Marshall Morrison Instruments has released the Morrison Digital Trumpet (MDT), a brass-style MIDI wind controller designed by Steve Marshall with Australian multi-instrumentalist James Morrison.

Although the MDT is completely electronic, it is designed to feel as close as possible to an acoustic trumpet, offering a trumpet-like hand position, standard valve movement, and a normal trumpet mouthpiece. According to the manufacturer, the MDT is great for players of all skills: the MDT allows brass players with minimal playing skill to reach extremely high notes and play for extended periods of time.

You simply blow through the MDT mouthpiece, rather than buzz the lips as you would with an acoustic trumpet. The player controls volume using their breath: the harder you blow, the louder the sound.

The notes are selected using a combination of right-hand trumpet fingerings and a series of buttons on the left hand that select the octave and half octave. The right hand fingering is identical for every octave. The right-hand thumb has access to three programmable controllers, which are usually setup for pitch bend up, pitch bend down, and vibrato.

For more information, visit Morrison Digital Trumpet.com. The MDT is available in the USA from Patchman Music.com.