Warpjam mentioned to me that Gizmodo pointed to the Topaz-1, an old Soviet electronic accordion, pictured below. I love the styling, which is reminiscent of the original Star Trek series’ design aesthetic:
Here in North America, electronic accordions have been marketed by
Iorio (sometimes under the name Elkavox). Here’s a top-of-the-line
model (taken from this selection), currently selling new for about US$6000. Note the touch-pad button control panel!
There are also MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) accordions,
which can be used to control one or more synthesizers, samplers and
even drum machines Here’s the ultra-fancy Excelsior MIDI accordion:
And let’s not forget the premier make of accordion, Hohner, who haven’t forgotten that we’re living the 21st century now.
Wednesday, August 7, 1991: A sunny day at Toronto’s CNE Grandstand, and what a lineup:…
The cover painting says it all.
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I have had the chance to play the new Excelsior Midi vox accordion (my teacher bought one).....Nice and light, but takes a bit to get used to, the relation between the bellows and the sound you produce is still there but it feels kinda wierd.
He says it put his tuba player out of work as he can assign a nice deep string bass to the bass notes and turn it up on the amp.
hohner is a decorated cigar box and not the premiere maker of accordions. try Bell or Excelsior. that new Roland sure looks nice, though. Especially in red.
TAV