Months of hype about Toshio Iwai’s innovative music gadget, the Tenori-On, appear to be paying off for Yamaha. Yamaha reports that, having sold out three months’ stocks within hours of the launch, they plan to forward production and air freight supplies into the UK to keep pace with demand.

Peter Peck, Marketing Manager Music Production at Yamaha UK explains:

“Huge pre-launch interest in Tenori-on has been converted into a level of demand for the product which has exceeded even our own ambitious expectations, so we have brought forward plans to bring extra Tenori-on units into the UK.”

“Since the product is largely hand built and hand finished we cannot, and do not want, to turn Tenori-on into a mass market product so incoming stock will always be tight. But we are working hard to increase supply.”

Tenori-on, a new “concept musical instrument”, is an interactive hand-held device that, according to Yamaha, “heralds a new era in accessible music and media performance and production.”

We’re a little more skeptical about the device, given its cramped user interface, limited expressive capabilities and primitive sound manipulation options. But people may just love all those blinky lights.

Dealer and product information for the Tenori-On is available at the Tenori-On UK site.