Digital Accordions (how cool these are)

Geez oh man!!!! Accordions have come a VERY LONG way.. These ain't your grandmas accordions Check out these videos.

My hat goes off to anyone who can play one of these things. I'm amazed at what they've done with them in the "digital world".
http://rolandus.com/products/productdetails.aspx?ObjectId=760&ParentId=32
http://rolandus.com/products/productdetails.aspx?ObjectId=673&ParentId=32

Just click on "Video"

Squeak

Squeak,
I am an accordion enthusiast for sure and anything new in that arena is excitement for me, but the digital accordion has been around for a few decades, and 'electronic' accordions go farther back than midi.

There are many many companies whose circuitry has been added into the accordions to produce the same capabilities that are found in the newest Roland models.

I think that the biggest difference, or enhancement, that seems to be getting the attention with the Roland accordion, is its ability to control expression thru the bellows more than the other brands.

I have not seen or tried the Roland models.
Keyboard mag tested and gave the Roland accordion very good marks, but thru word of mouth from pro accordionists that I've talked with, they don't plan on changing over to Roland from what they already have.

I personally am very happy though, that a major name, high-quality company like Roland continues to bring modern technology to an instrument that unfairly gets boxed into a corner, associated with a few old ethnic styles. As an arranger/controller, its got massive capabilities, but very few artists are out there demonstrating it.

It's nice to see someone with some real accordian chops to get ideas of how to use the different sounds correctly on a keyboard like a T2.

I think a digital accordion's strength would be if they made them as light as possible, but no outboard (so you can use wireless). Well built, but light (maybe about a nice 48 bass weight) but with all the bells and whistles that Roland have.

Maybe, for those who use accordions in rock/blues type situations (with a whole band), a smaller physical sized digital accordion (like a 48 bass, smaller keyboard) could be used, and maybe use D-Beam to transpose keyboard up and down an octave for greater range.

I think I would love something more that size, looks WAY cooler than pumping a big ol' 120 bass..........

I agree that 48 bass is plenty for the type of band situation you mentioned, but it does not help reduce the weight by much, maybe 1 or 2 lbs if even that much.

The weight is in the reed blocks and in the different woods that traditional accordians are made from. Just like pianos and guitars, the wood is very important to the quality of that acoustic sound.

My old electronic Excelsior has 9 sets of reeds and 2 wood tone chambers and weighs 40 lbs.

Some of the reedless digital accordions are 16 - 20 lbs. Thats with 120 bass, 41 treble keys.

You mention wireless. Some companies (Limex for 1) do have wireless setups for midi/digital accordions.
You can shake rattle and roll all over the stage, dodge tomatoes, exit stage left, no problem.

And the color schemes that some of these companies have available are outrageous and do you want all the keys black, grey, blue gold, etc? Or any combination thereof.

The main page of this accordion company shows various color combinations, but not as wild as some other companies. Marco accordions

Even though this instrument is capable of playing and sounding like any arranger keyboard, the interest in the states has pretty much disappeared. The younger generations (and the older of course) in other countries are using the accordion in all styles of music.

I thought digital accordions didn't need a reed block?

If they worked at it, why shouldn't a 48 bass digital accordion be 1/3 of the weight of a real one? It would make dodging those tomatoes easier......!

Thats true, digital accordions don't need reeds to make music,
but most models of midi and digital accordions still have the traditional acoustic-providing reeds, with the digital circuitry added.
This allows for the box to be played thru reeds alone, or thru the digital voices alone, or both can be played/layered.
The long-time traditional players usually want those reeds and frown upon the newer technolgy.

Its the reedless models that are much lighter in weight and most major accordion makers produce a reedless model where all sound comes from their internal sound engines, just like our keyboards.
The quality level of the digitally-made accordion voices has increased so the need for the reed blocks and the maintenance for keeping them in tune, are decreasing.

Did I make it more confusing?
Probably

.... they've come a long way from my Sano !!! ...
t.

Posted by; MrEd

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The quality level of the digitally-made accordion voices has increased so the need for the reed blocks and the maintenance for keeping them in tune, are decreasing.
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Sounds like the same thing is happening with the accordion as is what happened to the acoustic piano with the hard push of the digital era.

I know several people that own stores that sell acoustic and digital pianos. All of them are selling way more digitals than acoustic. There are the di-hards who won't accept the digital grands and uprights. Just as it's happening with the digital accordion. Eventually they're going to get really darn close with the digital versions--then I'm sure things such as lighter weight, less upkeep, and so forth will be a driving force in their sales.

Squeak

From what I've heard of it (no-one carries one in my area), Roland have come VERY close to the real thing (not perfect, but with many additional capabilities to compensate). Now all I need is a smaller, lighter (and cheaper!) version.

I definitely LOVE the capability to sound like a bandoneon one minute, and a full Italian accordion the next. Now I just need a good Cajun accordion emulation, and it's Mardi Gras for me....!

The Roland FR3s can be found here for $3295, which is the lightest model (18 1/4 lbs) that has built-in speakers (2 x 15 watts). Though a little steep in price I've been thinking of buying this for my wife, who actually grew up playing accordian, and myself - who is willing to learn.

What I find cool beside all the real accordian emulations is the MIDI possibilities. The video demos above give a small indication of what these are capable of and I'd love to hear someone really put the non-accordian sounds like acoustic guitar and piano to the test. The FR's allow different sound selections for bass/left hand and right along with MIDI out so there's unlimited live performance possibilities. I could see hooking the FR3s to an arranger and going nuts. The FR3s would be sweet to take to any type of gig... jams, weddings, restaurants, even picnics!

........ just like the OLD days you young'ns wouldn't know about ...

t.

Two Questions re:Roland Accordions

1.Are the keyboards velocity sensitive?

2. Will they transmit velocity and/or aftertouch to an external Midi module?

Ian

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Remember to leave good news alone.

According to Roland website, the left and right keyboards are velocity sensitive but I did not see anything about after-touch though.

These digital accordions have approximately 30 accordion voices and about the same number of orchestral voices.

They do not have styles or auto accompaniment built in.

Most of the midi/digital accordion players that I see or know, use sound modules like Ketron, Solton, Orla, etc. to get all of the voices and the rhythm/styles that they need.
Thats more dollars to spend, unless you plan on hooking up to your existing keyboard.