New low-cost diatonic MIDI accordion: Soinu Txiki IX10

[SoinuTxiki]

Hello everyone!

I am new to this forum and would like to introduce you the new low-cost diatonic MIDI accordion: Soinu Txiki IX10

It is based on a trikitixa which is a basque accordion with 23 bisonoric buttons on the right hand and 12 unisonoric buttons on the left hand (the most known international trikitixa player is Kepa Junkera).
However the amount of buttons per row and the notes for each button for these Soinu Txiki can be selected by the customer at purchase, so it can be adapted to almost any kind of diatonic accordion, with up to 14 buttons per row! (also working on a 3 row variant named IX11)

It does not have a real bellow so the intensity or volume is fixed for all notes, but it does have a pushing flexible mechanism on the left hand to determine wether you are closing or opening the bellow the same as any bisonoric accordion.

The accordion does not have an audio output, it uses MIDI via USB so the main use case is to connect it to a computer or smartphone (or any MIDI compatible device), where you can select the sound you want to assign to each hand (you can even select separate sounds for the root and chord buttons on the left hand!).

I would love to hear your thoughts on it!

Here are a couple example videos of it with different trikitixa sounds:

https://youtube.com/shorts/V1my3gSYLvE?si=PewtVGQ2YJM38qMh

 

[Airy]

Triklatuan argiz ikasteko funtzioa

#triklatua#trikitixa #teklatua#electronic #diatonic #accordion

www.youtube.com

Carry your baby and accordion at the same time!
And playing without waking the baby.


Great project! Give us more information, please!

 

[SoinuTxiki]

Triklatuan argiz ikasteko funtzioa

#triklatua#trikitixa #teklatua#electronic #diatonic #accordion

www.youtube.com

Carry your baby and accordion at the same time!
And playing without waking the baby.


Great project! Give us more information, please!

It actually all started when our first daughter was born (almost 4 years ago), because I wanted to be able to practice with earphones while she was asleep (so pretty much the whole day)

I don't know what else to tell, I make them with a 3D printer mainly, and the customer can decide the whole design, all colors and logos. I also recently started offering the option to make the aesthetic part with wood for an additional cost (several different options are available), which can also be customized by the customer.
The buttons are made of 3D printed PLA plastic by default, or standard accordion buttons can also be chosen with an additional cost.

Also, you may have noticed it has 6 additional buttons on the highest part. These can be given a different function each, decided by the customer. Typically one is used to change tonallities, one for the right hand octave, one for the left hand octave, one to reset the tonallity to whichever yoy decide, one to swap betweencMIDI channel sets (so to quickly change the sounds assigned to it) and the last one to enable percussion sounds with the left hand (kick drum with root basses and snare with chords)

I also plan to make a 5 row unisonoric variant (so right hand only) eventually.

Let me know if you have any specific question, I am an engineer so the design part and technical explanations mean no problem, but I'm terrible at marketing and sales...

 

[Tom]

Wow, that’s super cool, congrats! The midi could hold some people back, but I suppose you could wirelessly connect it to your phone for sound (portability) if you were as smart as Jerry or Ventura or (fill in the blank, not me). Or you could put in a sound module with speaker, or lineout if you got so enthused. Anyway, impressive!

 

[SoinuTxiki]

Wow, that’s super cool, congrats! The midi could hold some people back, but I suppose you could wirelessly connect it to your phone for sound (portability) if you were as smart as Jerry or Ventura or (fill in the blank, not me). Or you could put in a sound module with speaker, or lineout if you got so enthused. Anyway, impressive!

Thanks! Indeed, I know MIDI is not for everyone but that is one of the reasons for it to be so cheap.
I have tried it with a wireless MIDI module (CME WIDI uHOST) and it works great in windows, android and iphone devices! (haven't tried with MacOS but should work too)

For windows/macOS I recommend Kushview Element which is a free program that works great to assign any sound to the MIDI messages from the accordion using VST plugins. I provide in my webpage the VST plugins for trikitixa sounds for free.

For android I recommend FluidSynth MIDI app which is also free, and uses SF2 plugins (again I provide the SF2 plugin for trikitixa sound for free).

For Iphones I have only tried with Bismark BS-16i which is not free but is very cheap and gives lots of options. It's also available for android. Again it uses SF2 plugins.

Here is another example video (in this one it is connected to an android phone and played with the FluidSynth app):

 

[Tom]

Cool! Instantly made me think of “Soinujolearen Semea” (Accordionist’s Son) of course by Atxaga, my favorite accordion novel.

 

[SoinuTxiki]

Instantly made me think of “Soinujolearen Seneca” (Accordionist’s Son) of course by Atzaga, my favorite accordion novel.

Wooooow Tom! I wasn't expecting people from USA to know about that book!
It's actually spelled "Soinujolearen semea" by "Atxaga" but close enough!

In that book if I remember well the boy actually plays a piano accordion, not a trikitixa, but for the player we use the same term "soinujole" for any kind of accordionist. Actually my dad is a trikitixa player and teacher, so I am myself a "soinujolearen semea" too XD

 

[Tom]

Yeah, killed by spellcheck! Hmmmm, now I don’t remember, although I believe he played traditional music, and I don’t have the book in front of me to check. I read that Atxaga has moved to the US but I don’t know for sure. I’ve read other of his books but the Accordionist’s Son stood out, even though it’s kind of depressing in the end. It’s a good introduction to Basque life in its time though.

 

[jukka]

Hi, and happy new year !!

You are making these for sale already ? Where to order, and how much costs are (approximately). I am from Finland, for shipping costs.

Thanks, very cool instrument !!

 

[SoinuTxiki]

Hi, and happy new year !!

You are making these for sale already ? Where to order, and how much costs are (approximately). I am from Finland, for shipping costs.

Thanks, very cool instrument !!

Yes I am, you can find all info in www.soinutxiki.eus but it's all in basque. The MIDI model starts from 850€ + shipping. Feel free to contact me at info@soinutxiki.eus

 

[jukka]

Thanks of info, looks good to me, I understand numbers (at least) !