a historical first

[Ventura]

i almost missed it, but the important and first of it's kind subtext
of a recent Post here in the Forum, is that,

for the first time in recorded history

someone actually wanted their accordion to SOUND LIKE A ROLAND

prior to this, we have only had people wanting THEIR Roland to
sound like HIS roland with the whoosit's programming or HER
accordion with wnat's his names programming but NEVER BEFORE
has anyone wanted anything to just plain sound like a Roland accordion

what does a Roland accordion even sound LIKE ?
they have never had a signature sound !
how could you even tell without a You-Tube video some sound was a Roland ?

i mean we can say "Sounds like an Excelsior" or
"Sounds like a Super 6" and on and on understand perfectly
but even
"Sounds like a Dallape" really doesn't even apply to a Roland
unless you are feeling in a really really generous mood and
have lost much of your upper-frequency hearing

nevertheless (that WAS a good song) and even though it's just
wishing his FR4 sounded like an FR8 still this is a historic first

i feel it is not quantifiable, and that, alas, we shall never actually know
what an FR8 definitively sounds like so that a comparison to anything
could be made by saying
"that special unique Roland sound we all know and covet"
i want my accordion to have it too

does the KORG have a unique, immediately discernable and
delightful sound of it's own ? accordion reed or otherwise ?
or does it, too, sound like
umm
stuff ?

maybe if we were coveting a B3 you could make a case..
both brands DO have drawbars hidden in their accordions..
yes, i want my accordion to sound like a B3, just like a ___________'s

happy Holidays y'all
Buon Natale
Buon Anno 2025

Ciao

Ventura

have drawbars will travel

 

[Tom]

accordions..
yes, i want my accordion to sound like a B3, just like John’s.

 

[losthobos]

Joking aside.....I DO want my accordion to sound like a B3....and I can assure you if a B3 was affordable and portable I wouldn't be pissing about with an accordion....till then the accordion on its pure form is the next best thing....and the bonus is the bellows have expression that the B3 does not have without an added pedal....

 

[JerryPH]

Joking aside.....I DO want my accordion to sound like a B3....and I can assure you if a B3 was affordable and portable I wouldn't be pissing about with an accordion....till then the accordion on its pure form is the next best thing....and the bonus is the bellows have expression that the B3 does not have without an added pedal....

You would be surprised at what is out there in terms of B3 emulations, now they are starting to come seriously close with soeme keyboards... specifically the ones from Yamaha, Roland and others;

Example:


That said, the church organ of an 8X is not terrible!

 

[KeysFla]

I only bought the Roland to have an accordion with midi. I never thought of using it for all types of gigs. When doing a rock oldies show, an accordion would look silly doing Chuck Berry or Jerry Lee. I Respect those that pull it off. But not me, I like diversity in performing with a keyboard or accordion. I never got great at either, but I also love singing…I learned in the entertainment business. It is not how great you do it, but how you connect with the audience.

 

[Giovanni]

I only bought the Roland to have an accordion with midi. I never thought of using it for all types of gigs. When doing a rock oldies show, an accordion would look silly doing Chuck Berry or Jerry Lee. I Respect those that pull it off. But not me, I like diversity in performing with a keyboard or accordion. I never got great at either, but I also love singing…I learned in the entertainment business. It is not how great you do it, but how you connect with the audience.

So very true you are spot on !!!

 

[John M]

You would be surprised at what is out there in terms of B3 emulations, now they are starting to come seriously close with soeme keyboards... specifically the ones from Yamaha, Roland and others;

Example:


That said, the church organ of an 8X is not terrible!

The B3 sound is good on the 8X. To add the "finishing touch" you need to add a Neo Micro Vent 122 (about the size of a pack of cigarettes) in series with the Output Jack and an external speaker. This duplicates the classic B3/Leslie 122 sound.

 

[JerryPH]

The B3 sound is good on the 8X. To add the "finishing touch" you need to add a Neo Micro Vent 122 (about the size of a pack of cigarettes) in series with the Output Jack and an external speaker. This duplicates the classic B3/Leslie 122 sound.

Did you know that the leslie "rotational" speed is adjustable on the 8X? I have it set up in one of my songs so that if I want to move from slow to fast or back again, all it takes is a firm press on the keys that I am playing and I can literally change it on the fly using the touch velocity as a switch on or off.

I first saw this on one of the Noel sounds... very interesting!

 

[Alan Sharkis]

i almost missed it, but the important and first of it's kind subtext
of a recent Post here in the Forum, is that,

for the first time in recorded history

someone actually wanted their accordion to SOUND LIKE A ROLAND

prior to this, we have only had people wanting THEIR Roland to
sound like HIS roland with the whoosit's programming or HER
accordion with wnat's his names programming but NEVER BEFORE
has anyone wanted anything to just plain sound like a Roland accordion

what does a Roland accordion even sound LIKE ?
they have never had a signature sound !
how could you even tell without a You-Tube video some sound was a Roland ?

i mean we can say "Sounds like an Excelsior" or
"Sounds like a Super 6" and on and on understand perfectly
but even
"Sounds like a Dallape" really doesn't even apply to a Roland
unless you are feeling in a really really generous mood and
have lost much of your upper-frequency hearing

nevertheless (that WAS a good song) and even though it's just
wishing his FR4 sounded like an FR8 still this is a historic first

i feel it is not quantifiable, and that, alas, we shall never actually know
what an FR8 definitively sounds like so that a comparison to anything
could be made by saying
"that special unique Roland sound we all know and covet"
i want my accordion to have it too

does the KORG have a unique, immediately discernable and
delightful sound of it's own ? accordion reed or otherwise ?
or does it, too, sound like
umm
stuff ?

maybe if we were coveting a B3 you could make a case..
both brands DO have drawbars hidden in their accordions..
yes, i want my accordion to sound like a B3, just like a ___________'s

happy Holidays y'all
Buon Natale
Buon Anno 2025

Ciao

Ventura

have drawbars will travel

While I can count on you to come up with a common sense approach to any issue raised, it also sounds like you won’t be posting again until after 1/1/25. Whether that’s the case or not, enjoy this holiday season!

 

[John M]

Did you know that the leslie "rotational" speed is adjustable on the 8X? I have it set up in one of my songs so that if I want to move from slow to fast or back again, all it takes is a firm press on the keys that I am playing and I can literally change it on the fly using the touch velocity as a switch on or off.

I first saw this on one of the Noel sounds... very interesting!

I have set my organ tones so that the Vib/Cho Type is “C3” Menu Item # 7.2. The Vib/Cho Switch is set to “On”. This is the Fast speed. With the Vib/Cho Switch is set to “Off” the speed is slow.

From what I can tell, I don’t think Roland has any different sound emulation between the Hammond Vibrato selections of V1/C1, V2/C2 , V3/C3 and the Rotary Snd Level. When the Vib/Cho Switch is set to “Off”, the emulation is a “Dry” tone with no Tremolo. If you set the Rotary Snd Level (0-127) to 127, the volume is up but the tone is still “Dry”, with no tremolo, unless the Vib/Cho Switch is set to “On”.

On a B3, the V1/C1, V2/C2 , V3/C3 settings are created with an electrical delay line and a mechanical vibrato scanner that “picks up” taps along the delay line for varying degrees of vibrato. This preamp signal was designed to drive a Hammond stationary tone cabinet.

It was Don Leslie that designed a tone cabinet that had real rotation with a rotating Treble Horn and Bass Rotor. The Hammond vibrato and the Leslie tremolo sounds are quite different. The “Rotary” Leslie sound is difficult to emulate since it is the “Doppler” effect of the sound source coming towards you and going away from you (and bouncing off the walls), resulting in a frequency shift of the generated complex sound.

Additional Note: It appears the Fisa will have individual settings for the Rotary (Leslie) organ effects. There will be adjustable RPM speeds for the Horn and Bass rotor. Also the Ramp Up and Ramp Down times for the Horn and Bass rotor will be adjustable as you switch from slow to fast and vice versa..