This is the second video in a small series about wind controllers. It doesn’t try to be a complete review of the instrument — it’s a personal look at what I actually use and how. The focus is on the Aerophone AE-30 as a MIDI wind controller paired with VG Wind Ensemble, not on the AE-30’s own internal sounds.
What is the Roland Aerophone AE-30?
The AE-30 is a wind controller from Roland with flexible settings that let you get the most out of it. You can control several effects and their parameters at the same time, and turn individual sounds on and off. Here, the focus is on how the instrument feels to play, and how it works as a MIDI controller for VG Wind Ensemble.
The body is a plastic shell with a silver-colored insert running down the center, giving it a sharp, professional look. The key layout follows a real saxophone, so if you’ve played sax before, your fingers already know where to go. The keys have proper mechanical action, not just flat touch pads, so pressing them actually feels like playing an acoustic horn.
On top there’s an OLED display showing the current scene, the current bank, and the instrument’s transposition, so you always know at a glance what key you’re set up to play in. For connecting to a computer you’ve got USB-C, Bluetooth, or a standard five-pin MIDI output. Running it over USB-C, the response feels instant, with no noticeable gap between breath and sound.
Octave Keys and Pitch Bend Lever
Under the left thumb there are several octave keys. You can set them to shift by two octaves, by three octaves, or to a sax compatible mode, depending on how you like to play.
Under the right thumb there’s a pitch bend lever. You can set how far a full push bends the pitch, anywhere from a subtle curve to one octave up or down, so it adapts to whatever style you’re playing.
Right next to the pitch bend lever there’s a thumb pad, also under the right thumb. You can assign it to a variety of functions or parameters — I sometimes assign mine to effects like vibrato, growl, or wah.
On the back of the body there are two more buttons, S1 and S2, operated with the left thumb. Paired with VG Wind Ensemble, they’re handy for switching different instruments on and off across its three sections.
Bite Sensor and Motion Control
The mouthpiece has a bite sensor that I route to pitch bend in VG Wind Ensemble, for a scoop into the start of a note.
Moving the Aerophone up and down, left and right, is a powerful way to control sound. I’ve mapped that movement to switch and change harmonies in the Harmonizer — a feature built into VG Wind Ensemble that adds harmony voices to a single melodic line in real time.
Fingering Systems
The AE-30 supports several fingering systems: saxophone, flute, clarinet, recorder, trumpet, and a few more. I play with trumpet fingering, since that’s what feels natural coming from trumpet.
In the video, after going through the controls, I switch through several of these fingering systems and play a short improvisation using VG Wind Ensemble’s sounds — trumpet with mute, trombone, harmonica, and alto saxophone.
What is VG Wind Ensemble?
VG Wind Ensemble is a virtual instrument platform with 71 wind instrument sounds, designed specifically for wind controllers, breath controllers, and MIDI keyboards. It works as VST, AU, and standalone on Windows and macOS.
In this video the AE-30 is connected as a MIDI controller directly to VG Wind Ensemble — no additional hardware required.
Try It Yourself
The Core edition of VG Wind Ensemble is completely free — no trial period, no limitations.
Download FreeSee Full Collection
Works as VST, AU, and standalone on Windows and macOS.
Full instrument list at vgtrumpet.com/vg-sound-collection/