Tenori-On
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Yamaha's TNR-i app lights up iOS with its musical stylings, dashing looks
We've seemingly unearthed a whole lot of alternatronica in the past few days (not that it's a bad thing), so you'll understand when we enter yet another combatant into this abstract ring. Looking more like a complex game of Simon and almost playing like it too, Yamaha's TNR-i app apes the functionality of the Tenori-on for your iOS instrument of choice. Ringing in at a hefty £11.99 (that's $19 bills, yo), this 16 x 16 grid of orchestral lights crams six performance modes and online multiplayer functionality that more than justifies the price tag. Considering this is a CliffsNotes version of the real thing, you'll feel right at home in that amateur robot drum circle. Hit the source to get your own melodious light bright on.
Yamaha brings Tenori-On Orange to US soil for $700, dares you to rock your own socks off
Here's hoping you didn't pay your British bud to bring you one of those fancy Tenori-On Orange music makers over the holidays, 'cause if so, you just paid an absurd premium to get it a few months ahead of time. Oh, and now you've got an AC adapter that's bigger than your face. Nice. At long last, experimental musicians here in America are being treated to a native version of the Tenori-On O, which is the "more affordable" sibling to the also-shipping Tenori-On W. Functionally, the new O model is exactly the same as the original W model, except it can't be operated with batteries, its 256 orange LEDs are only visible on one side of the unit and it's encased in plastic; Yamaha's marketing the O to producers and studio hounds, whereas the W is made more for live performances. Whatever your fancy, the O should be available in a matter of moments for around $699.99 on the street, while the W can be had for around $300 more.
Yamaha intros more affordable Tenori-On 'Orange'
It's been well over a year since we published our take on Yamaha's perplexing, beautiful and all-around intriguing Tenori-On concept, and evidently the masses have spoken out. This week, the company announced that it will soon be shipping a "more affordable" version with the name Tenori-On 'Orange,' with some vendors already leaking a £649 ($1,077) MSRP. Put simply, the new Orange version will retain all of the musical functionality that the original had (or has, as it were), but the magnesium casing will be replaced by a rugged plastic one and the battery / back panel LED options will also be removed in order to shave costs. Still, we're all for peeling back on the flash in order to get more music makers into more hands, so we'll certainly look to wrap our own paws around one when it starts shipping in December. Update: Engadget Japanese just did a quick hands-on with the Orange, check it out! Gallery: TENORI-ON standard model "TNR-O" [Via MusicRadar]
iPhone apps we crave
Well, Merlin, you did ask. Having listed some imaginary iPhone apps he'd like to see, Merlin Mann asked the world: "What's the iPhone app you crave?" Hmm, let me see now - I've got a little list. Avant Go: A fantastic portable newsagent, in which you could download whole chunks of your favourite magazine and newspaper web sites for offline reading. I used to read dozens of articles in Avant Go on my train commutes in and out of London, back in the days when I commuted. It was an absolutely essential app and I'm very much looking forward to it - or something similar - arriving on iPhone. Yojimbo or Notational Velocity for iPhone: See yesterday's rant. If this, or something like this, isn't right round the corner, I shall eat my router. TextMate or Bean: This is dependent on Apple opening up Bluetooth to other devices in a future software update. If I could use a full-size external keyboard to quickly write text, I'd want a decent editor to write it in. What iPhone apps are you craving? Let us know in the comments.
Yamaha Tenori-on: everything you wanted to know (with video)
From the mind that brought you ElectroPlankton comes the Tenori-on (finally!): an 8 x 8-inch magnesium square brimming with 256 tiny, pressable, blinking LEDs and even gestural controls that make it easy to sequence electronic music on the fly. It's a spectacular tool for creating loops and making those sitting next to you on the train jealous. But will it keep serious musicians busy long enough to make it worth the $1200 Yamaha wants for it? Read on for a full report of our week-long visit with the little alien box.%Gallery-22410%
Yamaha's Tenori-on goes on sale in America
Thanks for keeping your promise, Yamaha. The almost unicorn-like Tenori-on music maker has at long last gone on sale here in America, offering USers willing to part with $1,200 the chance to get lost inside a cacophonic wilderness. Good luck finding one in stock.[Via CNET]
Yamaha bringing Tenori-on Stateside this month
If you have a hankering for making pretty pretty pictures with your music, Yamaha's finally going to fill that urge with a US launch of its Tenori-on music maker. The handheld device is sort of a Lite Brite for music, with 256 push-button LEDs for sequencing music and adjusting tones. The concept was first unveiled way back in 2005, but we're glad to see it come full circle and land in America. Yamaha will be hosting launch events in New York and San Francisco on April 16th and 18th, respectively.
Yamaha's Tenori-On music maker gets reviewed
It's been over two years since we first heard of the Tenori-On instrument, and it's just now hitting boutique audio shops and a particular reviewer's hands. For those who have been hyping themselves up over this thing, we don't exactly have oodles of good news to share, and while the negatives did seem to outweigh the positives, here's the gist of it. On the bright side, the music maker is unique, cute and quite intuitive. It also got brownie points for boasting internal speakers and for being able to run on batteries. Unfortunately, it rings up at £599 (around $1,200), and it simply "feels too cheap" to cost so much; additionally, it lacks touch sensitivity and a hardware volume control. Granted, the hardcore fans may still find the issues acceptable, so do yourself a favor and hit the pros and cons list in the read link below before jumping to conclusions.
Introducing Tenori-On, from the mind that brought us Electroplankton
Toshio Iwai has been busy designing a musical instrument for the future. Dubbed 'Tenori-On,' Iwai's creation is a melding of light and sound contained in a portable matrix of LED switches used to draw musical compositions -- there's even a 2-player mode (with two Tenori-Ons).Reception of Iwai's previous project, Electroplankton, was a mixed bag. But will distancing himself from his 'gaming' identity help Iwai and his latest invention appeal to the mainstream?
Music Thing: Monome Controller
Each week Tom Whitwell of Music Thing highlights the best of the new music gear that's coming out, as well as noteworthy vintage equipment: "The wonderful thing about this device is that is doesn't do anything really," say the developers of the Monome, a minimalist-but-clever button-covered box. "It wasn't intended for any specific application. We'll make several applications, and others will make more. We hope to share as many of these as possible. Drum machines, loopers, 1-bit video transformers, physics models, virtual sliders, math games, etc." Like all the best new interfaces, it’s pretty much impossible to describe, but once you watch the demo video, it seems to be surprisingly flexible and fast to use. I can’t help thinking that something this (or the similar, but different, Tenori On box developed for Yamaha) has huge commercial potential as a cheap and funky sound toy. At the moment, though, it’s a tool for high-end supergeeks, like the wonderful Jazz Mutant Lemur (which is now in production and sells for $2,495).
