, his second electronic wind instrument design. Steiner originally brought to market a brass style fingering analogue wind synthesizer instrument known as the EVI in the 1970s. Steiner then went on to develop the EWI which had a unique fingering system closer to the woodwind style. These instrument designs first working models appeared in the 1970s, with the EWI appearing commercially during the early 1980s. Operation EWI models can control external synthesizers or other MIDI instruments, either simultaneously or instead of the synthesizers that come with the instrument. Earlier EWIs require the external box unit, while the discontinued (as of 2019) EWI4000s and still currently available EWI5000 have built-in MIDI outputs. The newest EWI SOLO and the now discontinued (as of 2022) EWI USB have only a USB connector. In 2021 a small volume (cottage industry) company Berglund also makes its own original variations on classic Steiner EVI and EWI designs, approved and demonstrated by Nyle Steiner himself. The Berglund designs offer MIDI over wireless, unlike the current Akai products (as of 2022). Wireless MIDI can be achieved on the Akai models with unofficial third party add on products at lower cost, albeit in a somewhat DIY fashion. Any EWI can play software synthesizers running on a computer. The early models of EWI and EVI consisted of two parts: a wind controller and a digitally-controlled analog synthesizer in a rackmount box (which also houses the instrument's electronics). Akai took over the EVI and EWI instruments from Steiner and released several models with his help. Today Akai only makes designs based around the EWI, having dropped the less commercially successful EVI. The current Akai models EWI5000, and EWI SOLO contain built-in sample-based digital synthesizers and don't strictly require an external box. Akai also offered the EWI USB, a five-octave MIDI controller that connects directly to a Mac or Windows computer via USB and uses software for control. Fingering system EWIs, depending on the brand (Akai or Berglund; the latter referred to as NuRad), can use the Boehm fingering system used by most woodwind instruments, or other fingerings, like that of the recorder or tin whistle. The instrument feels somewhat like a