This FR-18 is a 'ripper' by the sounds of it.I can't stop playing that Johnny Ace clip...

It's possible, I guess, that Roland will bring out a Mk11 version at some stage...

I just wonder if we're heading into another traditionalists vs. new age conflict of ideas and opinions?
And I wonder what the Baffetti , Gabbanelli etc. etc. folks are discussing behind closed doors at the moment?

Great feedback from Johhny, Larry and David..keep it coming...

I'm still awaiting a response from Roland about service and support back up capabilities they have for this instrument...
..digitals should be stable long term, but there will come a day when something burns out or short circuits or breaks..then what..and for how long would you be without your #1 instrument. Conversely, if a Cajun box or traditional 3 row busts..then for most folks a luthier of repairshop is reasonably near by.

If Roland can satisfy me of their support then I'm VERY interested.

I wrote to Roland about Just vs Tempered tuning of the reeds and whether there was any control for that.

Their response was to tell me about the different wetness settings. So, either they don't understand the question, or just the person responding doesn't understand the question. I'm thinking there is no control for that as it stand now. I should reply to them.

i heard you can set 'microtunings' with it

which would be what you want

if it;s really true

and easy to do

[the 'load your own sounds' really isn;t true, for instance]

wle

It is definitely true that you can adjust the degree of wetness. There are 15 different wetness settings, and they give them funny names that don't convey anything much to me. My guess is that the settings correspond to a certain number of cents, like 0 to 20 cents.

But I do not see any way to adjust the tuning between just and equal temperment.

Maybe it is not so much a function of having a setting to control that, but rather is dependent on the sampled sounds from the acoustic accordions that were used to create the instrument. I.e., if they sampled a just tuned Cajun accordion, then maybe if you use that sound it would be just tuned because that's what it came from in the first place. I don't know this - I am just speculating.

I took the bait and will be trying one of these soon. A guy walked into a bar where I was playing Cajun music, and not long after I found myself recruited into a roots rock band called The Lawnmowers. This digital box could be just the instrument, with its tone colors, organ patches, and effects. Our CD tracks are at link #1. Accordions (Baffetti F-Bb-Eb, Bon Tee Cajun C, and a Martin D) show up on songs 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, and 12. The tunes with the most Cajun-sounding passages are nos. 10 and 12. Roots music can appear in the most unexpected places.

I have been getting a lot of mileage out of the practicing quietly at night using the headphones aspect of this thing. It has greatly increased the amount of playing time.

-David