Published 19/5/04
Roland FR7/FR5
Extending the V-instrument concept that has seen Roland bring modelling technology to guitars, amplifiers, drums, and most recently synths, the company have chosen the accordion to be the next focus of their attention.
This might seem an odd choice to British readers, but accordion music, as well as being a personal favourite of Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi, is big business in many other parts of the world, notably continental Europe and many other places where Latin culture has had an influence, such as South and Central America. Viewed from this perspective, the new V-Accordian starts to make commercial sense.
And the technology behind it is impressive. In a real accordion, the sound is created by air propelled by squeezing the accordion’s bellows passing over sets of metal reeds and causing them to vibrate. All of this, according to Roland, has been modelled in the V-Accordion.
Its bellows contain a digital pressure sensor, the output of which is then mapped to the sound engine. Natural detuning effects, caused in the real instrument by the subtle differences in the pitch produced by the accordion’s many reeds, are faithfully reproduced, but of course other than these natural-sounding microtonal fluctations, the instrument remains in tune thanks to its modelled sound engine. This is a big plus for real accordion owners, for whom constant maintenance is essential if their instruments are to remain in tune.
There are also the more familiar benefits a digital instrument can offer over its ‘analogue’ ancestors. It’s no longer necessary to mike it up when recording, as the sound can be output on a quarter-inch jack (there’s also a headphone output jack, for virtually silent practice), built-in digital effects are , and the basic sound can be altered at the touch of a button by selecting one of the 30 different modelled (but reprogrammable) accordion types. Tunings can be remapped at the touch of a button, as can the range of the built-in keyboard. Finally, players are not limited to playing accordion sounds from the V-Accordion! String, brass, bagpipe, organ, guitar, piano, and bass sounds are also included.
Of course, all this new technology doesn’t come cheap. The V-Accordion will be available in two models: the more expensive FR7 includes a built-in amp and speakers, plus a battery, and is expected to cost £3099, while the lighter FR5 should retail for £2499.
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