caj

I'm not 100% familiar with what the guy is doing, but I would take a wild guess that it doesn't. This is keys + sensors + a Pi synth + an amp + speakers, all nicely self-contained. The bellows pressure is detected using a load cell. I would expect something like this to basically work indefinitely, perhaps one day needing a new battery. I have to say, also, that I really like this guy's "end-to-end" build, so that there are zero visible wires and no complexity if someone decides to bring it to some kind of music session. He even told me that he made the front hole larger than it needs to be (much larger than the speaker) in part because it copies the aesthetic of a guitar sound hole, which might feel a bit more familiar to other musicians; the whole thing is quite brilliantly thought out.

I just finger that all on the G row, using the left index finger for the d/e.

Update: got it working in the lab. The case just barely fits everything, and I have yet to add the local synth. The sound isn't well conveyed by the Youtube video; its "presence" is much better than the last speaker system.

Yes, it absolutely would. I am trying to puzzle that one out right now. I'm thinking that for transport I can 3D print a few simple solid plastic covers that go over them (similar to the plastic covers that the speakers were shipped with,) to protect the thing from the elements. When in use, maybe some kind of grille would be possible, but I've decided to wait on this until after I nail down the proof of concept, and figure out if this speaker arrangement is a good idea in the first place.

With stain and speakers installed.

Finally found some time to work on the speaker case. Here it is with the speaker holes routed and recessed, with an additional hole for a reflex tube. Approximate outer dimensions 6x7x10 in. This thing is going to be heavy when I'm done, and it's not really going to be very effective as a case: the thing inside, the actual MIDI concertina, barely needs any protection, while the speakers will be exposed to the outside! But the goal is not to be a case, but to camouflage all the downstream hardware in a case-like package.

This might also be a useful trick if someone wants slight variations in the frequencies of duplicate notes, if they have a tuning where the pull A and push A (or the two pull As) are slightly off to either produce a wet effect or align better in different keys --- or if you have an English layout with separate buttons for e♭ and d# and you want those notes to be slightly different.

I think that would make perfect sense, but I am crazy, and I just hit upon a ridiculous idea. I've been experimenting with direct reed synthesis (no wavetables) and I've decided to wrap my synthesis code in an Audio Unit that responds to MIDI messages. The AU code produces stereo audio out, and I realized that instead of using separate MIDI channels for the two hands I can use a single MIDI channel and "hide" the hand in the velocity, sending 126 or 127 for the two sides. My synth just picks it out and produces the stereo separation, while the instrument still looks like a single MIDI channel to other instruments. I'm thinking this may be advantageous because we also have the problem of two G/A buttons on the left hand, and similar redundancy on the right hand, so I technically need to devote four separate MIDI channels to disambiguate everything --- or I could just use velocities 124/5/6/7, and stick with one channel.

I think the more it looks like a regular concertina case, and the more it imitates what happens in a real session, the better. So no laptop anymore. If the box can output MIDI one can always interface it with a laptop at home. I'm envisioning a case containing the concertina with the USB/audio cable already attached. I sit down, open the box, take out the concertina and don't have to plug in anything. Press an on switch for the speaker/whatever else, wait a reasonable few seconds, and start playing. Whatever synth is used, it needs to be close to instant-on, and not require any finagling beyond turning it on. Anything else might interfere with the craic. I'm going to experiment with Raspberry Pi synths to start with, but another option is to skip MIDI and have a native audio out using the Teensy audio card. I've heard from folks here who tried fluidsynth but with mixed results in terms of responsiveness.

These are all great suggestions, although my goal is to make a set of instructions so that others can build an identical thing to what I have, with a low probability of individual tech support issues. I have a few ideas for setting up a standard synth that will "just work." For the speaker, however, I found that making it fit my laptop bag is not good enough --- it's still enough assembly and wires that it's somewhat foreign to set up at a session. My next idea is to just make the speakers part of the case, because the MIDI box is so small that it only takes up half of a small case. This way I could just sit down, open the case, pull out the MIDI box with one cable going straight down to the case, and play. BTW Steve, this speaker is quite loud (50W I think), and it definitely exceeds the volume I can achieve with my Crabb.

I built a second MIDI box, with a few modifications from the earlier version. I've now been struggling to find a way to play the thing in a session without lugging around junk and cables like a doofus; ideally, I would carry in the concertina and my laptop bag, do some quick setup, and play. To that end, I built a speaker unit that has the right dimension to slide into my laptop bag. I did this by buying a 21" soundbar intended for PCs, removed the parts, and made a wood enclosure of the needed dimensions (14.5" by 3" square). It has the speaker drivers on the very ends, bazooka-ing outward to approximate a concertina's soundstage. It can run off a battery just fine, and the laptop can run MainStage with the lid closed, so the whole thing can just sit on the case in front of me. The next step is to synthesize a good concertina sound, which really should use the stereo to pan the left and right hands out the left and right speakers. If I can do that onboard the box and remove the laptop from the equation, it would be a big step forward.

Pardon my ignorance on this matter, but isn't a diatonic layout already a minor key? I mean, we think of a C/G anglo as being in Cmaj/Gmaj, but it's also in Dmin/Amin (or rather, Ddor/Ador). Likewise, a D whistle is also an Edor whistle. If someone wanted to play a lot in G minor, could they do so with a standard Anglo in Bb/F?

Good morning all, Is anyone going to Catskills IAW in a couple weeks? I'll be there, in case anyone wants to meet up for a beer or some tunes. I will also be bringing my MIDI anglo if anyone wants to take it out it a spin.

This discussion made me curious enough to weigh my MIDI anglo, which is 730g. Most of that is, I think, the use of red oak for the "chassis." It's still more than light enough that I have no issues playing the thing standing --- although having a corner on my knee still seems to help with rapid playing, a phenomenon I also noticed with my Crabb.

I got on FB back when it was a literal "face book" for students at ivy league colleges, and the big controversy was that young people would overshare the things they were getting up to at parties at the eating clubs. A few years later it was just aging high school alums and distant relatives sharing the kinds of things that aging high school alums and great aunts say to one another. Basically Facebook became the "Reebok Mallwalkers" of the Internet, and sort of stayed that way. I never found it to be a place I actually wanted to be. I would much rather hang out on topic-dedicated forums, such as concertina.net, where interest and knowledge about a topic strongly accumulates, along with the people who really care about it.