Electric/electronic accordions

May 16, 2004 10:04 PM

Electric/electronic accordions. What do they sound like? How's the volume control? Is there any recorded music they've been used it? Are they good for moderately experienced keyboardists who've never played accordion but think they're really cool (especially the auto-transpose stuff)?

Er, used in. Damn and blast.

posted by Tlogmer to media & arts (4 comments total)

I have one and it sounds great. the ones I've seen have no volume control though. the thing is basically an accordion with an air pump in it so you don't have to manually pump it. as far as music it's been used it, it's hard to tell the difference in sound since they're basically the same instrument.
posted by mcsweetie at 11:17 PM on May 16, 2004

I was assuming you meant an accordion with a built-in electric pickup -- which seems like it would be a great idea since accordions are hell to mic well. I had no idea there were even more 'advanced' things than that.
posted by xil at 11:44 PM on May 16, 2004

If you're talking about the kind with a pickup in it, there's a guy who gigs around my place with one. It's got a much different sound through the pickup than it does acoustically. The best comparrison I could make is the difference between, say, a harmonica going to your ears, and a harmonica going through a drive pedal to your ears. It's a good sound, kinda meaner, but it's a different sound.
posted by armoured-ant at 6:44 AM on May 17, 2004

I was actually thinking more along the lines of a fully electronic one -- an accordian synthesizer, if you will.
posted by Tlogmer at 8:31 PM on May 17, 2004