The Tenori-On hype continues.
Gizmodo took a look at it and loves it:
Tenori-On, the crazy light-up handheld synthesizer from Yamaha we’ve been geeked about for months, officially launched in the US tonight. We got our hands on one and simply put, we were amazed.
Artists at the event told us that the visual aspects of the device are just important as the musical aspects. Some said they attempt to make songs in a traditional sense, but others were more content to base their sounds on designs and shapes. The Tenori-On can work as a completely visual instrument.
The Tenori-On will retail for $1200 when it goes on sale May 1.
hmmmmm. bleh. i just can’t get excited about these things. an underpowered, pre-configured monome with poor MIDI services and no USB. wait 6-9 months and they’ll be on ebay for $200. ya, i know they got a sampler onboard (@ < 1 sec.). but sampling is for people afraid of knobs.
PASS and/or FAIL.
Amoeba – I haven’t got my hands on a Tenori-On yet – but my first impression is that it’s opaque – meaning you can tell what does what from looking at it, and it doesn’t offer much room for expression, like a controller with sliders would.
ya, i’ve been discussing/arguing on a different blog about it. the problem is, i keep looking at it as a controller, when i think it should be viewed as an instrument in it’s own right. it does have some neat features, but i think i’d go for more of a DIY thing, like a monome. honestly, i think the best thing out there for what i need is a Lemur, but like the Tenori-On, they are way to expensive for me. really, as soon as laptops come with multi-touch screens, all my dreams will be answered. imagine – no more archaic mappings… direct access to whatever is on screen (i’m almost exclusively using Zebra2 nowadays). i think the multi-touch screens are getting pretty close to happening too. dollars to donuts, apple ships first (i hope)!
hey – very nice blog BTW. keep it up – it’s on my daily visit list! 🙂
Amoeba
Thanks for making the daily visits & especially for the comments – it’s great to get a second opinion or a different perspective on the day’s electronic music news…..