Instrument for non-musical beginner?

[Tom]

I forgot to mention that I’m in a rural area, far from any cities. My purchase will be done online. Used CBA are not common in the US and I don’t feel comfortable buying eBay items that I can’t see first hand. Roland is starting to look like an option for me.

True. Only hope would be purchasing used or new from a reputable dealer online. Not easy, but possible. A note of caution on Roland. Many people here feel that the sound quality on a new Roland needs to be enhanced by adding or creating better quality sounds. If you are a DIY kind of guy you can do this yourself. Otherwise you can buy the “Dale Mathis version” which comes with preloaded sounds, or buy the “Richard Noel” sounds. Or just play it and be happy if you have that temperament. Good luck!

 

[LibraryJoe]

The Hohner XS is marketed correctly as a child's instrument. As a fellow beginner to CBA (though long time piano accordionist), I think you'd find the XS something you'd outgrow (musically, as well as physically). I bought my latest Hohner CBA via Ebay, but only bought because a full 30 day return was possible and the private seller seemed to have positive responses about his earlier Ebay accordion sales. I had been following Petosa and Liberty Bellows' sites for a while looking for used. Wound up buying a new junior size Fisitalia from Liberty-- only about 13 pounds-- though pricier than I'd hoped. Both Petosa and LB are generally in forum members' favor, as for the most part they check over their used instruments, know how to ship them, and accept returns and even trade-ups.
But yes--Roland FX1B will meet your needs.

 

[Javthedog]

I'm probably not what you'd call 'experienced'.......I have a Paolo Soprani CBA which i find quite heavy so I bought a Roland FR-1xb from Gear4music here in UK.........I kept it for 10 days before sending it back (The great thing about G4M is they let you try an instrument for up to 30 days and so long as it is 'as new' you get a full refund - less the cost of the return - just under £10). I quite liked the way the bellows could be fixed and the light weight - 6.something kg but it sounds bad......and following the advice of someone on another tread, I put it through my studio monitor speakers. They just crisped up the badness. I had gone through as many of the sounds as I could and they were all ranged on a spectrum from just about tolerable through to you-must-be-joking awful. Possibly, if you are seriously into fiddling with electronic gadgets, then it's a good buy, but I don't pass the geek test. If I need to be quiet, then I'll either do something else or go elsewhere. I'm pretty sure Thomann's Startone will be a better bet. I've bought stuff from Thomann in the past and it was OK.

 

[dak]

and following the advice of someone on another tread, I put it through my studio monitor speakers. They just crisped up the badness. I had gone through as many of the sounds as I could and they were all ranged on a spectrum from just about tolerable through to you-must-be-joking awful.

Instead of studio monitors I'd use a keyboard amp if available. They are different in purpose, so depending on the implementation they may work differently. Do you by chance know if the signal path of your studio monitors is analog or digital? In some rare cases, the digital-to-analog converters in a digital instrument like the FR-1x may interact less than optimally with the analog-to-digital converters of some digital sound processing unit.

I have the predecessor of the FR-1xb (and the x generation is supposed to work better) and the FR-1b works well for doing things like country waltzes (both accordion and some orchestral patches) but isn't really all that convincing with slow stuff with fine-grained dynamics. And the violins are awful either way, but the double bass is fun. I do end up using the FR-1b mainly for stuff that an acoustic will not do (silent practice, MIDI entry, low transport weight) but not picking it up when I have choice.

 

[Javthedog]

Instead of studio monitors I'd use a keyboard amp if available. They are different in purpose, so depending on the implementation they may work differently. Do you by chance know if the signal path of your studio monitors is analog or digital? In some rare cases, the digital-to-analog converters in a digital instrument like the FR-1x may interact less than optimally with the analog-to-digital converters of some digital sound processing unit.

I have the predecessor of the FR-1xb (and the x generation is supposed to work better) and the FR-1b works well for doing things like country waltzes (both accordion and some orchestral patches) but isn't really all that convincing with slow stuff with fine-grained dynamics. And the violins are awful either way, but the double bass is fun. I do end up using the FR-1b mainly for stuff that an acoustic will not do (silent practice, MIDI entry, low transport weight) but not picking it up when I have choice.

This was the geek test I failed......analogue/digital signal path - wot? - plug it in, connect it - does it work? Brrrrrrrrrr. MIDI entry leads to a world I can happily live without. Pick it up and play it - fine. Pick it up, press buttons, delve into menus and get a really awful sound - not fine. Added to which, the bass scale break is disturbingly massive.............

 

[dak]

This was the geek test I failed......analogue/digital signal path - wot? - plug it in, connect it - does it work? Brrrrrrrrrr.

Uh, it wasn't supposed to be a "geek test" but then I fail the "human test" quite often.

MIDI entry leads to a world I can happily live without.

Music entry (for creating score sheets) is actually what I use it most often for, and it works for that pretty well. I guess using it as controller for other sound generators and for MIDI arranger would be what you count among "world you can live without". The latter, if nothing else, is more fun than practising with a metronome.

Pick it up and play it - fine. Pick it up, press buttons, delve into menus and get a really awful sound - not fine.

Of course there is some bit of a learning curve involved, but there also is a thing like immediate dislike of the "this is all wrong" kind.

Added to which, the bass scale break is disturbingly massive.............

That depends on the instrument you select and whether you use orchestral basses. The latter are implemented with instruments not intended to mask an octave break, so yes.