ArtistInfo

Niles Steiner

tr, sax,
Musician

Wind controller pioneer Nyle Steiner invented the EVI (Electronic Valve Instrument, Steinerphone Trumpet-like Wind Controller) and EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument, Steinerphone Sax-like Wind Controller). Steiner is also an experienced 'legit' trumpet player having worked with the Utah Symphony in the 1960s. Steiner originally conceived of the concept of a brass-style electronic synthesizer in that decade. He began prototyping the concept in the early 1970s and in 1975 completed his first playable electric valve instrument - the 'Steiner Horn'. A woodwind version (EWI) was developed soon after. His early instruments were individually hand made. In the mid 1970s, Nyle set up a small synthesizer company named Steiner-Parker with partners. The company produced various analog synths as well as the original Steiner EVI from approximately 1975 to 1980. In 1980, Nyle won the Linz prize for his EVI. In designing the original EVI, Nyle comments "I found it was best to design my own synthesizer. With MIDI and some of the more advanced designs, there are some synthesizers that work pretty well with it without having to modify them, but it used to be that I had to modify the synthesizers so much that I just gave up and designed my own." Steiner-Parker dissolved but Steiner continued on making electronic music products and continuing to develop the EVI and EWI. The Steiner company hooked up with Crumar at the end of the 1970s and Crumar marketed the EVI for a while. After his work on the movie Apocalypse Now, Nyle moved to California and began playing in the studios. "Most of the film composers use EVI in one way or another - it's really good as an expressive melody instrument; the vibrato flexibility, the bending - it's really easy to play that way." Steiner's EVI and EWI instruments have been used by world-class musicians including Michael Brecker, Bob Mintzer and many others. Steiner doesn't play acoustic trumpet these days. Instead, he devotes much of his time to developing the current model MIDI EVI. Over the years, Steiner has performed on recordings sessions with the top names in the business including Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond, and has played on TV themes. Perhaps most notably, Steiner has played EVI on numerous large budget movie soundtracks.

Instruments

• Trumpet
• Saxophone

ArtistInfo App

Acknowledgements

ArtistInfo for Mac, iPad, and iPhone