Meng Qi - Wingie2 Review
What is a resonator? And why do you need one?
Meng Qi’s devices have been popping up in my feeds for a long time - mostly by ambient music artists. Meng Qi produces the Wingie2, the Wind Pinger, plus a few Eurorack modules and all look very interesting and mysterious. So when I checked on the price for the Wingie2, it was an instant purchase and today we are going to explore it and see if it would also work for you.
Wingie2 is a Stereo Resonator with two onboard microphones. But what does this mean in plain words? That means that this device receives audio, resonates based on it, and produces sounds itself. For example, when you hit a note on the piano, the strings move/ resonate and produce a tone. Similar to this, a digital resonator listens to incoming signals, gets excited (not in the way you imagine lol), and produces harmonics. We don’t need to get into the technical aspect of this, just keep in mind that in order for Wingie2 to produce sound, it must receive sound.
Specs
Wingie2 is a very small, portable device, and can be powered by a USB-C cable. A power bank will work just fine, I mostly used it like this so it definitely works and you can always plug it into your computer or into the wall using a power brick. It is made out of metal (probably aluminum because it’s very light) and on the front panel, there are two one-octave keyboards with clicky plastic buttons, three sliders, and a few switches. Another thing you’ll notice is that there are two mic grills on the top right and left corners. Those are the two onboard microphones and be cautious with them cause they both are extremely sensitive!
Sliders
The three sliders are from right to left:
Volume: This controls the level of the incoming audio whether it is from the microphones or from the TRS 3.5mm Input Jack that you’ll find on the back. When you use the two onboard microphones, you should always start with very low volumes so as not to create feedback and high frequencies that will blast your speakers and ears.
Decay: Decay controls the release time of each tone produced by Wingie2. You can have short plucky notes or long and sustained notes coming out of it so use that to taste.
Mix: Controls the Dry/Wet ratio of the incoming signal and Wingie2’s sound. Wingie2’s sounds are beautiful so you can just use those by setting the Mix to 100% or use it as an effects unit and set the wet level to where it sounds best.
Switches
The Switches are also three and control each channel’s octave and the input. With the top switch, you can decide if you want to use the onboard mic or the physical input on the back.
Lastly, there are two more buttons that let you cycle through the 4 modes available on Wingie2.
The Modes
The two keyboards are there for you to set the pitch of the notes that Wingie2 will produce. The device itself does not track the pitch of the incoming signal so you have to set the pitch yourself and it also allows you to create any type of harmony since you’re not tied to the incoming pitch.
The 4 modes:
Poly (white): The first one is the only Polyphonic mode where you can play up to three notes. The sound of this mode is very soft and mellow and it’s probably my favorite mode.
String (yellow): String is a monophonic mode, meaning it can only produce one pitch for each channel. But you can set multiple notes and it will create a sequence and advance to the next note too. The sound is close to a plucked string and also sounds very beautiful.
Bar (red): This mode has the same features as the String mode but the sound is very different. In this mode, Wingie2 generates a Bell-like sound or something similar to a metallophone.
Cave (purple): This is the weirdest mode for sure. In this mode, the octave switches change the cave types. Cave mode is something that resembles a reverb as it produces all the notes at once. You can tune the frequencies to have a musical result. To be honest, this mode is very tricky to work with and I don’t really use it. Maybe there is someone who can tame it and create something beautiful but that’s not me…
It’s important to note here that the two channels (left & right) are independent and you can have different modes on each channel!
MIDI
Note that Wingie2 also accepts MIDI by using the MIDI adapter cable that’s included. That means that you don’t have to constantly change the notes using the keyboard and feed it with an external sequencer or keyboard. That’s extremely handy because the onboard keyboards are very limited and also if you’re using the onboard microphones, it’s almost impossible to change the notes without exciting the resonator since the buttons are very clicky.
How do I use it?
Ok. Now that we all know what this thing is, it’s time to explore how to use it in your setup. There are lots of ways to integrate an instrument/effect like this so I’ll just share the ways I have used it for the past three to four months that I have it.
As a sound generator
Wingie2’s Poly & String modes sound amazing so I found myself using them with the mix all the way up to 100% so I can just listen to Wingie2’s sound. My process is the following: First, I create a MIDI sequence using a MIDI controller and feed it to Wingie2. Now that I have my notes ready, I can decide how to excite the resonators and produce tones with them. For that, there are a couple of ways to do it. The first one is to use the input and run some audio into Wingie2 so that it will generate the notes of the MIDI sequence. You can also blend that audio to its sound by setting the Mix slider to your preferred level. The second one, and the one I ended up using the most, is to excite it with the onboard mic. It’s much more fun to tap onto those little microphones or hit the table that it’s on to make sounds. Also, it’s a bit more organic and raw since the microphones will catch any noise and sound around them so you’ll get some happy accidents too.
As an effects pedal
If you don’t know what it is, Wingie2 looks and has a similar size to an effects pedal. But it can become one too! When I want to use it as an effect, I mostly use Poly mode and will create a chord shape in the same key as what I’m about to play. I set the Mix somewhere around the middle, set a really long decay, and I play using the input or even the onboard mics. That results into a sound that’s very close to a reverb but it’s also harmonized since you set the notes it will produce. Combining that method with an acoustic guitar sounds absolutely magnificent that’s what I do 90% of the time. The harmonized overtones add so much ambience and character to your guitar’s sound. Changing the notes will also change the harmonies so you can also use MIDI for that too. Trust me, that alone is worth getting the Wingie2. It’s an effect that you won’t find on any other pedal and sounds fantastic.
Conclusion
I bought Wingie2 for 180€. That’s way less than most of my pedals so it was a very easy choice for me to get it. While it’s not the most fully-featured device out there and certainly has its limitations, Wingie2 is one of the most unique thing pieces of gear I’ve got. Being a huge fan of the Resonator device in Ableton Live, I was really excited about something similar as a hardware instrument and I wasn’t disappointed at all. It is very well-built, the MIDI implementation is so handy, and its tone and applications make it a very appealing little device. It’s not like you have a lot of Resonators to choose from so Wingie2 stands alone in its own category but still, it’s extremely affordable.
Being so unique and useful in certain scenarios, I can certainly state that this is one of the most value-for-money things I’ve got. Yes, it’s not going to be your main sound generator or effects pedal by all means but there are times when you’ll just need something like it to add a unique character to a sound and Wingie2 can do that.
It’s definitely more appealing to ambient artists but since I also love to make that kind of music, Wingie2 was a great addition to my arsenal. It’s a magical, cute little device that I reach for more than I expected and I’m also very curious to see a bigger, glorified version of this concept with more features in the future!
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