To Midi or Not to Midi?...

[Frank G]

Hi Guys,

First post, so please be gentle...

I have a Roland FR4X and a Roland BK7M (band in a box) that "plays along with me" - driven by the bass+chords etc - which I have to say I thoroughly enjoy, but unfortunately to the detriment of my acoustic accordions, which sadly are not getting played much at the moment. At some stage, because of the amount of technology on the FR4X, I dread the day that it develops a fault. Honestly, who of us over the age of 60 REALLY trusts modern technology?.

So I have started to think about adding treble and bass microphones together with midi out from the bass (only) to my acoustic accordion.
I don't want the acoustic accordion to generate non-accordion sounds etc, so I don't want an ugly midi control panel on the acoustic accordion, just the line out and midi out ports at the base of the accordion.

Also, I am looking for something with internal (to the accordion) rechargeable batteries etc that would drive the electronics etc.
Is this achievable? or am I imagining something that doesn't exist?

Frank G

 

[losthobos]

Elmat midi near Lowestoft will be able to help you both in adding midi to bass and can even rig up a telephone battery powered Bluetooth set up ..IE no leads
John is a lovely man....I'll see if I have his number if I can't I'm sure Google would assist
Hope that helps

 

[Giovanni]

Elmat midi near Lowestoft will be able to help you both in adding midi to bass and can even rig up a telephone battery powered Bluetooth set up ..IE no leads
John is a lovely man....I'll see if I have his number if I can't I'm sure Google would assist
Hope that helps

John Barlow ......................01502 218806 as Losthobos said John is a great guy ...you are in safe hands with John

 

[Airy]

So I have started to think about adding treble and bass microphones together with midi out from the bass (only) to my acoustic accordion.

Hi Frank,

somewhere this year I read an announcement that there is a new software that can analyse polyphonal content (read: chord notes) in real time from a microphone input. This was supposedly true for analyzing single melody lines for quite some years now but for polyphonic chords there is a lot more effort necessary.

If this method proves reliable...

who of us over the age of 60 REALLY trusts modern technology?.

... you won't even need any MIDI sensors in the accordion - just a separate microphone for the bass side. Feed that to your computer/smartphone and run MIDI out from that device to your hardware "Band-in-a-box". Or even stay within the same domain and run BiaB (or similar live-sequencer) directly on your computer/smartphone.

Unfortunately I didn't save that announcement or recall the brand / manufacturer. Neither do I know if this is an easy and reliable solution. But "AI" evolves with tremendous speed, so may well be possible.

Thinks me although beeing 60+++

 

[Frank G]

John Barlow ......................01502 218806 as Losthobos said John is a great guy ...you are in safe hands with John

 

[Frank G]

Grazie Giovanni!! - I'll try John Barlow

 

[Frank G]

The phone number above did not connect - do you have an alternative contact method? - mobile or email?

 

[Giovanni]

The phone number above did not connect - do you have an alternative contact method? - mobile or email?

Hi Frank G ...you are correct .............I'll ask a friend of mine who had some work done awhile back ....

 

[losthobos]

johnbarlow1946@talktalk.net

 

[Giovanni]

Hi Again Frank ......John Barlow tel number 01502341228
mobile 07828651048
Email johnbarlow1946@talktalk.net

if you speak to him tell him my good friend Nigel Syer wishes to be remembered to him .

Good Luck !!

 

[Frank G]

John has hung up his Soldering Iron due to health issues, so I need to look elsewhere.
I'll try the Accordion Centre in Birmingham, who did some work for me a few years ago.

 

[Giovanni]

John has hung up his Soldering Iron due to health issues, so I need to look elsewhere.
I'll try the Accordion Centre in Birmingham, who did some work for me a few years ago.

So sorry the read this news about John Barlow. at least you made contact . I only met him a couple of time a lovely clever electronics guy .
Yes the Birmingham Accordion Centre are very good ......................let us know how it goes !! I met the guy that runs the firm several times and I actually sold him my GEM XP accomps module !!..............It did not suit me but he sold his own to a customer and then could not get a new replacement as GEM had ceased trading .................. expect he is till gigging with the one I sold him
best regards................
ps I expect I would have to make the trip up to Brum if I get any accordion /midi probs ...............I certainly don't know where else to go !!

 

[losthobos]

Rob at Birmingham Accordion Centre is a really nice guy too.....so not all is lost...

 

[Frank G]

Rob has also lost his guy that he used to use for MIDI installs, and asked that if I do find one, to let him know so that he too can use him.
I may end up having to go back to Scotland Accordions, where I bought the Scandalli from a couple of years ago, but they seem quite expensive.