Considering Roland

[Chris Laarman]

What I like about the Musictech is the built in rhythms and the light weight, plus it appears simpler to use. I am not that tech savy.

Tech savvy or not, Jerry is just warning you for a purchase you're likely to regret. Based on experiences he knows of.

 

[JerryPH]

What I like about the Musictech is the built in rhythms and the light weight, plus it appears simpler to use. I am not that tech savy.

Indeed. But simpler is also another word for limited.

I've not found any real source online for learning the Musictech, but there are many great sources for the Roland. As for the weight, honestly, if about 5 pounds makes the difference between the choice of a Roland or a Musictech... barring any physical/health reasons, if you are under 70 years old, I'd recommend a few hours a week in a gym and always recommend playing seated. I'm 63 (and yes I could lose a few pounds... lol), and often play a Hohner Morino VI N several hours a day (my gym... haha), that's a good 12-15 pounds heavier than the Roland, so the Roland feels very light to me.

I'm not here to try to convince you, ultimately, it is your choice... I am sure you will make the best one for you.

 

[Ventura]

Musictech has been around awhile, Claudio Sabbatini is quite skilled
and creative and many electronic MIDI and Microphone systems
came from his R&D (before Musictech was launched)

you can be pretty confident in his products, however, there is no-one
in the USA to legit service his systems outside of basic electronics technicians,
so anything serious needs to either go back to Italy, or have a full
"board" swapped out locally

the other issue is that representation in the USA has been truly
sporadic and very limited, so the prices here in the USA are well over
100% markup for anything actually in-stock.. if a dealer wants to
"order" something after you put a deposit down, well you can
go to Italy and "order" one yourself and have a vacation too

and since we are talkiing Musictech, for the rest of you wondering about
effective Mic systems, they still offer the "Rail"

Sistema Microfoni professionali per fisarmonica - mano destra | Musictech

www.musictech-midi.it

and that is the kind of system i have used pretty much exclusively for decades,
Sennheiser elements, op-amp, everything cushioned nicely, the rail chamber
to smooth out the sound and resist outside noise and feedback, and useable on
any and all of ones accordion collection.. works well with most any guitar type wireless

so Ed, i guess you really haven't bought an expensive instrument in a
long long time, so what the heck, it has the features you want and
the drums, so yeah go for it if you feel like splurging

you will probably like it

 

[Edscrz]

I am 74 and do workout at the gym. My current Accorgan is 29 lbs. I do need to sit on a bar stool when playing. In my younger days I had a cordovox about 25 lbs which seemed so much lighter. A 11-12 lb with built in rhythms sounds like it has everything I need. I want the rhythms so i can play like a one band band, without a drummer. I don't like arranger as I like to play my own bass runs and not have the arranger play it, to me that's like kareoke in my opinion. A new Musichtech at 6 grand is a bit steep, I will search for a used one a couple of years old first.

 

[JerryPH]

Cool!
Just in case you were not sure if you could not play percussion on the 8X:

You can do it on either hand, or both if needed.

 

[Piotr]

I’ve one question about keyboard in 4x and 8x. Is same quality in both models?
I have experience with Roland 4x and Musictech Digibeat.
Much better keyboard and close to acoustic one was in Digibeat.
I sold both and considering returning to Roland.
Is 8x better than 4x or both have same quality ( depth, reactivity, reactions) ?

 

[JerryPH]

I’ve one question about keyboard in 4x and 8x. Is same quality in both models?
I have experience with Roland 4x and Musictech Digibeat.
Much better keyboard and close to acoustic one was in Digibeat.
I sold both and considering returning to Roland.
Is 8x better than 4x or both have same quality ( depth, reactivity, reactions) ?

Hey Piotr! Not enjoying your MusicTech as much anymore?

To answer your questions... quality? Yes of course it is the same, it is digital. Options? No, the 8X has more options than the 4X. That said anyone that is looking should do their research to see if those options are important enough for them to pay the higher costs of the 8X.

The weak spot for the 8X was always the keyboard (4X has a slightly better feel but then missing options), but that is because it has touch sensitivity and velocity keys.

Does it feel "not as good"? Yes. Can it make you play slower? Sure, but practice can bring most of that speed back. I can get 90-95% of my maximum speed on an 8X that I get on my acoustic (though honestly, I doubt I would ever match that level of the speed of my Gola keyboard... lol).

Does the V-accordion feel like an acoustic? No. It feels like a V-accordion, so that means dynamics and bellows control is different and the 4X and 8X feel different between each other. Just something to get used to.

Try before you buy. I always say that people that expect a V-Accordion to be an acoustic accordion will 100% be disappointed. Accepting it for the limitations it has and the vastly superior sonic possibilities of a digital will always result in a happy camper.

 

[Piotr]

Thanks Jerry,
Musictech has really good keyboard. IMHO much better than Roland.
I sold it because of my new Scandalli.
Today unfortunately probably I need digital one for quite practising .
I played 2 years with FR4x and I know what V accordion is.
Roland is much better than Musictech in bellow behaviour.
I guess that keyboard in 4x and 8x is probably the same.

 

[JerryPH]

I guess that keyboard in 4x and 8x is probably the same.

The 4X has a nicer feeling right hand keyboard than the 8X, not as deep because it has no velocity keys.
If all you want is a digital accordion for quiet practice and don't want to take advantage of all the technical sound advantages, maybe you should be looking at (I am surprised to be saying this... LOL), a Bugari EVO. Best right hand keyboard of any digital accordion out there. It costs a lot more, though and you get less than an 8X has, but in your case, this just may be the best solution?

 

[Piotr]

I agree with you. Bugari will be the best for me, but it’s price is to high

 

[Edscrz]

Just recently started grill lights going blank then coming back on with a waltz rhythm as I was playing a cha-cha.. I have to shut it off and turn back on will be ok for a little while then happen again. I was playing daily for the past 2 weeks and only did this once, now it is constantly cutting out. I really love the Accorgan I series, same as Elkavox S11. I have schematic. If I could find someone to repair this.

Thanks to Kurt Schrotenboer who diagnosed via email as the firing cable and Jay Fox Band Music store for providing the firing cable. My Accorgan I series now works great.