tenori-on

[dHarry]

Anyone heard of, or played with, this new "revolutionary" instrument from Yamaha?

Their site does a magnificent job of underwhelming you with its exciting possibilities for music-making e.g.

"The TENORI-ON 16 x 16 LED button matrix is simultaneously a performance input controller and display. By operating and interacting with the LED buttons and the light they produce you gain access to the TENORI-ON's numerous performance capabilities."

It actually looks cool and toy-like, is apparently a synth and sampler and controller/sequencer, but there seems to be no real info on how it actually works or what you can do with it. Uwe Schmidt and Jim O'Rourke play with it on video on the site, which involves moving your fingers around on the flashing surface to little discernable effect... :slanted:

 

[Mr. Tea]

It looks like a travel Go set, and its name sounds like J-teen slang for a stiffy.

 

[mistersloane]

It's a well expensive toy, really, the sampling is extremely limited. There's a whole bunch of info on it here

http://createdigitalmusic.com/index.php?s=tenori

It looks wicked, I like the idea of the button interface and stuff but I'd hold back for a while unless you're Bjork.

 

[noel emits]

Yeah it looks great in the dark coz you can see the light patterns on both sides.

Worth looking at the Korg Kascillator for something similar but not so much in the hand-built boutique price range. There's loads of clips on youtube although I'm a little bit unsure about it's apparent propensity for churning out trance.

 

[dHarry]

Yeah, lots of trancey sounds from the Kaoscillator, but a lot more besides - there's a whole album produced and performed entirely on it here. It apparently costs only $200, about a grand less than the Tenori-On, which seems to sound mainly like early Black Dog! Who needs laptops, synths, software, etc. any more?!

 

[noel emits]

Ah yeah, sounds good. Definitely jonesing now. I like how instead of going for a complex multi-layer sequencer like the tenori-on they just use a little loop sampler. Still fucking hate supersaws though.

 

[swears]

Who needs laptops, synths, software, etc. any more?!

Nah, music software is still the great democratiser, everybody's got access to some old comp or other and you can get loads of pirated programs. Interfaces like this are just window dressing, toys for boffins.

 

[noel emits]

Sharp sticks are the great democratiser of eye surgery.

 

[straight]

the tenori on is an interesting project as its the first real attempt to mass market a machine that brings together a lot of the strands of contempoary electonic music in a single box ie straight 16 note sequencing + algrhythmic granular and generative programming. its multi layered sequencer interface is an ace idea but the sounds arent amazing, very samey twinkly japanese 90s electronica though it could be a really good interface to use as a midi controller with your own samples in ableton/max. it also feels like it would last one heavy handed drunken gig and it would come apart. i went to a couple of lectures at sonar and futuresonic during its development and my mate james organised the uk launch events so i got a chance to play with one first hand. will prob pick up a kaosillator though, i need a new hardware looper and its cheaper than a dl4

 

[Mr. Tea]

Interfaces like this are just window dressing, toys for boffins.

Not even that - proper boffins would be busy writing their own software.

 

[noel emits]

will prob pick up a kaosillator though, i need a new hardware looper and its cheaper than a dl4

I think you can only loop the internal sounds on the kaossilator - doesn't have any audio input. The looping on the mini-kp is quite limited too. I need a decent new looper as well - got my eye on the forthcoming Boomerang 3 maybe.

 

[hint]

Not even that - proper boffins would be busy writing their own software.

http://monome.org/series

 

[Mr. Tea]

http://monome.org/series

Christ on a bike, they're a bit pricey, aren't they? Considering they don't actually *do* anything by themselves...

pricing

* two fifty six: $1400
* one twenty eight: $800
* sixty four: $450

Although it looks like they're pretty nicely made, I guess.

 

[Slothrop]

I'm holding out for a Reactable meself.

I think this sort of stuff is The Future in a way. It's interesting and good that people are thinking about ways of controlling electronic music that go outside the standard sequencer-controlling-synths paradigm, and eventually, whether by luck or by judgement, some of it's going to start having an impact beyond the 'gee whizz' factor and the geek fringe sooner or later. It's just a question of when people are going to start getting the right combination of price, accessibility and features, and when interest is going to filter through progressively less geeky genres into the mainstream.

I think the next ten years or so are actually going to be really exciting from a music-tech point of view. It'll be interesting to see what effect it has on the actual music.

 

[tox]

i'm guessing you've seen elektroplakton by the same guy as tenori-on? that was a fun little game on the ds. if you do a search i think there's another thread on the tenori somewhere on dissensus actually.

 

[Gabba Flamenco Crossover]

Yes, my mates got one and I've played on it. They are ace.