Tenori-On O brings bleeps within reach

The Tenori-On O is the plastic offspring of the original Yamaha Tenori-On.

(Credit: Yamaha)

As a musician, one of my favorite moments of 2008 was the chance to meet Yu Nishibori and his musical invention, the Tenori-On. Coming across like a futuristic cross between a drum machine and a game of Tetris, the Tenori-On music sequencer is one of those truly odd and beautiful devices that seems too cool to be real. Even the Museum of Modern Art saw fit to pick one up--one of only five instruments in its 4,000 item collection.

The problem was, it was just too expensive. You really needed to have a fetish for Japanese electronic music sequencers to pick up an original Tenori-On for $1,499 ($1,200 street). Thankfully, the folks at Yamaha are now announcing a second generation of the Tenori-On (the Tenori-On "O"), priced at a relatively affordable $999 MSRP.

The Tenori-On "O" is virtually identical in form and function as the original, but Yamaha did have to cut a few corners to get the price down. For starters, it's made of white plastic instead of the luxurious hand-brushed magnesium used on the original. The grid is one-sided now, which makes it a little less exciting to view as a spectator. And perhaps most disappointing, you can't run the "O" version from batteries--you have to keep it plugged in.

Still, if you can live with some sacrifices, the Tenori-On "O" should still make for an extremely fun and engaging music machine. Expect to see these on sale in January 2010.

[NYTechie]

This is so cool! I've killed a lot of time in the Samsung Experience in NYC playing with this thing--it's a lot of fun and infinitely changeable. I didn't realize how expensive it was though, as you can't buy anything at the Samsung Experience.

[Hal_9001]

You've Got To Be Kidding,
This is nothing more than a Light Bright with a rudimentary sequencer. "Electronic musician" ... HA ! ... no wonder you couldn't quit your day job !!!
:-)

[audiodonald]

You're high. It may be rudimentary compared to the MIDI sequencer of Logic Pro, but you'll have a hard time finding a more sophisticated standalone hardware sequencer than the Tenori-On. An Elektron Monomachine, maybe, but those things are insanely tedious to program and twice as expensive. As for my day job, I can count the number of electronic musicians with sustaining careers on one hand. This isn't 1998 anymore.

[Masterface7]

So wait, people are willing to pay 1000 and not 1500? Seems like a similar very non consumer friendly price to me. I just wonder what about it costs so much. This thing should be like 299. It would be also cool if they made it into a computer program since windows 7 has multi-touch support.

[audiodonald]

For what it's worth, street price should be closer to $699. Still about $400 more than you're want to pay, but to be fair, this is really geared at a niche market of experimental musicians who are already laying out thousands for boutique hardware sequencers. That said, an even cheaper consumer version without the MIDI capabilities would be a fun novelty.