Not exactly "electric" electronic might be a closer description

Choice of keys, tuning, tonality

all operated by button pressure and bellows movement

Tghis accordeon has seen some serious interest by Brit players... his orders will attest to that...

Around $2500 US last I checked...

The most enticing thing about it--you can play with headphones and avoid a divorce or animal cruelty.

I personally think that no electronic instrument can
duplicate or better the cajun accordion. The "raw"
sound is what "makes" the instrument and the music it
plays...also, just wait until the wife leaves and give the dog
a ham bone to chew on.

Man Joe, you are tough. You obviously have not met Lorena Bobbitt and Cujo. First, I have been informed that King of your Castle went out 50 years ago and I would go broke on ham bones. I have come up with a compromise. I bought the wife a comfortable set of wireless headphones for the TV and gave the dog a blanket to crawl under. But I still haven't got the midnight shift covered.

how's about this one: our bullterrier sleeps right through acordions going off near it's head even, and can't stand fiddles; ..... must be my playing ... nout

How about cats ???
Our cats like the accordion very much.
They are dancing with there ears,
The woman here is different cook.

I got a choice of solutions for you bro:
1) Feed the cat what the woman cooks, especially if it's an accordion. Or a mouse with its ears still on?
2) Feed the woman to the cat if it's a BIG one. Maybe the cat can then even cook the woman .....
3) Let the women eat the cat, but cook it first then, cats seem to taste like rabbit I'm told. She'll be happy then too I guess, if you believe in the simple fact that we all are nothing more than the stuff we ate in our lifetime, plus all that our ancestors ate before us.
4) Even better: dump the accordion, cooked or raw, & learn to play the fiddle, cats love that too.
... geintje, en 't beste voor 2008 ... nout

My two cats seem to like the accordion, they will often come curl up nearby while I am playing. My wife makes me go out into the yard... The four of my neighbors have complemented me on my playing, but one will turn the stereo up loud. Oh well...

Back to the instrument.

I have a wife but no dogs or cats.

Several years ago she committed me to a small music-only room in the back of the house.

If I try to play anywhere else, she leaves and goes shopping. Kinda of like Tony Broussard's family in his Christmans video.

Could your audience actually hear this electronic thing without a speaker/monitor plugged in?

I wonder about the battery power on such an instrument, even though I have a battery powered keyboard that runs on 12 D-cells and gets played everyday for a year without losing power. Guess you would be smart carrying around an extra set.

$ 2,500.00 is a lot of dough, but maybe not to a professional Irish player who would have all keys available at the touch of a button, and would not have to lug around both a CFG and an AD(?)

The builder could probably get pretty close to the "raw" sound of a Cajun box if he was commissioned to build one.
Be just another tuner button to push, perhaps?
JB

The purpose of the Streb wasn't "cajun" besides the fact that he could not build a Cajun accordeon because he is not a Cajun..

They are 2 ad 2 1/2 rows built for key changes and tonality changes

The majority of these are being sold in England.. kand of the D/G

I am certain that these boxes could be programmmed for a 4 reed just intonation allowing for a "Cajun" sound... but would suck in cross row playing .. the adopted style of the Brit D/G players.. and C/F and G/C etc

My cat's love the accordion too. You'd think it would hurt their ears. They all seem to go into this trance when I play.

...what a disturbingly amusing conversation... Alex -- yuh gotta fan here! I have to admit, cat is absolutely delicious. Typically, I stuff them with my favorite sausage -- but that's so time-consuming and messy, I end up having to take a cat nap and never end up eating it.

I guess an electronic accordion would have its merits. It really wouldn't matter if it sounded exactly like a Cajun accordion as long as the notes and blends were there. It could be used as an interim practice device as it would never replace being able to play the "real deal" acoustically.

I think it really boils down to setting aside a time and place to practice the acoustic box. Personally, I don't want an audience when I'm hashing-out new tunes or techniques. It can't be much fun to listen to the riffing repetitiveness or to witness the new faces I might invent. But it is nice to have someone around to answer the phone or bring me another beer.

I've found that there's no better place to practice than by myself. I usually have a box handy when the wife and kid are running errands. If I'm on a roll when they return, I usually truck it to the back room of the house. A walk-in clothes closet, a six-pack, and a stool make for a perfect acoustically-ideal setting.

R!CK

Hi ya'll. Since i worked, besides being a die hard acoustic player, for years with electronic synths, samplers, either hard- or software based, maybe it's important to realize that you'll never be able to completely imitate the true overtones, resonances, tonal interferencies and dynamics of a true acoustic instrument. Some are easier to simulate, like a clarinet maybe, but electronics still won't work for the complicated sounds of lets say a cajun accordion. The acoustic modelling of synths and software, f.i used in some yamaha and korg products, is still in an early stage of development; great sounds, similar sounding maybe, but still linger only in an "a-like-ish" ball park. So lets stay low; buy and play the real thing .... regs, nout

Appreciate the comments on acoustic vs synth/samplers - to me, they're two completely different worlds. Played keyboards for many years before discovering the Cajun accordion, and having a foot in both worlds is big fun. Nothing beats a great acoustic piano or Hammond organ, but the accordion is a big plus in the "sound per pound" department.

Electronic instruments are an essential compromise for most gigging keyboard players, who need portability and a big variety of sounds. Plus, the sky's the limit on what one can do with the right electronic instrument. Having an electronic version of the Cajun accordion, though? Not sure about that one. Having the button box "interface" as a controller would be cool, and with midi you could use it to play about anything you could imagine. It just wouldn't be the same as an air-breathing, reed vibrating accordion, though.

My favorite gig? Playing B3 organ in a kickin' Zydeco band. Traditional? Probably not, but it sure is fun.

I've been working on a resophonic accordion this past year. It still sounds fairly awful , no matter how I play it, but requires no power source, batteries or solar cells.

Happy New Year Cajuns! ;~)
Tweed