Roland Virtual Accordion

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The Roland Virtual Accordion is the world's first electronic instrument to use Physical Behaviour Modelling (PBM) to simulate a wide range of acoustic instruments, including many musettes, bandoneon, concertina, and other ethnic accordions and melodions. It also features a range of Orchestral instruments, all of which respond to the bellows movements, etc. The V-Accordion, which was released in 2004, comes in two models- The FR-5 and the FR-7. The FR-7 features built-in battery-powered amplifiers and speakers, making it independent of mains power. The FR-5 is identical, except it lacks the internal speakers. The operating system within the instruments is upgradeable through the extensive MIDI features. The V-Accordion is the result of some 7 years development by a Roland Europe team based in Italy.

Since the introduction of the first models - the FR-5 and FR-7 - there have been several additions to the range: FR-5b and FR-7b are 5 Row Chromatic Button versions of the originals, with several additions. Due to the success of these four models, a further four "cut-down" models have been introduced as follows: The FR-3 and FR-3s models are simplified V-Accordions with very few programming facilities, but still with extensive MIDI features and a number of converter bass systems. These feature a 37 note piano keyboard (G - G) plus 120 bass. There are also 5 Row Chromatic Button versions: the FR-3b and FR-3sb. In all cases with the FR-3 models the "s" denotes built-in speakers. All the FR-3 family run from ordinary AA NiMh cells. Continuing the development of the V-Accordion range, Roland have recently added the FR-2 Model. Available in both piano and button versions, the FR-2 has some innovations compared with the previous models, notably the addition of Drum Pads to the left-hand controls. There are no internal speakers in the FR-2 which has 34 right-hand keys (or 82 buttons) and 96 bass buttons. References:
Roland US Accordion Page.

Roland FR-7 V-Accordion Video Demo - Played by Chris Rybak for Gearwire at NAMM.