Introducing Concertina 2.0...

[MatthewVanitas]

I'm a big fan of using the same layout for Hayden and for "four row Anglo", because that means a Hayden will be out soon and with lower R&D costs.

 

Not to sidetrack too much, but if anyone has a recommendation for a small speaker that can plug into one's smartphone/pad to amplify a MIDI concertina up to at least the volume of a real one, that would be good to now. In the meantime I could use such a small speaker to amplify my small MIDI keyboard so I can sing along with it during jam sessions, etc.

[Łukasz Martynowicz]

Good idea! Lukacz, what would you regard as a sufficient number of volume steps ( 4, 8,16,32 ) for such a curve? It would be easier and quicker to use a look-up-table rather than to calculate... Switching between tables is easy enough...

 

If you want a simple look-up-table, without any real time calculations, then I think that your proposed values are way too small. MIDI volume has 0-127 range, so my first thought was to use 128 step look-up-tables (first map the raw pressure reading onto 0-127 integer and then read the appropriate cell in the table for getting the output level). This is fast, plain and simple, but you get some fidelity issues with such approach: with lowest sounding pressures and steep curves there is a high gain between neigbouring table values, resulting in a slight buzz at the start/end of a bellows movement and you get a lot less distinctive MIDI volume levels than 128. With even smaller look-up-table, this problem would be huge. If available memory is not an issue, I would now map the full range pressure reading onto the curve first (1024 levels or as many as you get from the sensor) and then "squeeze" just the final output onto 0-127 integer. This should smooth the result and give you the actual 128 distinctive MIDI volume levels. But if you have a lot of computing power at your disposal direct computation in real time may be a more logical option.

[Bob Lusk]

I'd buy one!

[Dan Worrall]

Wow....a great start! I could not help but thinking, as I watched your Youtube, that an Anglo made like that would be great for learners, if at a reasonably economic price. I've got a little concertina group meeting once a month here in Texas, and half of them are learners struggling with those Chinese-made Anglos that are - sorry to say - worse than useless. One lady is developing shoulder problems struggling with the stiff bellows on hers, while she waits a year for a decent concertina to be built for her. Another has a Stagi that is out of tune. If you can make an Anglo in about the same price range as those, with a decent imitation bellows action, then I should think that there would be a fair market. Not to slight the English concertina - it is wonderful! - its just that the market is so thoroughly in the Anglo camp, by a factor of perhaps five or ten.

 

Obviously you will have to get a concertina tone somehow. And then get rid of that external powerpack with the cord....surely there is room inside for some rechargeable lithium batteries?

 

Those are my two cents worth. I'm delighted to see this work progress. An electronic Anglo or English would never replace the real thing in my arsenal, but it would be a real hoot to have one for a little variety of sound timbre when playing in a group. Even a concertina player gets a bit tired of the constant screamer sound every now and then, and switching over to a little tuba oompah for a polka would be just plain fun.

 

Dan

[Michael Eskin]

If your students have iPads, please consider recommending my MIDIAngloXL and MIDITinaXL, Anglo and English Concertina control surface apps for controlling MIDI synthesizers.

 

More info at:

 

http://www.tradlessons.com/MIDIAngloXL.html

 

and

 

http://www.tradlessons.com/MIDITinaXL.html

 

Here's a few videos showing the apps playing my concertina patch in ThumbJam:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJgAfrtMmCU

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Zhd6vXVyyk

 

and a cello patch in ThumbJam:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLp_1x_ncNA

 

and one of MIDIAngloXL playing IK Multimedia SampleTank:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY065-UJ8p8

Edited March 20, 2015 by eskin

[Don Taylor]

Michael

 

Any chance that you might make a bigger Hayden surface?

 

Ideally a configurable number of buttons with at least the standard 46 button layout. Maybe use the tilt sensor to control volume dynamics.

[Michael Eskin]

This one is essentially a big Hayden MIDI controller more or less:

 

iJammer:

http://www.tradlessons.com/iJammer.html

 

Demo Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztvgpGBj0DU

Edited March 20, 2015 by eskin

[Don Taylor]

This one is essentially a big Hayden MIDI controller more or less:

 

iJammer:

http://www.tradlessons.com/iJammer.html

 

Demo Video:

Can the LHS be changed from mirrored to Hayden?

[conzertino]

I am hoping to have the MINIMIDI Anglo ready next weekend for the German Concertina Meeting - so that Mary Macnamara can try her...

 

 

I keep changing the design to bring the cost down. I agree that such a little midi-box could be attractive for youngsters and beginners...

 

 

[MatthewVanitas]

Any updates on the box? Did you manage to take a prototype out to the meeting?

[jggunn]

I have an English system by Roy Whitely, which I am pleased with. It has a bellows and feels very natural. The need for a cable connection to the IPAD app and speaker is a hindrance, but I have no idea how one could get around it. From what I have heard, Bluetooth and other arrangements would in fact create a delay. I also found, quite to my surprise, that the midi placed into a concertina shell with a bellows does not only feel like a regular instrument but is very fast.