Hmm! Some strong views above, from the opening post onwards. I certainly wouldn't want to see conventional instruments disappear, but the midi ones can be complementary.

Some of the advantages have already been mentioned. Although you can play in many keys on a conventional concertina, unless it's a Hayden Duet you have to be clever, and change the fingering for every key. With midi you can transpose, change to a different octave, change the tone, and even change to a completely different sound.

I had a very brief go some years ago on a prototype midi concertina made by Steve Simpson. Being able to play a Carolan tune and have the sound of a harp coming out was fun, though also seriously confusing to the mind.

One feature that I DIDN'T like seems to be repeated by the current makers. There are conventional bellows, so you can only go in one direction for a certain time before you run out of air. I failed to persuade Steve to replace the bellows by some sort of spring, that would allow push/pull and change of pressure but without running out of air.

Anyway I'm not in the market for one at the moment, because a new conventional concertina from Colin Dipper should be ready for me any day now . . . .

Richard