Hybrid Bisonoric Accordions

Some hybrid bisonoric accordions combine the international diatonic accordion and Irish system accordion keyboard layouts in three rows of buttons. Between the middle row and the outer row there is a semitone interval and between the middle row and inner row, ie closest to the bellows, there is an interval of two whole tones and a semitone, a Perfect Fourth. So, keyboard layouts in B/C/F or C#/D/G are commonly found on these instruments.

This accordion can of course be used as two different kinds of accordion in one, using only two rows to play Irish music and only two rows to play other diatonic music, but this would mean using two very different fingering styles on the same instrument. Othewise, it can be treated as a unified accordion in its own right and tunes can be relearned accordingly.

However, although it is a more versatile instrument than a two row Irish accordion or a two row diatonic accordion, it is not as powerful as other three row systems. Whilst several notes are duplicated, most of them are not duplicated in the opposite direction of the bellows, which means that a lot of bellows reversals are needed to play any tune. Only two keys can be played entirely on the draw and none can be played soley on the push.

If you like bisonoric accordions but want to play any kind of music in any key with similar ease, much better chording, much smoother, easier bellows work with less reversals, and you are willing to learn new fingering patterns, you should think about getting an Atzarin instrument!