“MIDI is just for keyboardists.” Hearing generalizations like that must send shivers down the spines of the 1400+ members of the Yahoo Wind Controllers Group. They have enough to talk about to generate around 500 messages a month, chatting exclusively about MIDI and other digital wind instruments.
If that kind of traffic sounds overwhelming, and you’re still asking questions like “why would you want to do this, anyway?”, check out the related Wind Controller FAQ. In answer to the “why” question, here’s one good reason from the FAQ: “A wind controller can be used for alternative sounds that a musician cannot produce on their acoustic instruments.”
Looking at it from the opposite direction, why not? What could be more expressive than breath? Now’s a great time to go check out the FAQ and group, with Akai introducing new wind controller at NAMM (pictured). (Found via an aborted attempt to start a Google group on this topic.)