Aulos Recorder (A303ADB)

I am an adult casual learner of recorder. I started playing on a $12 yamaha plastic recorder and upgraded to a $30ish dollar wood recorder because I couldn't manage to play high notes. I like the tone of the wooden recorder for the most part but I have the same trouble with notes higher than "G" and couldn't really hit high "B" or "C" at all. With this recorder I am able to hit all of those notes. It's still not super easy but I'm getting better all the time, much less squeaking - the dogs are very thankful. I have read that the arched airway gives more "control" over pitch. As a beginner I can tell that this will be difficult for me as I can vary the pitch a lot unintentionally, would probably make an experienced player cringe. I downloaded a tuning app so I can work on being consistent with my pitch.I also really love the feel of this recorder. It feels more lightweight, refined and well built. I also like the snap on thumb rest. I am pleased with this purchase.

I have both the alto and the soprano aulos haka recorders. As far as plastic goes, they are great recorders. Beginning school children typically only stay within the first octave so this instrument is perfect. The sound quality is much better than the "school grade" type instruments that cost 5$. As for the 2nd octave, it takes some effort to reach the upper stratosphere of the note range but as with many plastic recorders this is the case. Overall, a good buy. If you are an adult , i prefer the deeper voice of the alto recorder. Theres just also simply more repertoire for it as well. (Plus if you live in an apartment you wont bother the neighbors much)

My daughter and her classmates were given a recorder to learn some simple songs. The last four months she's been playing non-stop and driving the family kind of nuts. I knew absolutely nothing about recorders, but knew the one she was given was probably very cheap and not of very good quality. After looking up the model, I was correct. It was a recorder that you could pick up for about four bucks. It got her by, but I thought since she was sticking with it I would get her a better recorder. I did about three hours of research and the recorders it finally came down were the Yamaha YRS-302B, Aulos 503B, and the Aulos 703B soprano recorders, which are pretty much the gold standards for plastic recorders without going for WAY more expensive woods. After looking up many reviews, you probably can't go wrong with any of those three. The reason I finally leaned towards the Aulos 703B was because the overall take was even though it is plastic, many were raving that it had the more woodlike sound and was easier to play flurried notes. Also, in the comments section their was a girl that is in my opinion a woodwind playing prodigy that put in a youtube link of her playing the 703B and the flat out sold me. I gave it to my daughter as a surprise and without me saying anything at all, she said that it was not nearly as screechy and was easier to play because she didn't have to blow as hard. Take that for what it's worth (she's 9). In my opinion, when she plays now it isn't nearly as annoying anymore, so we are both happy customers.

My daughter absolutely loves this. She is taking lessons in school and is so much a happier with a decent quality one that she practices all the time without even having to pester her. She’s so excited that even her little brother wants one now.

I am new to recorder playing but it seems more difficult to get the proper notes than with any of my native american flutes. Also the lowest note is nearly impossible to hit without blowing so little the sound is nearly unheard. I exchanged it for a yamaha plastic 300 series and it hits the low note easier. I'm not very happy about the sound quality of either.

Has a very nice tone. I bought it for an upcoming performance with my group at church, but in my practices I found that the sound would kind of die out and get too quiet after playing for a while. So I didn't dare to use it for the performance, went with my old Yamaha recorder instead. It might be user error, I don't know, I will get to know it better but did not trust it to play consistently at a performance.

I have a lot of experience playing and teaching recorder. All told, this is not a bad beginner instrument. Intonation is fairly accurate, and plays very well in the upper register. I like that the bell comes as a separate piece so that you can adjust the lowest (pinky) holes to the side for comfort. It does tend to squeak a little bit playing in the lower register, especially for inexperienced players. The fipple is very well designed, probably the instrument's best feature, and the mouthpiece is pretty easy to use for young players. The finger holes are also nicely spaced, not quite as much of a stretch as on some models. The thumb rest is a nice touch -- a lot of models in this price range do not offer one. Easy to disassemble and clean, but the pieces fit together tightly. It's not my favorite sounding beginner model over all, but a very good choice for students learning upper register notes as these are easier to play without airway/intonation issues than even some of my more expensive models. If you are in the market for a beginner Soprano recorder, this one is a great choice (ten times better than those colorful plastic ones). If you want a good beginner Alto model, I highly recommend the Aulos 209B -- it is fantastic. If this soprano model sounded half as good as the Alto one, it would bump my rating up to five stars.

Is it a recorder? Yes. And that's where the similarities end. As you can see from the pictures listed, I got an all-black recorder with a cruddy bag rather than the brown/tan recorder listed with the faux-leather zip up. I immediately asked for a replacement through Amazon but given that it is once again being fulfilled by "Pineville Music" I have a feeling my replacement will once again not be as advertised. Will update once I get the replacement.Edit: I got the replacement from Amazon, and got the recorder listed in the pictures. The recorder is neat and of primo quality, but I wish I didn't have to go through this hassle. Nonetheless, the recorder itself is excellent, so the rating will reflect as such.