MusicTech Digital Accordions

[Mike K]

Most talk on digitals is about Roland. Has anyone tried a MusicTech accordion? Made in Castelfidardo, so that might mean they have some of the good features of other Italian accordions. Does anyone carry them in the US? Has anyone played one? Just looking for thoughts. See one not too far away from me on Ebay.

Also question on MIdi accordions.....They have reeds so there is bellow controls there but if you are using midi features, do the bellows do anything? Is it more like the Cordovox where you had a volume pedal or some other volume control?

 

[JerryPH]

It depends on the accordion, only the newer ones had MIDI bellows volume/expression control. I have an Elkavox 83 with MIDI but without bellows MIDI control and never missed it... and I own a Roland FR-8x with it and it's an interesting feature. I like it a lot more than I thought I would, but in my world, it never detracted that I never had it before. I had a foot pedal that worked just for that, and when needed (which honestly was not all that often), it worked quite well.

 

[Alan Sharkis]

I have an Armoniosa accordion (made by Cooperfisa) with Master Play Midi installed. This particular midi unit can use bellows volume control or foot pedal volume control. But if I want just the midi sounds and not the reeds, I have to lock up the bellows and use the foot pedal to control volume because this accordion has no mutes. I also had a SEM Ciao reedless a few years ago, but it had problems ...

I bought the accordion as a student model because that's what I am -- a perpetual student. I have no desire to go professional. But if I did, and I still wanted midi, my choice would have to be a Roland or a midi unit installed in an acoustic accordion with mutes.

I have seen the specs on the MusicTech digital accordions, but never tried one. If you write to MusicTech, or check out their website, I'm sure you can get a handle on who distributes them in the US. My current accordion dealer, although he might take reedless instruments in trade, doesn't seem to sell new ones.

Alan