an Arduino based EVI that people could build themselves. In 2017 it was still
unclear when the Arduino EVI kit would be available. As the only available EVI
would be in kit form and not available as a pre-built instrument, some EVI
players started to get a bit concerned about the future of the EVI. With no new
instruments being built, the EVI would eventually die. In hope to prevent this,
EVI virtuoso Steve Anderson initiated a project aiming to create a new EVI. After
teaming up with Johan Berglund moving forward with the project, the NuEVI
was born.
As popularity of the NuEVI grew, EWI players started to get in touch,
wanting an EWI counterpart to the NuEVI. When development was initiated for
this new EWI, a number of factors pointed to the RAD EWI as the suitable
version to modernize and build for people. The original RAD MIDI EWI was
made by Nyle in 2004, for saxophone and EWI player Michael Brecker. The RAD
EWI featured a new, radical, redesign putting the keys for left and right hands
side by side, and having handles attached so it could be played without the use
of a neck strap. Michael Brecker was very pleased with this new controller and
used it on tour. No additional RAD EWIs were made though, and the controller
could have become just this one-off mythical beast.
Development of the NuRAD was done in parallel with building NuEVIs and
while it took more than a year to get it all ready, some ideas for the NuRAD
would also be available as optional features for the NuEVI, the PneuBite in
particular. The PneuBite is based on the bite sensor in the vintage Steiner
Master’s Touch system, and rather than measuring capacitance between two
strips of metal, it senses the air pressure in a closed system where squeezing or
bending the mouthpiece will alter the pressure. As an improvement over the
original, a pressure valve is added, allowing for equalization to ambient air
pressure.
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