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Electronic button accordion B-Griff, C-griff, MIDI Keyboard PLCLAB10381
- Thread starter pentaprism
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Chris Laarman
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Chris Laarman
Active member
(My second top-level reply.)
PLC LAB even has a YouTube channel: . Judging from the topics of the other videos and from the lack of other helpful links to the matter, it seems that this instrument is not a commercial product (though there is one with a number ending in 2 instead of 1), but some proof of concept by an inventor. Apparently in Bulgaria. - I like his idea of a tuneable Jew's Harp.
I'm gonna ask if he could make one laid flat as if keyboard... still c system and with stradella left hand so could be played more like an organ..
Also what do you think that wrist strap cable is for.. earth cable??
Also what do you think that wrist strap cable is for.. earth cable??
Chris Laarman
Active member
Strap cable: I also wondered. Heartbeat-to-tempo sensor? ;-)
Flat device: if you should happen to have an iPad, especially a large one, have a look at the apps by Michael Eskin in the App Store...
(Getting carried away: I bought an iPad 4 back then, and dedicated it to music-making apps. As I have a dedicated 2007 notebook computer.)
Airy
Active member
I've seen a photo of a desktop button accordion type keyboard supposedly made by Roland ("Roland A-300 Pro").
It was offered at a german second hand portal "ebay-kleinanzeigen" (which is NOT the regular Ebay!).
As of today the link to the item / the pictures are still working but I can't guarantee for how long it is valid. And I'm afraid I don't have the right to copy and upload the original pictures to this forum.
Musikinstrumente und Zubehör gebraucht kaufen | kleinanzeigen.de
Kleinanzeigen: Musikinstrumente und Zubehör gebraucht kaufen - Jetzt in Hamburg Billstedt finden oder inserieren! - kleinanzeigen.de
I wrote "supposedly made by Roland" because I have never seen this model elsewhere. And the pictures / photos of the device show a weird discrepancy in the lettering of the device. Pic no 1 shows the text "MIDI keyboard controller A-300Pro" written below the dynamic percussion pads (top row on the right), whereas pics no 3 to 5 show the function names of the pads instead. Maybe there is a text-sticker applied during the photo shoot, or the photo is a fake... ?!?!? (Has anyone more info on this?).
If this device is real, it still misses the stradella part. You would probably need two of these keyboards and map the buttons of the second one to play bass or chord. If you are lucky Roland has this already implemented and you can switch between treble and stradella operation.
Airy
Active member
To me the "buttons" look like plain non-movable sensors (electrodes). And the wrist band is the neccessary (*) second electrode to detect which button(s) is (are) touched. Like AKAI uses in their MIDI controllers which mimik a flute or saxophone ("AKAI EWS 4000" etc).
*) There are touch-sensitive electrical switches which seem to not need two electrodes. Well, maybe it is more reliable to use two electrodes or it is easier to implement.
Chris Laarman
Active member
Here's the real thing: https://www.roland.com/us/products/a-300pro/I've seen a photo of a desktop button accordion type keyboard supposedly made by Roland ("Roland A-300 Pro").
It was offered at a german second hand portal "ebay-kleinanzeigen" (which is NOT the regular Ebay!).
As of today the link to the item / the pictures are still working but I can't guarantee for how long it is valid. And I'm afraid I don't have the right to copy and upload the original pictures to this forum.
Musikinstrumente und Zubehör gebraucht kaufen | kleinanzeigen.de
Kleinanzeigen: Musikinstrumente und Zubehör gebraucht kaufen - Jetzt in Hamburg Billstedt finden oder inserieren! - kleinanzeigen.dem.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de
I wrote "supposedly made by Roland" because I have never seen this model elsewhere. And the pictures / photos of the device show a weird discrepancy in the lettering of the device. Pic no 1 shows the text "MIDI keyboard controller A-300Pro" written below the dynamic percussion pads (top row on the right), whereas pics no 3 to 5 show the function names of the pads instead. Maybe there is a text-sticker applied during the photo shoot, or the photo is a fake... ?!?!? (Has anyone more info on this?).
If this device is real, it still misses the stradella part. You would probably need two of these keyboards and map the buttons of the second one to play bass or chord. If you are lucky Roland has this already implemented and you can switch between treble and stradella operation.
Airy
Active member
Thanks! Yes, the A-300 is a well known versatile (and cheap at second hand) MIDI controller. But on the Roland docs I didn't find any mention of an CBA-type layout yet nor did I find any pictures.
Chris Laarman
Active member
That's why I used the word "real". - On the other hand, keyboards (the board with keys or buttons) are just parts. (Roland seems a returning customer at Fatar.) I could well imagine somebody clever replacing a piano keyboard with a button keyboard. If swapping should happen to be as easy as swapping QWERTY for AZERTY (I imagine: some screws and a flatcable connector involved), why not?
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Yes. The wrist strap cable is needed.
The problem is that you may touch unintended buttons, which to me would happen a lot.
On the Akai EWI, the pad in the back where the right thumb rests is used for the same purpose as the wrist band. But there are only a few buttons; and they are so far apart that it's difficult to tough unintended buttons.
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There's often quite a few on LeBonCoin in France.
Look a bit like a keyboard but with C system right hand
Airy
Active member
True! Thanks!
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