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Pros and cons of digital accordion

Is it a bad thing that the instrument does things to the sound to add things to a performance by an accordion player? If it sounds good, why bother whether the musician did something to earn it?

We've previously discussed this. Let's say someone is using the digital voice of an instrument like a violin. That already sounds very different from the sound of an accordion. Is the only acceptable way to play it is to make it sound identical to a real violin? I believe it can still be musical while sounding a little different.
I'm not going to wade into the first part of the argument, but I'll reprise some previous comments to say that in some ways music has always been about technology, making new sounds that are expressive, artistic, fun, danceable, whatever. I'm not in love with people "playing their computer" but there was a time when all sorts of "traditional" instruments were new, and looked on with suspicion and derision, only to take over at least the popular forms within a decade or so, because people like new sounds, and possibilities.

A thing that's helped me as I've gotten older is asking myself "What if I didn't care about this? What would happen?" I don't mean this in a nihilistic way, just a way of prioritizing what's actually important to you.
 
Initially I was thinking that Roland would be coming up with something better, but it's now been 8 years without any new model. There was the "promise" by Proxima, but these "accoredions" have never become generally available to this day... I'd love to own a digital accordion that is first and foremost a believable accordion and all other features I would just consider a "bonus"... but alas I'm still waiting.

I think Roland would do well to take the hint from the example set by some members of this forum and pre-install Richard Noel’s set of over 20 user program banks he has developed and sells for USD 150. In my opinion they are much better than those my brand new 8x had installed when I received it in January.
 
My main problem is that the dry accordion registers (like LM, MH, LMH) do not believably sound like an acoustic accordion.

If I watch a random video with the Roland playing accordion sounds, I agree that it doesn't sound very convincing. Especially when percussion is on, it feels very tacky. In my first two years of playing my Bugari Evo, I never used Accordion sounds (especially on the bass side). Last year I purchased some UPGs from Michael Bridge. I particularly liked one dry tuned MM program. It still has orchestral bass on the left hand with guitar for chords. I've been extensively using that whenever I play accordion sounds and it sounds pretty real (to my ears).

My teacher Joe Natoli has composed several songs for free bass accordion. His primary instrument is a Bugari Evo and I do find his sound very convincing.

 
If I watch a random video with the Roland playing accordion sounds, I agree that it doesn't sound very convincing. Especially when percussion is on, it feels very tacky. In my first two years of playing my Bugari Evo, I never used Accordion sounds (especially on the bass side). Last year I purchased some UPGs from Michael Bridge. I particularly liked one dry tuned MM program. It still has orchestral bass on the left hand with guitar for chords. I've been extensively using that whenever I play accordion sounds and it sounds pretty real (to my ears).

My teacher Joe Natoli has composed several songs for free bass accordion. His primary instrument is a Bugari Evo and I do find his sound very convincing.



Brilliant playing indeed.

The sound is a significant improvement on most that I have listened to, nevertheless, still electronic.
 
I'm not savvy enough to pick it!🤔
Still, if ignorance is bliss, surely 'tis folly to be wise?🤔🙂
That's exactly where I stand. That's good enough for me and that's probably because the sounds didn't bother my ears.

On a side note, I can say the same about eating desserts. My wife is a chocolate snob and is very picky about her desserts. I can enjoy anything that sweet.
 
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I'm not savvy enough to pick it!🤔
Still, if ignorance is bliss, surely 'tis folly to be wise?🤔🙂

Nothing about ignorance, mate, just differences in peoples' hearing as well as their predelictions.
My attitude is very much that folk should be true to what they like and appreciate, to not follow the herd in their tastes and to refrain from adversely criticising any other persons likes and/or dislikes.
My expressing what appeals to me, or does not, is in no way a judgement on whatever it is that suits someone else's sensibilities, it's just this one person's particular feelings about it.
In my reckoning there is nothing good or bad in taste other than that some people like to make it so.
 
...

My teacher Joe Natoli has composed several songs for free bass accordion. His primary instrument is a Bugari Evo and I do find his sound very convincing.
...
That sound is kind-of half believable until he gets to the final chords. Playing very fast is generally a way to hide flaws also in acoustic accordions. (Balkan players tend to only play fast notes which hides whether their instrument is out of tune or not.) The final chords give away very clearly that it's an electronic accordion.
 
Is it a bad thing that the instrument does things to the sound to add things to a performance by an accordion player? If it sounds good, why bother whether the musician did something to earn it?

We've previously discussed this. Let's say someone is using the digital voice of an instrument like a violin. That already sounds very different from the sound of an accordion. Is the only acceptable way to play it is to make it sound identical to a real violin? I believe it can still be musical while sounding a little different.
Problem is that it all sounds the same to me. It's like an actor who changes clothes to change roles but doesn't change his voice or his stance or his gait. And then why bother changing the clothes?
 
I remember the hubbub but was too young to understand. I was living in RI at the time, across the bay. I had yet to discover pop music.
 
July 25, 1965, Bob Dylan took the stage at the Newport Folk Festival.
A very big moment for the accordion/melodeon world (especially in the USA) occurred starting in 64 where a Cajun band appeared to great acclaim. They were apparently listed as "Cajun Band", despite being the "Eunice Playboys" (because the Cajuns had many bands, as it turned out). Multiple encores. Marc Savoy calls the period "The Discovery of The Cajuns".
 
My teacher Joe Natoli has composed several songs for free bass accordion. His primary instrument is a Bugari Evo and I do find his sound very convincing.
Clever idea, making a jazzy spin on Flight of the Bumblebee, and a clever subtitle too.
Now, as for 'convincing sound' --- yes, I found it a very convincing sound: it was a solid imitation of a jazz accordion (right hand) accompanied by a string orchestra. Save that sound lineup, for when you want to re-create Galliano's music after he is gone!
On the other hand... I don't think the left hand, played on an acoustic accordion, without the help of software shaping the beginning and end of each note, would bear the slightest resemblence to that recording. Recreating the sounds on the recording would be a challenge even for an accordion duet. It was a bit disconcerting to see one thing on the page and hear something different in my ear. And I have to ask: which sound did the composer really intend, the one he wrote on the page, or the one he played?
 
I'm surprised I didn't see this post earlier. Very good presentation. But, here are my thoughts.

1. I have an acoustic accordion with the Limex midi, so I have both in the same accordion but prefer the acoustic. It's tough enough working with the right hand, left hand and bellows, different switches and then hundreds of options with a digital?
2. Growing up I remember liking the sound of an accordion.
3. I listened to many successful accordion players who played accoustic. Art Van Damme, Myron Floren, Dick Contino, Frankie Yankovic and others. The all played accoustic. Yes, Yankovic also played the Solovox and other keyboards.
4. So I would guess that people who like accordion music want to hear an accordion.
5. I did have a Hammond Organ in the house at one time which was somewhat easy although I never got the hang of the foot pedals. I sold it when we moved.
6. I will say I did have a lot of interest in a digital accordion many years ago, but now they are amazing but overly complicated.
7. Here's what interested me in digital years ago

 
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I have been tempted by the lure of being able to play silently or at least more quietly than I do with my current acoustic accordion.
However, as someone here mentioned - a digital accordion is kind of like a vertical electronic keyboard, and that has long put me off from buying it, at least for now.

Some of them have been setup with some great edited sounds by players like Dale Mathis, etc.
But, a stock Roland accordion reminds me of those £50 Casio keyboards we used to have as children.
Orchestral effects? Guitar and bass sounds? 1000s of effects?
I mean this is pretty much a keyboard, and the sounds coming out of it seems to be as bad as the value line keyboards from the 90s.

For me at least, the only thing it has going is the ability to lower the volume and play.
Is that a trigger for me to buy? Maybe, if the price was MUCH lower.

Edit: Thanks to Breezy Bellows for making that video. It was very informative, and I appreciate the time and detail put in to it!
 
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I have been tempted by the lure of being able to play silently or at least more quietly than I do with my current acoustic accordion.
However, as someone here mentioned - a digital accordion is kind of like a vertical electronic keyboard, and that has long put me off from buying it, at least for now.

Some of them have been setup with some great edited sounds by players like Dale Mathis, etc.
But, a stock Roland accordion reminds me of those £50 Casio keyboards we used to have as children.
Orchestral effects? Guitar and bass sounds? 1000s of effects?
I mean this is pretty much a keyboard, and the sounds coming out of it seems to be as bad as the value line keyboards from the 90s.

For me at least, the only thing it has going is the ability to lower the volume and play.
Is that a trigger for me to buy? Maybe, if the price was MUCH lower.
True. It’s like an electric guitar right out of the box. NO one plays it with the original sounds. The Roland is only the platform. What’s done with it is what makes it music. Take a few minutes to watch someone who has figured out how to use the inherent properties to make the music that you like. For forró, for example, take Dorgival Dantas. Or our own JerryPH. You can probably even find a virtuoso who plays a million notes a minute if you need it.
 
For me at least, the only thing it has going is the ability to lower the volume and play.
It's not the only advantage. It doesn't go out of tune, it can have fabulous bass (at least if you forego the built-in speakers), all keys/buttons have reliable and fast response, you can use it for practising careful play of keys and buttons by cranking up its button/key noise simulation, it won't ever feed back in an amplified performance, the sounds are fewer than on a cheap value keyboard from the 90s but they are definitely better. You can try out a number of free bass system (and if that's where you are, also of CBA systems) without adding weight or instruments, it has MIDI as reliable as the instrument itself that can easily be fed into arrangers, expanders, sequencers and other equipment.

You cannot let it ride on the breath in the manner of a good acoustic: its response points aren't tactile (when an acoustic reed starts responding, it throttles the airflow). That's part of where I feel let down, but mind you: the audience is not affected. But that's a subtle point, and the Rolands certainly have more going for them than the ability to lower the volume. Whether what they offer matches what you can find yourself able to appreciate is a different question.
 
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