Bruce McIntyre
Jan 02, 2026
So much to like about the AP500 Pro. Smaller octave rollers than my AKAI EWI Solo make a huge difference in difficult spots. Playing into headphones with an accompaniment program coming into the instrument live via Bluetooth is great and smooth, easy to mix. The 118 sounds (drum patches not included) that you can mix to play two instruments in unison, combined with a 1-10 mixer on the second instrument, makes over a quarter MILLION possible timbres possible. AP 500 players will have great fun combining Western and Asian instruments, or even plucked or synth sounds, to find unique and exciting new sounds. Delivery to the Vancouver area was about ten days over the Christmas week, with a bit of an importing fee, but still overall the least expensive wind-synth in my collection.
The customization possibilities are well-presented on screen and easy to navigate. I used to hate neck-straps but the one that comes with this is both comfortable and good-looking. And hardly necessary, the machine is wonderfully light.
The touch keys take some getting used to, but the ease of playing makes up for it. There are enough options for up and down semitones among keys that can be combined, that any difficult passage will probably have a surprisingly easy solution. Remember that the fingering chart that comes with the instrument is just a starting point, and adding keys to any fingering has a definite effect without ever losing sound quality, as an acoustic instrument often does with alternate fingerings.
A less rubbery mouthpiece option would be good for long sessions where I get lazy and bend it too far, blocking the airflow. Perhaps separate options in reverb and chorus for headphones and speakers might be a good improvement: I find I want less with headphones and more when using the on-board speaker. Maybe an option to change the font in the display to something more modern might be a good idea; SimSun is rather dated. I'm a bit terrified that if I ever play live and someone sees which model this is they will shout out the name of an instrument and the voice control will make the change immediately! But these are very small critiques; overall, the AP 500 Pro is a first-rate wind-synth, fun to play, lots of features and options, looks great and feels comfortable. It has earned a new box-top stand beside my workstation so I can play a few notes whenever I want to take a break from other work. Bravo, Greaten!
