Under Paris Skies - Digital Accordion
- Thread starter breezybellows
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With the acoustic recording, I find (apart from the coffee house chatter) the pitterpatter on the bass buttons somewhat distracting. That's probably due to the bass/chord sounds chosen here being worse at masking the button noise than with an acoustic accordion. Or the damping by the springed pallets works better than by electronic contacts. Or it is just that you are playing at a more decent volume than one can manage with an acoustic. Of course, with that kind of instrument you can just record from the electric outputs and get no distraction on the record whatsoever.
The registration works nicely, if "soft-washed" in comparison to the rather cutting musette sound usually employed in connection with that tune.
The registration works nicely, if "soft-washed" in comparison to the rather cutting musette sound usually employed in connection with that tune.
breezybellows
Well-known member
In my last few recordings I tried to get a closeup from what the bass hand is doing. Frankly, it looks like most of the time I am just simulating because there is so little movement. I do remember getting admonished for quieter action back when I took some lessons, particularly not letting buttons snap or investing energy there: it's an accordion, not a piano. Of course that is one thing that holds equally with piano accordions: I'd imagine that the temptation for piano players to do this on accordion would be even higher than with buttons.
breezybellows
Well-known member
I can't use this excuse because I'm not a Pianist. I'm not sure how I developed the habit. I guess it was because of another problem that I tried to fix that lead to this. I used to play my bass notes very long and then slur into chords that I played as staccato. My teacher was not ok with that. So I'm my attempt to shorten my bass notes, I intentionally started to hit it hard and short.
It's probably intuitive (which makes the pianoforte so popular). At least I had sort of the same problem. With an acoustic, one can boast the maxime "the tone isn't over until it is over" and try to keep its entire length under control (phrasing off softly or more abruptly; I've just pontificated on the technique thread about that). One of the few things that are hard to practice on a Roland, but at least if you want to train for a soft release in general, you can switch on button noise on the bass: the Roland will then clatter "realistically" if you let the bass buttons flip. Which would likely be louder than the plastic clatter and thus hide it.
I think that on my own FR-1b I gave the bass button noise but not the treble.
GeekyPirate
Member
I loved the cadence! Nice and relaxing. Easily one of my favorite french chansons. Awesome performance!
Very enjoyable.
BB - Assuming you have at least as much choice as a FR4X, do you know there are 'bass parameters' which include 'button noise' type and button noise volume'? See "BtnNsLv" in Menu Options
BB - Assuming you have at least as much choice as a FR4X, do you know there are 'bass parameters' which include 'button noise' type and button noise volume'? See "BtnNsLv" in Menu Options
breezybellows
Well-known member
I think there is. With the amount of button noise I usually make, I'd say I don't miss it much
Well, for those who use the digital instruments not exclusively, it's kind of relevant for practice. If you want to become pinball champion, you don't disable the "Tilt" sensors in your training machines. Apologies to the youngsters for my choice of analogy…I think there is. With the amount of button noise I usually make, I'd say I don't miss it much
Nicely done, a favorite of mine (though why anyone would record a digital accordion with a camera/external mic is something that goes against my credo... LOL)... I wanted to make my version of it before the end of this year, likely I'll do it in December.
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breezybellows
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I don't take my audio interface as recording set up with my all the time. Setting it up is another chore. Would only do it when I feel like making a proper recording.
Huh. I think the advanced Rolands can record to a USB stick internally. No audio interface needed. Personally, I use the following handheld recorder which has pretty good quality on its standard microphones:
On its 4 external inputs you can attach microphones (with +48V phantom power, alternatively +24V or +12V) or plug in instrument cables like from the Roland. It will record up to 6 tracks (and can record an additional -10dB safety recording from the attached "internal" microphone pair). It can also operate as a stereo (providing a mix-down from the 6 inputs) or multi-track audio interface to a computer or phone, either drawing power via the USB connection (useful when using a computer or laptop connected to mains power) or using its 4 AA batteries. In standalone operation, the USB connector can still be used for providing power if you want. And of course it can also operate in "card reader" mode for accessing the SD card it records to.
It's a "no need to choose" device. It is pretty likely that other manufacturers have something with similar versatility and audio quality (I think it is supposed to outclass the preamps in a Zoom H4n, for example) but I don't have a comparison at hand.
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Slap a USB flash drive (key) in it and record from the EVO in 24-bit 48k files, nothing to set up!
I suppose that I am overly nit-picky about audio quality when its easy to avoid putting out a low audio quality file for a music video. Hearing the bass button clicks is a bit distracting as is the overall quality of the file when listened to... but that's just me at my worst.
breezybellows
Well-known member
I have that one. But I didn't use it all the time. I like it that it can directly connect to my phone.Huh. I think the advanced Rolands can record to a USB stick internally. No audio interface needed. Personally, I use the following handheld recorder which has pretty good quality on its standard microphones:
On its 4 external inputs you can attach microphones (with +48V phantom power, alternatively +24V or +12V) or plug in instrument cables like from the Roland. It will record up to 6 tracks (and can record an additional -10dB safety recording from the attached "internal" microphone pair). It can also operate as a stereo (providing a mix-down from the 6 inputs) or multi-track audio interface to a computer or phone, either drawing power via the USB connection (useful when using a computer or laptop connected to mains power) or using its 4 AA batteries. In standalone operation, the USB connector can still be used for providing power if you want. And of course it can also operate in "card reader" mode for accessing the SD card it records to.
It's a "no need to choose" device. It is pretty likely that other manufacturers have something with similar versatility and audio quality (I think it is supposed to outclass the preamps in a Zoom H4n, for example) but I don't have a comparison at hand.
It's just not work that I didn't see myself doing. Then take the USB stick to a computer, transfer the files, connect the phone/camera to computer, sync audio/video and then clean up all the files. I'd rather practice more at that time. Recording with the phone is just so much easier to directly upload it to wherever I want to.Slap a USB flash drive (key) in it and record from the EVO in 24-bit 48k files, nothing to set up!
I suppose that I am overly nit-picky about audio quality when its easy to avoid putting out a low audio quality file for a music video. Hearing the bass button clicks is a bit distracting as is the overall quality of the file when listened to... but that's just me at my worst.
But I do get your point. If I'm doing a serious performance of a song that is ready, I'll do something like that.
Here's one that I did with a bit more effort.
I'll be up for something like that twice a year.
breezybellows
Well-known member
That being said, it would be so convenient if I the Accordion can be plugged directly into my phone as an audio device without an interface.
I wonder why it's still so roundabout.
I wonder why it's still so roundabout.
That one I can answer. Phones use bluetooth, the EVO doesn't support the transmission of bluetooth audio.
CME has a wireless solution coming, but its not out yet AND I do not know if phones would support it anyway.
If you want wireless transmission of sound to your phone AND not need to sync the audio (a 5 second process in most NLE's today), it has to be analog, so a wireless transmitter connected to an audio interface that is connected to your phone (most modern phones will detect an audio interface connected to them via USB).
If you want that sound to be of high quality AND not need to synch anything up, send the analog sound via wirelesss transmitter from accordion to audio interface connected directly to a modern phone. A lot of small/cheap audio interfaces can even be powered by the phone battery.
I made this video 3 years ago:
A setup like that could even stream live to YouTube and have PERFECT audio. That means that location or even a lack of electrical outlets is no longer a hinderance, I brought my 8X to a park earlier this year and streamed a couple songs to friends on the other side of the world, just for fun.
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Work?
What are we talking about here? 1 minute of work for a 2-hour session?
Syncing audio/video is done by my video editor (that's what the phone's own recording is for). As long as the accordion is the predominant sound on both tracks, that should work fine. Afterwards you can decide how much of the outside track you leave for ambience, possibly ducking it.
The grunt work is then actually cutting out pieces, and even then you don't need to do more than picking start/end. I am actually doing that for pretty much every accordion rehearsal of our ensemble (only audio, but adding video would essentially require more processing power but not more work by myself), and it only gets tedious if I need to cut together a single piece from various fragments, possibly even out of order.
That's not an issue for actual performances.
I'd say there is room for something in between. But of course it depends on what relevance you assign to some recording. When you are old and gray, boasting to your grandchildren "I did things like that in the park" might come in handy. If just to show what a park was like.
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