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Pietro Adragna on the new Korg
- Thread starter landro
- Start date
Listening more and a bit less exciting now I think it might not be as much of an improvement as I first thought. Pietro did so much better shaking on this number with an acoustic accordion. It looked somewhat limited on the Korg similar to how the Roland would have been. Closer maybe, but no cigar IMO.
I've now seen 3 people do bellows shakes on the new Korg... Pietro, Matthias and Cory. None did perfect flawless shakes like I have seen them all do on acoustic accordions.
Now... really, how important is the ability to do a "real" bellows shake on a digital accordion? I'd place it in the 125th place of the top 10 things that a digital accordion must be able to do... lol
A bit of a shocker, the more I look at the Korg, the more that I see things that impress me, but the less I am pulled in by it. That may be because I have more accordions and a Gola in there, or maybe that I feel that I'm not maxing out my 8X, so, what more would the Fisa Suprema give me over the 8X? That is why I am not in a rush but I am looking forward to the more comprehensive comparisons between these two.
Now... really, how important is the ability to do a "real" bellows shake on a digital accordion? I'd place it in the 125th place of the top 10 things that a digital accordion must be able to do... lol
A bit of a shocker, the more I look at the Korg, the more that I see things that impress me, but the less I am pulled in by it. That may be because I have more accordions and a Gola in there, or maybe that I feel that I'm not maxing out my 8X, so, what more would the Fisa Suprema give me over the 8X? That is why I am not in a rush but I am looking forward to the more comprehensive comparisons between these two.
Well, it took 10 years of collective effort to turn every stone of FR-8X functionality so you can use it fully if you want to. I guess Fisa needs no less, and the process can be exciting.
You don't need to wait 10 years to feel the excitement, that's already here and growing!
I fully appreciate the professionalism of the way it was released, the timeframe the price was released, the manual was released, the website made and most importantly, the way the support infrastructure was set, all shows they were quite serious and earnest and that they had it all well planned. Boom, all here, no waiting years for vaporware.
For me personally, I am looking forward to someone showing me why they think that I should move to the Fisa Suprema over the 8X. There are a few reasons already (the bass side slider, the side-to-side and forward-backward motion sensors and effects), the improved electrical design that offers more volume with less power and longer playing times, but these are not yet enough for me to shell out near $12,500 Canadian dollars for.
Like with the 8X I am not going to be an early adopter (unless someone wanted to drop one in my lap), I want to wait and see how it unfolds and learn about it from the more knowledgeable people if/before I spend my hard earned cash. This is no small amount of money, it would have to be worth it in my eyes for me to spend that large a sum of money.
I guess that I am saying that I don't have an issue with the amount (though no its not what I would call "affordable" under any circumstance), but it has to have a value and worth to me for that amount before I open my wallet... but that is just me.
Thomas N
Well-known member
Jerry -
My sentiments exactly - on everything you said. Bellows shakes are nice but I attempt it a couple times a year. On a digital accordion I'd never even attempt it. Shaking the hell out of all the electronics and connections when it doesn't even sound similar to an acoustic bellows shake just has no reward for me personally. I've never even attempted it on my FR-8X.
I'm literally the market demographic for the new Korg. Mid-50's, been playing for 45 years, expendable income, and have had Reedless digital accordions for over 20 years dating back to my Petosa Millennium and then the FR-8X for the past 10 years. I have hundreds of hours of playing time on them.
I'm impressed by the Korg, as I should be since electronics have come a long way in the past decade. And I like Korg as a company. It's time to upgrade from the perfectly acceptable FR-8X, but there has to be something that is a game-changer to make the upgrade. I have yet to see it with the Fisa Suprema. Is the expression any better than the FR-8X? Are the accordion sounds magnitudes better? Is it 8 pounds lighter? Is battery life triple the Roland? Accelerometer? Bluetooth? Built-in arranger?
My Excelsior 960 with the Magnante keyboard is the fastest keyboard I've ever played and the FR-8X is acceptable. The Korg won't approach the 960 on the speed of the keyboard but I do believe it's better than the Roland's.
I know my interest is waning because I haven't even watched the latest videos. I watched the Luigi ones and the one in this video and then just stopped. That's always a bad sign with me.
I'm thinking about consolidating my accordions to one digital and one high-end acoustic. I like the new Harmonics microphone systems and want to try that out in maybe a high-end acoustic.
Jury's still out on the Korg. Maybe I'll regain interest when a few forum members purchase one and provide their thoughts.
For the same reason you flew to Europe to get your Gola 459. You have many other accordions -- but that Gola has just the right tone/timbre that you like. I expect the Fisa will have the tone/timbre of the 8X refined and sound much better. For me, one Fisa improvement I will like is +4, 0, -4 octave shift of organ drawbars. Now I can cover the full range of the B3 61 note Manual. The 8X has the drawbars in one octave, on the 41 note keyboard, from F below middle C to the A in the 2nd octave above middle C.
If I ever consider buying a Fisa, I will find a location I can drive to, take my 8X and Bose speaker, and compare them side by side. That's how I will decide on whether to buy or not.
Thomas N
Well-known member
And I just listened to the latest demo between the two guys....VERY VERY good. Accordion sounds good. Basses sound good.
Very compelling.
Very compelling.
cestjeffici
Active member
I thought I saw the battery life listed at 2 hours.
Walker
🪗
You're thinking of the Musatunix digital accordion... I tried to erase it from my memory, but you've just brought it flooding back again... thanks for that cestjeffici.
Anyway, guys I've just had an idea... is it beyond the wit of mankind to... create a digital accordion powered by bellows movement? You know... like a real accordion...
Alan Sharkis
Prolific poster
Lets keep one thing in mind. Korg and Dexibel developed, produced, and brought a digital accordion to market just when we all felt that the concept of a digital accordion was fading because Roland didn’t seem interested in further development.
It wasn’t promised, delayed while pre-orders grew, and then so few were produced that they sold out in short order, and, two-plus years later, there is no sign of further production, but lots of excuses.
In fact, the Korg Fisa Suprema’s development was kept quiet for four years and then the instrument was released with promotional videos, a dealer network, etc, all ready to go.
The Fisa Suprema may or may not compare favorably with the Roland FR-8x on each and every detail. It may or may not be the digital accordion that looks, sounds and plays closer to an acoustic accordion than all the other digital accordions ever produced.
But it is a new digital accordion, from a major electronic musical instrument maker, and it will, at least, keep the concept of a digital accordion alive for the foreseeable future.
It wasn’t promised, delayed while pre-orders grew, and then so few were produced that they sold out in short order, and, two-plus years later, there is no sign of further production, but lots of excuses.
In fact, the Korg Fisa Suprema’s development was kept quiet for four years and then the instrument was released with promotional videos, a dealer network, etc, all ready to go.
The Fisa Suprema may or may not compare favorably with the Roland FR-8x on each and every detail. It may or may not be the digital accordion that looks, sounds and plays closer to an acoustic accordion than all the other digital accordions ever produced.
But it is a new digital accordion, from a major electronic musical instrument maker, and it will, at least, keep the concept of a digital accordion alive for the foreseeable future.
I guess the best news for us would be if Yamaha will join the club. We need competition on this small market.
Alan Sharkis
Prolific poster
Many famous polka bands use bellows shakes. Polish polkas especially. Jimmy Sturr, Molly B and Ted Lang. Would they go with a digital instead of acoustic? Would reeds outlast that constant shake over digital?
My question would be, would a studio Musician use acoustic or digital? I would say a fine tuned acoustic. If not available, use a keyboard over a digital accordion. Wonder which accordion weird Al uses in studio? I seen him using Roland FR4x in concerts.
Long bellows shakes like some polkas where the guy does it non-stop for 3 minutes... NO digital accordion is going to cut that mustard, they can go a few measures but that is where I think things start to fall apart. Acoustic for that win.
But bellows shakes are rare, so each musician is going to need to evaluate their needs and make the right choice.
SteveBox
Well-known member
A thought... To my knowledge, no digital accordion has implemented an automatic bellows shake feature. This seems like an obvious thing to program, akin to the automatic mandolin tremolo I've heard on the Rolands. It would "shake" whatever chord you are currently playing on the bass side at the tempo of the music. There would have to be a way to determine the tempo and stay in sync - so maybe not trivial to implement.
Now this would probably be too corny and gimmicky for a professional to use, but some amateurs might like it if done well. One wonders if the Korg or Roland designers thought of this. There are already other gimmicks associated with digital accordions, like the mandolin tremolo or the scat singing.
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Thomas N
Well-known member
Scat singing on any instrument will have me immediately departing the vicinity of the performer. I don't know why accordionists even demo it. I've seen videos of the FR-8X with the "ohhhh.......tahhhhhhh.......teeee......"
It's just - terrible.
It's just - terrible.
It cannot really be automatic because the required speeds could be different every song or change within songs.
