Russian Dance

[Jos Wylin]

Hi everybody,

This is a somewhat 'strange' submission. It has nothing to do (directly) with VSL. It is meant as a reminder for a library that has been asked for since long.

The Russian Dance is a study piece for young accordionists. Its is written for a accordion duet or small accordion orchestra with an easy medium level. I've recorded a version with the Gola Hohner accordion (Kontakt), but of course it would be interesting for all composers who want to write music for that fantastic instrument (convertible accordion or bayan) to have a Vienna accordion library with the usual qualities and flexibility. The piece has been adopted from teachers to bring their pupils on a stage with enjoyable and yet instructive music.

I guess some of you may want such a library as well, since the accordion has become a serious classical instrument all over Europe these days and taught in most conservatories.

Please react if this is in your wish list as well,

Max

[grapemus-t]

Hi Max,

Thanks for sharing and raise this topic.

A Vienna accordion library is desirable, as working with other libraries are quite hard.

Nowadays accordion often appear not just as solo instrument, but orchestral instrument as well, such as in this movement from 1:45, with two accordions. The composer is David Kiraly, the composition is a Ballet Symphony (Pinocchio and Gabriel). Prelude from Pinocchio and Gabriel

Actually I don't remember what library the accordion was.

Attila

[Jos Wylin]

Hi Attila,

Thanks for your comment. The example you submitted is really a strange composition in many ways (ballet music, that explains a lot), it looks rather fragmented and the accordions are playing completely outside the orchestra (samples from a different kind?) . But as a whole, it's very interesting and intriguing.

Some time ago, I wrote a small concerto for bayan or convertible accordion, meant for beginning soloists. I did miss good samples. Now I have a few new (Russian) libraries for bayan, but again they hav been designed for Kontakt and that is not so practical in a VSL environment..

Btw, here is the concerto (the recording has been done in Notion with VSL automation and is not as detailed as could be): Accordion Concerto .

Let's hope that one day we may welcome a decent accordion/bayan library in the Vienna family.

Max

[Acclarion]

I am a concert accordionist, playing on a nine row stradella/free bass Hohner Gola. I have been contemplating sampling my accordion for my own compositions as the available accordion libraries are completely under whelming. You can see my accordion and hear samples at www.acclarion.ca I will check out your music above when I have a few minutes. All the best, David Carovillano

[Jos Wylin]

Hi David,

I'm aware of your accordion work (through previous posts here) and they are very precious and valuable for the recognition of the instrument.

As to sample libraries, there are a few out there, but most are orientated towards the folky or popular use of the accordion. The Gola Hohner (Xsamples) and the Efimov Ilya bayan or the Jupiter bayan are in my opinion the best available, be it somewhat limited, but atl least they offer enough possibilities to create professional sounding music on a decent level.
That's why I launched the question once more to integrate the free bass accordion or bayan into the magnificent collection of Vienna instruments. I'm sure we're not the only ones bringing forward this request. I hope the programming people responsible for the further development of the libraries are reading this topic with us...

Kindly,

Max

[Acclarion]

Max,

I enjoyed listening to your compositions - especially the accordion concerto.  I'm still not totally sold on the Kontakt Hohner Gola tone colour although I'm sure for most people it is what they would expect for a typical accordion/bayan sound.

For me, I have always preferred a purer sound to a reedy one and balance between manuals is very important - especially for the music I perform and compose. Also, much of the music I play uses the free-bass accordion which would require samples of single notes in the left hand to sound equally as precise with the right hand.

I'm curious about the technical limitiations as well and variety of articulations - does the Kontakt instrument include bellow shaking (like a string tremolo)?

I do have to say though the responsiveness for the Kontakt instrument sounds great - you can especially hear that in the runs in your concerto. Sluggish accordion samples have frustrated me to no end when I'm listening back to a piece I'm composing.   I guess now I know how violinists must feel when you compare the real instrumentalist to samples.

I have a 9-row free bass Hohner Gola Accordion I'd be happy for VSL to sample if they would fly me to Europe. :)    

[Jos Wylin]

The recording of my Accordion Concerto should not considered as a reference. It was done in the pre-VSL era (with the VSL samples of Kontakt). It was done directly in Notion (notation program) and without any DAW, mixing and mastering. So the poor quality of the Hohner Gola is not to be blamed on the library itself.

And yes, it has the bellows noises (shake, scraping, wind escaping...). That goes for the other libraries (Efimov) as well. They are all 3 free bass libraries (bayan is always free bass) and they are OK, but need some editing and mastering to sound good.

As to the articulations, the Gola has a few, mainly switches for the registration. The other two are richer and can control attack, velocity.

But this is of course not the forum to discuss other libraries. I only wanted to bring the accordion/bayan in the spotlight again as a request for good decent VSL recorded samples. I hope the programmers will read with us...

Max