Where can I purchase a 'Cajun Style Accordion' that can play in ALL keys?

Or when do you think such an accordion will become available?

I don't mean with traditional real steel reeds, I mean with the latest electronic gadgetry or technology!

Surely it is possible. Surely it will also soon be possible to reproduce old style accordion tuning such as the early Sterling or Monarch accordions.

I want to squeeze only ten buttons, and be able to play in every key.

(Some may say I'm a dreamer, but I,m not the only one!)

There's shop at the dark side of the moon that might have one, it's called the Can of Worms Music Store ....

- Sorry, but those special LMH LMH ones built by Randy Falcon have two keys. Though i wonder if you can get that sound and especially feel on a Roland digital button accordion. - Nout

Closest you'll get right now is a Roland FR-18 digital three row, but it's not tuned cajun style, and, from talking to their tech support, they don't even know the difference between just and tempered tuning.

the rolands sound good and play in all keys
they don;t have cajun accordion SOUNDS though
much less the fine detail of tuning intervals

they don;t have a 4 reed, big dollar cajun sound

or an internally miked, zydeco sound

and you cannot add your own sounds
no matter how the ads read

you CAN
you can buy them from roland is what that means

and
see A. above

the market is just too small

i;d buy one anyway
IF it had 5 rows and could shift gears to become chromatic

OR if their 5 row chromatic could switch gears and become diatonic

but they don;t care enough

i am a market of one, i guess
isn;t enough

but neither are their keyboards and layouts customizable enough

they say the chromatic [which CAN let you assign any notes to any button], does not have the right pressure sensor to distinguish pulling from pushing

which i find hard to believe
but there it is
i asked them

people say the baldoni accordions [played by c j chenier and others], have a pretty close to cajun sound
i don;t buy it
but they claim it


wle

I own a FR-18 diatonic, and I disagree. It is quite customizable. It has 12 accordion sounds built in that cover the range of just about all of the Zydeco players out there. My two favorite sounds are the one that is actually called "Cajun", which sounds a lot like Chenier's accordion and the "Alpine" setting which is a very fat sounding LMMMH.

The keyboards are customizable. I have a custom setting which makes my three row diatonic a three row chromatic. I have to say that for a first generation product, Roland has done an admirable job, and the research and development team has been receptive to suggestions and ideas, but that's all I can say about that.

I own a FR-18 diatonic, and I disagree.

==ok!
i'll buy it

It is quite customizable. It has 12 accordion sounds built in that cover the range of just about all of the Zydeco players out there. My two favorite sounds are the one that is actually called "Cajun", which sounds a lot like Chenier's accordion and the "Alpine" setting which is a very fat sounding LMMMH.

==key question though, i play one row 75% of the time
would you use it for that?



The keyboards are customizable. I have a custom setting which makes my three row diatonic a three row chromatic.

==yes but i play 5 row
with 5 row you don;t have to relearn fingering for anything, the rows duplicate

I have to say that for a first generation product, Roland has done an admirable job, and the research and development team has been receptive to suggestions and ideas, but that's all I can say about that

--yes i wish i had one but i still wouldn;t want
to spend the money unless it also replaced my 2 single rows


==i might get one if my triple row needed replacing for some reason


==though i would also want it to sound like an internally miked accordion, all mine are, i would let that slide if i could just carry one accordion instead of 3 or 4 [sometimes i carry a 2nd triple row but only play it for a couple songs so it is the first to stay home if there isn;t room]



wle

I have used it on "Alpine" to play a song, or two, that is too high for any of us to sing on the C or D. Most people don't notice it unless they see me playing it; however, it doesn't have tempering, and that is noticeable to me and most musicians.

As for amplification, the sound is customizable. You can adjust the volume of the bass side, or turn it off. You can add or take away reverb. It doesn't really sound like an internally miked accordion. It sounds like a well miked accordion. You know how the internal mic creates a certain sound?

I would never use the chromatic setting on stage. I only programmed it to learn how to play chromatic. The dilemma when looking for an accordion was whether to get a chromatic and learn it, or get a triple row which I could play right away, but be stuck with whatever key it happened to be. The customer service guy sold me on the FR-18 when he explained the custom keyboard to me. That and the fact that I can change it to any key I want, sold me.

It is true that there is no DIRECT way to add your own sounds to the FR-18, but it can still be done.

If you are adept at such things, you can create your own samples of an internally mic'ed Cajun accordion, and then load them into a midi sound module. Connect the FR-18 to the sound module via a midi cable and voila!

Yes, it's probably a lot of work to do it well. And yes, the midi sound module is just one more piece of gear to haul around and set up. The point is, that it can in fact be done if you had enough determination to do it. I am not one of those people myself.

I don't know if Roland could be persuaded to take any action themselves. It is possible. I sent them a suggestion and I was pleased to see that they added that feature to the software update. It was a pretty obvious suggestion, and I don't know that they were influenced by what I said or not.

-David

yep
i am not that determined

you would be using the accordion as nothing more than a midi controller at that point, also

plus i might also want "air miked cajun accordion" too while i was at it

also, if you just sampled output of a C accordion, it might sound weird when you changed pitch to Gb..

i think that 'sampling sounds' step is in reality a lot of work

wle

Yes. I've been building one en cachette, that is actually has 11 buttons (so does not meet your specs), plays in all keys except Fb and E#, with bases to match. Treble has HiLo LoHi rows. Patent pending

My deposit is in the mail.

Are we forgetting "just" tuning.

The "Cajun" sound is primarily from the "just" tuning and then 4 reeds.

By "Cajun" style.. do you mean single row 10 buttons ?

How about a dry tuned 2 row box in B/C or C#/D . Theoretically can play in all 12 keys. Practically can be played in a few.

You may have a problem with your patent. See link #2.

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Be on the look out guys because I know Brandon Miller and I have been talking about this subject for a while. It is possible to have an accordion play in all keys

the lookout for what?
wle

Lookout for a 10-button that sounds like a fiddle. That's next. And Dinny Bdaft knows it.

ooohhhhh

i get it

but MINE will sound like trumpets, piano, and bagpipes too
acoustically
plus
3D
you have to wear special glasses to play it

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wle