Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Andrew Wigglesworth]

Steve ...  I was replying to someone who was saying that the "better" sound from a particular melodeon was probably because it had less stuff mounted on the "soundboard" and therefore it would be able to vibrate better.
In this case it was obvious that they didn't mean it as simply somewhere that reedblocks are mounted but that it performed some sort of function similar to a soundboard in a string instrument.

[Graham Spencer]

... act rather like tuned mass dampers, absorbing energy from the air ...

Can't we do something about that by realigning the deflector dish and reversing the polarity of the neutron flow?

I'm thinking of fitting an interociter..........

[Thrupenny Bit]

GPS: Isn't that a relative of a Velociraptor?
....or have I got the wrong genus?
Q

[Roger Howard]

I'm thinking of fitting an interociter..........

Isn't there a thread somewhere about the melodeon of the future? Perhaps it will come with one already fitted. ... or at least as an option.
 

[Chris Ryall]

21st Century Box - http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php/topic,7840.msg97541.html

[Steve C.]

Regarding sound boards, got it, I think.

[Graham Spencer]

I'm thinking of fitting an interociter..........

Isn't there a thread somewhere about the melodeon of the future? Perhaps it will come with one already fitted. ... or at least as an option.
 

Maybe - if someone can perfect a process to manufacture synthetic dilithium crystals.....

[Steve C.]

I almost hate to ask this, but is a "casotto chamber" like a soundboard?

I read what a CC is, but have never actually seen one, except in pictures.  Does it actually work?

[Lester]

I almost hate to ask this, but is a "casotto chamber" like a soundboard?

I read what a CC is, but have never actually seen one, except in pictures.  Does it actually work?

Wikipedia says:

More expensive accordions have a feature called a Cassotto (Italian for "box"), also referred to as a "tone chamber", in the treble (right-hand) reed section. In this design, certain reed sets (usually one set of middle reeds, and the set of low reeds) are mounted at a 90-degree angle to the remaining reeds. The sound from these specially-mounted reeds must then travel farther, and along a different path, before leaving the instrument, muting the harmonics (partials) of those reeds and creating a distinctively mellow, refined sound. The sound of cassotto bassoon (low) reeds is particularly favored by jazz accordionists.
The cassotto design requires a sophisticated treble mechanism where each key must open and close air passages not only for reeds mounted at the traditional angle, but also for air passages at a relative 45-degree angle (for the cassotto reeds). To do this properly, each rod and pad must be positioned precisely in relation to its right-angle counterpart.

[KLR]

My PA is a Giulietti LMH dry with cassotto.  The extra response really helps, in fact I find playing the H on its own more of a chore than the other settings - maybe the L takes more air but I don't feel at all like a hole is suddenly open in the bellows; same with my Corona IIIR, which isn't cassotto of course.

I'd love to have a button box with LMH but it looked like if anyone made them it'd be an even more expensive special order so am settling on LM, dry.  LMH is just the most glorious sound.  Some PA and CBA players have even bigger monsters, LLMMMH double cassotto etc.  Someone said something about the PA bigger is better phenomenon earlier in this thread, they weren't kidding.

My Hohner does have dry LM and wet LMM, I'm not so nuts about wet boxes in general; got out my Corona III the other day and had to give up after 5 minutes, it was making my head throb.  Cutting through noise I can see the point of but the wetness still sounds a bit like Tunisian bagpipes to me. 

[Steve C.]

I had read the Wiki on the casotto.  It sounds like an air resonance (like horns) more than a material resonance (like piano).  Is that the acoustic effect?

[Chris Ryall]

Aurélien Claranbaux's  accordeon (see lost/stolen, New Year) had a casotto in there, and he's well to the cool side of the folk/jazz divide. His facebook described it as unique - I'd translated that to 'unusual', but can't say I've seen another one!

  http://forum.melodeon.net/index.php/topic,2508.msg140153.html#msg140153

[Anahata]

I had read the Wiki on the casotto.  It sounds like an air resonance (like horns) more than a material resonance (like piano).  Is that the acoustic effect?

I'd guess a combination of that and simple loss of high frequencies through absorption - they don't go round corners well, and when they try to bounce off the internal wood surfaces they get partially absorbed.

[Chris Ryall]

Not much, Anahata. Reflection at an acoustic interface relates to the squared (difference in accoustic impedencies divided by the sum). "Z" for a gas is high, for a solid impedence is low, think singing railway lines, or Tonto listening to the ground for horsesvgalloping far away

Reflect at a gas/solid interface should be virtually spicular. Yes, it will change with frequency as the "Z"s are complex numbers, but not much.

[Bob Ellis]

(Anally retentive pedant brings the thread back to the basic question:)

When it comes to two and three row melodeons, my preference for two-voice instruments is simple: they are lighter! For me, this factor more than outweighs (pun intended!) the richer sound that a three-voice box provides.

I am fortunate in having the luxury of also owning a couple of four-voice one row instruments which combine lightness with an incredibly rich sound. Nirvana!

[Steve C.]

Are we sure Chris is really retired?

[Chris Ryall]

Me? I'm still in harness. Looking at the ever changing tax rules here in UK I have a "no brainer" retirement date on 1,2,3 or 4 April 2014, ONLY.  The same cold logic apples to several thousand NHS senior staff, who will logically all bugger off in the same week. We are the "fat cats" whose pensions are being robbed raided by a government short of money. (In my case, don't do private work.  I've simply paid standard rate into the pension scheme for 36 years) 

.. More time to play melodeon ... 

[Johnf]

How about a 4 voice?     Just kidding really. I primarily play a Louisiana built Cajun one-row LMMH w/ 4 stops. Cajun music in general uses all four voices, but I do find myself closing the L or the L and H at times when playing for myself.  I do have a two voice Double Ray for Irish and general folk and don't seem to miss the L voice.

[Ada]

Just to muddy the waters further (but at least this this is relevant to the subject), I much prefer the sound of my 3-voice Hohner Corona (MMM) to that of any of the 2-voice versions I've played. Heavier, yes, but somehow sounds more "Hohnery".

[Gary P Chapin]

I much prefer the sound of my 3-voice Hohner Corona (MMM) to that of any of the 2-voice versions

That is a special, wonderful sound.