Beltuna Matrix?

[Alan Sharkis]

Here’s what was posted up to today (8/18/22) on Facebook in the form of three separate videos. The bass will have solenoid-operated pallets powered by a rechargeable, internal battery. The velocity of the bass will be controlled by the depth of button presses. The bass will be a combination of Stradella and free bass, making it the lightest convertor mechanism around. The converter free bass can be quint or one of the chromatic systems. I’m not sure from watching the video of how the switch will be made.

I don’t know if Beltuna will be making more videos, each one outlining another feature or not. I imagine checking Beltuna’s website to see if more details are available, or going to Beltuna’s Facebook page will also reveal more. I also imagine ythat some or all of the accordion’s body will be carbon fiber.

 

[Walker]

The converter free bass can be quint or one of the chromatic systems

Wow. I've just watched the facebook video now. That is quite impressive.

It's an accordion with three bass systems (not two systems):

Stradella bass plus quint converter & chromatic converter

I love that idea.

 

[Edward]

That is quite cool. I guess it makes sense since it's wired instead of a standard bass machine.

 

[Ventura]

depth of button presses will have a very different feel than velocity action buttons..
i wonder if people who play a Roland will be able to adjust or if it
will be an either/or kinda thing

and the thought crosses my mind that the Longevity issue i brought up earlier
may be limited to the availability of replacement batterypacks being available
in the year 2050

 

[Alan Sharkis]

depth of button presses will have a very different feel than velocity action buttons..
i wonder if people who play a Roland will be able to adjust or if it
will be an either/or kinda thing

and the thought crosses my mind that the Longevity issue i brought up earlier
may be limited to the availability of replacement batterypacks being available
in the year 2050

With regard to people who play a Roland adjusting to the Matrix, I categorically WILL NOT be one who finds out.

With regard to the availability of replacement battery packs in in 2050, I doubt that many of us will be around to find out, but I expect battery chemistry and technology to radically change long before 2050.

 

[saundersbp]

solenoid-operated pallets powered by a rechargeable, internal battery.

Wires and batteries in an incredibly expense musical instrument isn't ever going to last a lifetime (or as one would expect several lifetimes).

Solonoid operated pallets is old pipe organ technology, and today is avoided where it can be because it wears out and is hellishly expensive to replace. Such organs are often cheaper to scrap and replace with fully mechanical instruments.

To me the whole thing is a backwards step, or at least something of an innovation a least half a century out of date.

 

[Walker]

Erm, this Matrix thingy... seems it's got more tricks.

It can mix any bass voices with any treble voices and play the combined sound on the treble keyboard. You have over 2000 acoustic combinations available on the keys.

Also you can program all changes in treble and bass registers from the chin switch.

That's interesting.

 

[petch]

Another promo video from Beltuna



I think it's quite interesting but my accordion is one of the few things I use that doesn't require a battery or power lead! Not something I want to change

 

[Walker]

The Beltuna Matrix Tutorial:

 

[saundersbp]

The Beltuna Matrix Tutorial

Shocked to the point of losing interest half way through the video in a saturation of musical options that supply no demand and fulfil no function.

It's like a 2 o clock in the morning dream fantasy, but I guess in the cold light of day they are going to have to shift a significant number of these beyond niche instruments for any hope of offsetting the vast R&D costs. I imagine the price is eye watering so I do wonder if it makes any commercial sense to manufacture in any sensible volume.

In the words of Sir Humphrey Appleby its what I would describe it as a "courageous" business decision and a direction that has all too often landed other companies on the financial rocks.....

 

[dak]

The Beltuna Matrix Tutorial:

Ok, the buttons work proportionally rather than just on/off/velocity. And the solenoids can be employed proportionally. And you can essentially mix and match left and right side sounds and use things like a pedal.

And all the sound is "accordion", and natural. You won't feel the exact pressure point where the pallet lifts off and won't have M. Bernoulli help with keeping it just there, but frankly that's kind of grasping at straws. The video makes this appear very well thought through and engineered. Definitely more so than I'd have guessed from the descriptions.

In practice there will probably be the question of the speed/directness (a problem ailing electric organs) and of battery lifetime: one wouldn't want to run a pinball machine on batteries, and the solenoids will not come for free. And of course there will be the temptation of "cheat modes" that know what you are playing and finesse some non-existing detail into it (smartphones infamously have learnt to cheat details into moonshots or purported moonshots that are not actually discerned by the camera but added as rote knowledge when processing). Strictly speaking, being able to map button depression into solenoid activation individually is already sort of a cheating mode.

 

[saundersbp]

one wouldn't want to run a pinball machine on batteries, and the solenoids will not come for free.

It does rather remind me of the bin with batteries in it to lift the lid for you. Solving a problem (with more inherent problems) we didn't know existed before until we were told it was a problem.

 

[dak]

Shocked to the point of losing interest half way through the video in a saturation of musical options that supply no demand and fulfil no function.

The Bugari Evo has been lauded for having actual true pallets operated by the keys. This here goes significantly further. The main attraction here is essentially to have replaced the mechanics (which are tricky enough that over decades converter mechanics were mainly supplied by a single manufacturer in Italy) with cabling (which is easy). If you ever looked inside of mechanical calculators and compared the problems the engineers had to solve in contrast to doing the same with electronic components (or even just relays), this really simplifies the task tremendously (even though those boxes will be sold at a higher price point at least initially). Now I find "sorry, I've run out of battery" very unappealing for an instrument, but the popularity of the Roland V-accordions proves me wrong.

And in my book the accordion sounds are the weakest sounds of a Roland. The mechanics and electronics of the Matrix should be able to provide the base for pretty much everything a Roland (or Evo) delivers, and the accordion sounds, while less varied what a Roland offers, will be very natural.

The downside of course is the necessity for tuning. That also limits the possibilities for using solenoids for adding/modifying resonance chambers: when significantly influencing the sound, the pitch will also be affected.