Different Stradella type Gizmos?

[Walker]

Okay, here's something of the "gizmo" variety:

The OmniChord:

 

[Mike t.]

Okay, here's something of the "gizmo" variety:

The OmniChord:

I had a cousin that played one, I had forgot all about it. She also played accordion in her youth, but in the end this is what she played as a snowbird down in Arizona from Washington State. The advantage over an acoustic autoharp would be no tuning, and sounds cleaner? Definitely more portable.

 

[Walker]

The array mbira -- https://www.arraymbira.com/ -- seems to use a similar circle of fifths arrangement of adjacent notes, and actually vaguely resembles a quint freebass system with how it handles octaves.

An interesting instrument. I went onto the array mbira website and saw the way everything was arranged in 5ths and the high and low octaves were parallel to one another. Yes it's quite like a quint free bass design, but playable with both hands.

Wouldn't like to play a glissando on one though.

I had a cousin that played one, I had forgot all about it. She also played accordion in her youth, but in the end this is what she played as a snowbird down in Arizona from Washington State. The advantage over an acoustic autoharp would be no tuning, and sounds cleaner? Definitely more portable.

Oh, I didn't realise, yes, it's an electronic version of an autoharp, with those little stradella type buttons.

There's also zithers and psalterys.

This is quite nice:

 

[David Colpitts]

There are overlays for piano/digital keys that convert them to a button-type layout. I'm not terribly familiar with the variations, but if you search for "isomorphic" or "janko" keyboard overlay, you can find the info. I dont think they would be considered a serious solution - they seem to simply sit on top of the keys in a temporary fashion.

Hello, Aaron. I just saw your post about isomorphic/Janko keyboard overlays, and I am happy to tell you that they are potentially a very serious solution, indeed. The only commercially available Janko accordion I know of (and there are probably others...) was a smallish run some few years ago by Weltmeister, named "Logicordeon" or very like that. As far as overlays go, I invite you to look at the Janko Keyboard Group on FaceBook, and you'll get to see the recent flurry of activity in this direction. Fred Merck and Rico Raven are quite active now, with Fred's overlay aiming towards semi-permanent installations with adjustments to make them fit different pianos/keyboards. Rico is now "engineering" a "Dodeka-style" wooden overlay, which also could be made permanent, and I have made 5 conversions (MIDI piano controllers and acoustic melodicas) that can be home-built and could be permanent. Several others have been involved over the years, with potentially long-term completion of commercial products. I have a 37 key harmonium that I intend to convert this summer. Of course, none of these have a Stradella-like component (save the Weltmeister) but chords are really simple and the same in all keys (all majors, minors, 7ths, etc. use the same pattern in one key as in all the others; one simply starts in a different spot. By my math, that cuts the learning curve by a factor of 12!
I attach one of my "Jankolpitts" piano controller conversions; it's my best and easiest to play.

 

[dak]

Of course, none of these have a Stradella-like component (save the Weltmeister) but chords are really simple and the same in all keys (all majors, minors, 7ths, etc. use the same pattern in one key as in all the others; one simply starts in a different spot. By my math, that cuts the learning curve by a factor of 12!

That's the sales pitch for 5+ row CBA instruments, and it's kind of true, but not all rows are created equal. It's probably more true for Jankó/Beyreuther keyboards (Jankó more so as it has more redundancy).

 

[saundersbp]

To me, having a free bass accordion with 3 or more octaves

To me the difference between the stradella bass accordion and the free bass instrument is

To me it unveils the wonder that the chromatic 12 tone progression and the circle of fifths

I'm afraid to me the stradella bass means really awkward fingering compared to free bass. Stretch here, jump there, mega stretch next, normal distances next. I am clearly a primate (and accordion beginner) as my own fingers like going up and down rather than side to side

 

[Tom]

I'm afraid to me the stradella bass means really awkward fingering compared to free bass. Stretch here, jump there, mega stretch next, normal distances next. I am clearly a primate (and accordion beginner) as my own fingers like going up and down rather than side to side

Bach is less awkward on free bass. Just Because is less awkward on stradella. And vice versa. Horses and courses. Just because…..

 

[saundersbp]

Bach is less awkward on free bass

This Bach would be unplayable on free bass!



I was thinking more of music where the composer uses both systems side by side.

 

[Rosie C]

I'm afraid to me the stradella bass means really awkward fingering compared to free bass. Stretch here, jump there, mega stretch next, normal distances next.

I play a lot of folk and rock'n'roll with I,IV,V chords - the folk in G or D and the rock'n'roll mostly in A, so a little 5x2 rectangle of the button board will have the paint worn away in a few years. Last year I tried some Christmas songs and hit the 'really awkward fingering' problem in the other direction. I'd hoped to play some German carols at our Christmas show but my playing wasn't up to jumping to less common chords.

 

[dak]

'd hoped to play some German carols at our Christmas show but my playing wasn't up to jumping to less common chords.

There are some devilish tunes like "Es ist ein Ros entsprungen" ("Lo, how a rose e'er blooming") in the setting of Prætorius where you change chords (and not the common ones) on pretty much every note of the melody and/or even between notes. Might as well throw in the towel and play it with free bass.

 

[Dingo40]

"Es ist ein Ros entsprungen" ("Lo, how a rose e'er blooming")

A popular Christmas Carol (song) translated from the German into various languages and popular in many countries at Christmas.

 

[Rosie C]

There are some devilish tunes like "Es ist ein Ros entsprungen" ("Lo, how a rose e'er blooming") in the setting of Prætorius where you change chords (and not the common ones) on pretty much every note of the melody and/or even between notes. Might as well throw in the towel and play it with free bass.

We have songs of that type in church sometimes - a new chord for every note. For the Christmas tunes, I am thinking to have a bass guitarist join the band for this year's Christmas show.

 

[Mike t.]

I play a lot of folk and rock'n'roll with I,IV,V chords - the folk in G or D and the rock'n'roll mostly in A, so a little 5x2 rectangle of the button board will have the paint worn away in a few years. Last year I tried some Christmas songs and hit the 'really awkward fingering' problem in the other direction. I'd hoped to play some German carols at our Christmas show but my playing wasn't up to jumping to less common chords.

Sounds like me playing the same 5x2 rectangle. Our church pianist said Christmas songs mess with even good piano players because of odd chord combinations that are so rarely used anywhere else.

 

[Ventura]

they are all wusss's still shell shocked by Mel Torme's
chord changes in "Chestnuts"

force 'em to play Phil Spector's version of "Sleigh ride"
and change keys 5 times as punishment

i Wish Them a Merry Christmas, but call on you to show them no mercy

 

[Tom]

Just cross out any chord symbol that has anything other than a space, a 7, or an m after the first letter and you’ll be fine. No one will notice. Works in almost any genre.

 

[Mike t.]

Just cross out any chord symbol that has anything other than a space, a 7, or an m after the first letter and you’ll be fine. No one will notice. Works in almost any genre.

Sort of funny you mention that because I was sitting next to our upright? Bass player and didn’t realize, that is sort-of what they do on most old folk/fiddle type music, just playing the root of the chord and alternating to the next chord up, as G then D. It sounds nice if there’s more than a couple guitars playing chords too. I really like the way it works when the fiddle players are playing fast jigs, makes backing them easy!