Is a digital accordion a good choice?

[Giovanni]

Great news.
I was in a similar boat earlier this year and also took the digital version as my first accordion.
I recently bought an acoustic one, and I’m really grateful for the Roland still. Maybe there’s a method to play the acoustic quietly, but I haven’t found it yet, so the Roland and headphones are my favorite method of practicing during the nighttime.

The FR-1x feels so light compared to the acoustic, is about 4 kilos less, and my back and shoulders notice the difference.

The point where the acoustic feels way better is at the bellows. For once they feel with much less resistance (without feeling leaky) and for some reason I can do the same amount of bard pulling / pushing in the acoustic but not on the Roland.

Have a blast with the accordion!

Well that is good news !! We have a saying in the UK "horses for Courses"

 

[Tom]

Everybody who is not an accordionist loves the digital accordion. We accordion snobs are not so conveniently pleased. If you are playing to please yourself it’s great and you have to have a perfect sound that you love. If you are playing for others (which, like …fill in the blank…. is more fun imho) it doesn’t matter one iota what your instrument sounds like (as long as it is functional). Unless your audience is accordion snobs, then you have to impress them with perfect sound and the right label on the front. Petosa maybe.

 

[John M]

Everybody who is not an accordionist loves the digital accordion. We accordion snobs are not so conveniently pleased. If you are playing to please yourself it’s great and you have to have a perfect sound that you love. If you are playing for others (which, like …fill in the blank…. is more fun imho) it doesn’t matter one iota what your instrument sounds like (as long as it is functional). Unless your audience is accordion snobs, then you have to impress them with perfect sound and the right label on the front. Petosa maybe.

Tom -- RIGHT ON!

 

[dak]

Everybody who is not an accordionist loves the digital accordion. We accordion snobs are not so conveniently pleased. If you are playing to please yourself it’s great and you have to have a perfect sound that you love. If you are playing for others (which, like …fill in the blank…. is more fun imho) it doesn’t matter one iota what your instrument sounds like (as long as it is functional). Unless your audience is accordion snobs, then you have to impress them with perfect sound and the right label on the front. Petosa maybe.

It's not as much that you have to have a perfect sound. What's at issue for me is that you have a sound to work on. Something that's yours. A thing no-one else is bothered about. I won't run a 10 mile course as fast as a good runner. But I have my own 10 mile courses with their own smells and trees and corners I am rounding. For anybody else it might be boring but I prefer it over a running belt with a screen showing the greatest and diverse landscapes. The audience wants entertainment. I want a refuge. And for me, an acoustic works better for that.

 

[Ffingers]

Everybody who is not an accordionist loves the digital accordion. We accordion snobs are not so conveniently pleased. If you are playing to please yourself it’s great and you have to have a perfect sound that you love. If you are playing for others (which, like …fill in the blank…. is more fun imho) it doesn’t matter one iota what your instrument sounds like (as long as it is functional). Unless your audience is accordion snobs, then you have to impress them with perfect sound and the right label on the front. Petosa maybe.

Not so, Tom, I do not like the sounds of electronic musical instruments in general: Big theatre organs, smaller electronic keyboards, electric guitars (especially electric bass), and do not generally like amplified acoustics. Even the recorded music to which I am mostly restricted never pleases me in the same way that a direct acoustic sound can.
But each to his/her/its own.

 

[Tom]

Not so, Tom, I do not like the sounds of electronic musical instruments in general: Big theatre organs, smaller electronic keyboards, electric guitars (especially electric bass), and do not generally like amplified acoustics. Even the recorded music to which I am mostly restricted never pleases me in the same way that a direct acoustic sound can.
But each to his/her/its own.

That’s because you’re a musician and the quality of the sound, and what you like is important to you. More power to you!

 

[Pipemajor]

Not so, Tom, I do not like the sounds of electronic musical instruments in general: Big theatre organs, smaller electronic keyboards, electric guitars (especially electric bass), and do not generally like amplified acoustics. Even the recorded music to which I am mostly restricted never pleases me in the same way that a direct acoustic sound can.
But each to his/her/its own.

That must be a bummer.
makes me almost glad my 84 year old ears can't tell the difference in most cases. I now need a tuner to tell me if the upper notes on the H register on my accordion is still working !!

 

[Ffingers]

That must be a bummer.
makes me almost glad my 84 year old ears can't tell the difference in most cases. I now need a tuner to tell me if the upper notes on the H register on my accordion is still working !!

I have a marked reduction in aural sensitivity in the higher frequencies but it seems that tonal sensitivity still remains as does my comparative pitch ability.
I'm just a couple of years younger than you and only took up learning music again two years ago, but there is a strong musicality in my family and a background in group singing as a youngster in the little Welsh village which I left many years ago.

 

[Giovanni]

I have a marked reduction in aural sensitivity in the higher frequencies but it seems that tonal sensitivity still remains as does my comparative pitch ability.
I'm just a couple of years younger than you and only took up learning music again two years ago, but there is a strong musicality in my family and a background in group singing as a youngster in the little Welsh village which I left many years ago.

You know what we say in the UK about the Welsh put 3 of them together and you have got a Choir !!!.......Brilliant !!