Independent review from a user on sax on the web

Ok guys, I got my hands on one of these things.

First, to allay any fears, it is anything but complicated.

The construction:
The case is really light, so unless you are suffereing from some serious back problems, I dare say you won't be affected by the weight.
The case is made of a tough plastic and inside the case is lined with a 3/4 inch thick, form fitting mat or blanket to absorb the sound. The case latches shut with 3 or 4 buckle type latches.

The sax rests on adjustable rubber supporters inside the case, so you can set the supporters to fit your sax. (I tried the mute with my Keilwerth alto and the bell fit, no problems there).

Inside the case is a small convex area near the bell that has a small mic imbedded in it, so the mic is not intrusive in the case.

After setting up the rubber supporters, I put my sax inside and closed the case. Closing the case is a little tricky as you have to get the two halves to line up and get the channels on the case lip to fit together exactly. This gets a little tricky because hinges are placed on the mute in the location corresponding to the front of the bell, thus allowing the lid a little more flex than you may want, ideally. I don't see any other place to put the hinges, however, due to the design of the case.

I put my mouthpiece on and then went about trying to insert my hands into the thing.
The hand inserts are made of a thick neoprene and the fit is snug but not uncomfortable and seals around your wrists well enough to keep the sound in.
I rested the edge of the mute on my chair, between my legs and noticed immediately that in this position (my usual in-front playing style) that the right hand side keys were a little hard to reach, due to placement of the neoprene hand hole. Not impossible, but not exactly easy. The left hand was fine.

First toot:
Well, it works! I have a BIG sound on alto and I let loose and it was very quiet. I could easily hear myself without the earphones, but it was not a sound that your neighbors will hear.
Put it this way, your TV is a LOT louder than you will be with this thing.
I went through the whole range of the horn and found that for some reason the low Bb motor-boated on me. I thought this was strange and then I asked another player who tried it and he had the same thing happen.
I finally got the Bb out, but it was not pretty.
I then tried the headphones. This was very surprising, because while the sound was more acoustic, what I heard in the headphones was not very seriously amplified. If you use the headphones, you should still be able to hear the doorbell or phone. Very interesting.

Yeah, you can hear yourself pretty clearly without the headphones (well, it's muffled, but quite audible). If you live somewhere with paper-thin walls, the neighbours could still probably hear you, especially for low honkers and the higher range... but it's only going to be as loud as general living noise (tv, radio etc).

The electronics:
Very simple.
In jack for your CD player, out jack, and headphone jack.
Switch it on, you hear yourself thru the phones.

I decided to check into the motorboating problem. I hypothesized that the rubber supports inside the case were affecting it.
So, I opened the case and took them out, put the sax back in and tried it again.
Low Bb WAS indeed easier and I could get it to play more consistently, but it still had the tendency to motorboat occasionally. I am not sure why this is happening but I am guessing that the close enclosure of the case is making this happen.

The verdict:
If you need to be quiet and to practice at home, this thing may be for you. If you want to hear yourself as you really sound, you may not be totally satisfied.

The quality of the product is high. It is clearly well made and seems good enough, but there are a few little points I would like to see fixed.

1. The motorboating low Bb. I think this is probably due to a dampening effect of the rubber supports and the closeness/fit of the mute around the sax. My suggestions- a composite support that is made of hard plastic or wood with a felt cover to protect the sax from scratching AND make the case a little fatter so the horn can "breathe" inside the case.

2. Make the right hand hole a little more ergonomically placed. If the case were made a little fatter this would also help in making the side keys more accessible.

Would I recommend it? Yes.
Would I buy it? Yes.

I paid $700 Australian to have it shipped from Japan, as no one used to sell it here. The device itself (material-wise) is certainly not worth that money, but the amount of practice I'll now be able to do IS worth the money.

I really think this device is a god-send for those who want to practice at home, despite the minor issues I have listed here.

Other information from the manufacturers

People are rapidly recognizing the purchase and use value of this product though their recognition is not comprehensive.
In fact, function of the product is not only to lower the sound, more functions will suit sax players at any stage and provide them with more significant help.

For beginner the use of Sax Partner will be helpful as sound produced by beginners are always unacceptable to others; As the study of music playing requires everyday practice, you can practice every day or at any time by Sax Partner; you will not complain to your teacher that there is no time to practice every weekend !
It is known that a good sense of rhythm is necessary for a music student, unique built-in electronic metronome in Vas-2 products will meet your requirement for rhythm and will be the best assistant to help you master the rhythm.

For secondary learner solo is the most important ability for a secondary learner. Karaoke functions of Sax Partner could play desirable music as accompaniment with external CD, MP3 or computers to help you practice repeatedly. When you are able to share your performance with your family or friends through frequency output, sax study will no longer be a sticky business without applause!

For advanced learner recording their performance to listen again is a method adopted by many advanced learners. This product enables you to record at any time using frequency output function with a computer and simple record software, relieving you from the complexity of constructing a family based record system. After you have found out many unnoticeable small mistakes such as inconsistent tone color, unsteady air current control and inharmonious rhythm, etc and solved them, your playing ability and sense of rhythm will undoubtedly make great improvements! Of course, it will also be convenient to produce your own Demo by this instrument.

For professional players With volume weakening and frequency output functions of Sax Partner, volume of your sax can be amplified by acoustics devices and adjusted by sound mixing console just like that of other music instrument(key board, electronic guitar, electronic Bass?electronic drum, etc)! By utilizing the Sax Partner, how perfectly the volume and tone color of your sax will combine with that of a band!

Weight
As the instrument weighs about 2.2kg, it is recommended for players of little age to use the instrument with sitting posture and double shoulder belt; it will be laborious for us to stand even with nothing at hand for an hour! So parents please cherish your chidden, allowing them to practice with sitting posture and a balanced work and rest schedule

Usage
The first one: please wear attached earphone in your first practice to have a standard tone color control and master a normal breath.
The second one: after familiarizing with above mentioned methods, you can evaluate your performance through low sound blown form inside the instrument and practice some sheer skills. Of course, you can use earphones as you wish.

Posture
Just like playing sax, there is standing posture and sitting posture for usage of the instrument. It is recommended for you to adopt sitting posture and double shoulder belt during exercise. A balanced work and rest schedule is highly recommended whether you use the instrument or not when you play sax.

Are the gloves uncomfortable?
Adopting stretch-proof material with high elasticity, our company has developed one general specification for glove(one for each hand), central hole dimension of which suits users with different hand types; therefore users with relatively large or fat hands will feel some inconvenience while users with smaller hands will possibly not; it is recommended for users to find standard posture and position for hands before you adjust hole of glove to your convenience; such inconvenience which derives mostly from psychological elements is relatively strong during early time of your practice and will become less noticeable after a period of times.
In fact, some inconvenience will benefit you in some way: it will help fix your hands, forcing you to press the button through movement of joint, increasing the agility and accuracy of fingers as well as avoiding the false method of pressing button through movement of hands which is opposite to standard sax teaching; alternative practice with the instrument and sax will help you understand and master correct movement of fingers when you play sax alone - you will discover by a careful comparison that your fingers movement, especially that of left hand on three alt button(not overtone button) are more agile and accurate after a time of inconvenience! However, this is not original intention of Sax Partner, as our company will develop one to two general specifications for different hand types according to requirements of users in order to reduce inconvenience as much as possible to suit different users; new products will be available through mail order and VIP users who have participated in online products registration will have opportunity to get some new products in promotion or as awards.

Sound insulation glove
As an expendable, usage time for sound insulation glove is usually one to two years depending on different personal utilization. Please avoid stretching it forcefully or scratching it with sharp object in order to prolong its usage time.

Can it replace music instrument case?
Please remember: the instrument cannot and will not be allowed to act as a music instrument box!! Any collision and stress should be avoided; it is only applicable to performance and short distance transit as it was made from light-weighted ABS material; if long distance conveyance is necessary, it is recommended to accommodate your sax with a music instrument box; additionally, our company is developing soft (for short distance) and hard (for long distance) portable box exclusively used for Sax Partner, then you can put sax inside Sax Partner and bring them with you by portable box.

Insulation felt
As felt designed to protect against dampness and for sound insulation will absorb much vapor after long time practice, please take out felt and air-dry it regularly; to make it convenient, design of felt adopts style which is easy to dismantle instead of that fixed inside the box. Please fix its fringe under the black seal with even folding during installation; otherwise there will be loose parts.

Heat and moisture
As the inside space is nearly airproof and there are only four air holes on the glove for each hand, you may feel slightly hot with continuous air current blown inside during practice. Some vapor and liquid on the hands under normal room temperature will cause some inconvenient which, however, will not affect your practice and could be overcome by wearing a pair of thin cotton gloves.