I have been completely satisfied with mine. I settled on this particular accordion because I was conflicted between buying a triple row, or a chromatic button accordion. A triple row would limit me to the keys I can play in, and a CBA would take me a while to learn. When Roland's customer service rep explained to me that I could program the keyboard to a chromatic tablature, it was a no brainer, for me.

There are twelve accordion presets available, but I only use two of them. The "Cajun" setting isn't really Cajun, instead, sounds alot like Clifton Chenier's accordion. The "Alpine" setting is a fat LMMMH setting and sounds like the honking Gabbanelli's that I have heard.

All of the nuances of an accordion such as valve flutter, wind velocity are built into it. It is true that while played alone, an accordion player will notice that it is electronic, but most listeners do not notice. When played in ensemble, it is very convincing and sits well within the mix. The wetness of the tuning and the amount of reverb are completely customizable. When Chris Miller played fiddle with us a couple of weeks back, he commented that it sounded very good in the mix.

I don't see it as a lifetime instrument, for me, but it will definitely get the job done until I am comfortable enough to purchase a real CBA.

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