So, by the time we get to the mid-to-late 90s when I bought my SEM Ciao reed-less, Hall-Effect had already been introduced to MIDI for accordions. I played it for six years before something went bad in the bass notes. I really wanted a Roland 3, and my dealer only had the Roland 7 and I just couldn’t make friends with the 7’s keyboard. So the Ciao with its light weight and my bad back got along splendidly.
The Ciao was accepted for trade when I bought an acoustic with mikes and midi. But this midi, made by Master Production, with the same tone list as the Ciao, had tones that just sounded richer and Hall-Effect detectors that were more rugged than those in the Ciao. I still play that acoustic, along with my Roland 4x.
The AxE-Cordion that I have was also made by Master, but it had so many weak points that my dealer eventually had to send it back to Italy and for a few hundred I got the next generation AxE-Cordion with a much-improved and strengthened design. However, all the second-generation AxE-Cordions have black shells, whereas there were many color choices in the first generation. Mine, for example, was a dark red that faded to black. My new one can be converted to a flat accordion and it has a not-so-conveniently located pitch bend button (big deal,) but a also a much sturdier keyboard and MIDI detection system.
You’d think that MIDI systems for accordion could be designed to be near-perfect and perform well for the life of the instrument, but in practice it hasn’t turned out that way. Metallic contacts under the keyboard have one weak point - corrosion. Hall-Effect detectors, can go out of alignment giving you no sound on the affected key or constant sound. Cavagnolo, as far as I can tell, uses some sort of optical detection system, which can be slow. And in any case, there’s always some mechanical element that can affect the MIDI detection, to say nothing about electronic components that can fail.
But MIDI technology has:
1. made today’s reed-less accordions possible;
2. made velocity-sensitivity and aftertouch possible;
3. made it possible for an accordionist to control other devices and instruments while playing their accordion, and;
4. Made it possible for an accordion to sound like another instrument, or even an orchestra.