Sounds-Expo 2007: Yamaha Tenori-On Prototype

Sam Downie's Tech:Casts

Once in a Blue Moon an invention comes along which seems to turn conventional wisdom upside-down and kick it around a bit for good measure. But I think it's fair to say that most bright new ideas never see the light of day But at Sounds-Expo 2007 I spotted a experimental musical instrument project from Yamaha called the Tenori-on, a device with involving lights and buttons, but the fact it is going into production is still pretty impressive. Its a device thats the brainchild of media artist Toshio Iwai, it consists of a hand-held square panel with a matrix of LED switches. Working with both sound and light, making music becomes a rather more intuitive and immediate interaction between player and instrument - a refreshing counter to the increasing complexity of many modern music tools. But what's it actually like? Well, I interviewed Peter Peck of Yamaha UK who was clutching the only example currently in the whole of Europe, who told us all about it! The Tenori-On should be shipping later this year, but if you want to find out more about it, there's plenty more info on the web - Yamaha have a site, and Toshio Iwai has a blog:- http://www.global.yamaha.com/design/tenori-on http://www.tenorion.blogspot.com ---- Reported by: Sam Downie For: http://www.dailytechtalk.com From: Sounds-Expo 2007, Olympia 2, London Sounds-Expo Website: http://www.sounds-expo.co.uk Date: March 2007 Sam Downie info: http://www.dsoundz.co.uk