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.
Old school vs. new school. I just couldn't help wondering what the Tenori-On would sound like with my old TB-303 bass-line synth. Yes, this is my idea of a fun weekend.
(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET Networks)For all you electronic music fans and lovers of all things blinky, my review of the Yamaha Tenori-On music sequencer is ready for your consideration. The final ruling in a nutshell: the Tenori-On is an awesome tool for performing electronic musicians, but too pricey for nonmusicians and too limited for studio music production.
What a long, strange tease its been since we first caught wind of the mythical Tenori-On music sequencer back in 2005. Now, here we are at the end: you've seen the photo gallery, the unboxing video, my interview with Yu Nishibori, the requisite comparison to the Monome, and finally, the full review.
As a farewell gift to the Tenori-On, I paired it up with the only other device in my life that equals it in blinky, metallic awesomeness: my vintage (slightly modified) Roland TB-303 Bass Line synth. Syncing the two gadgets wasn't easy, considering the TB-303 predates MIDI, and the Tenori-On does a horrible job driving MIDI clock. Still, I was able to capture a decent 30-second video of the two devices working in unison. For those of you who have no idea what you're looking at, the Tenori-On (right) is handling all the percussion sounds while the TB-303 (left) is spitting out a bass line like it's a 1994 warehouse rave.
Enjoy.
Click to view Crave's Tenori-On photo gallery.
(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET Networks)
OK, I have to admit I've been somewhat selfish with Yamaha's Tenori-On music sequencer ever since it arrived at my desk a few weeks back. Can you blame me, really? The thing meets all my requirements for gadget coveting--it's shiny, futuristic, noisy, and expensive.
I still have a few drum machines at home I want to connect the Tenori-On to before finishing up my full review. In the meantime, I suppose I can share some of the shots we took of the Tenori-On in our CNET photo studio. View the Yamaha Tenori-On photo gallery.
It's all the goods from the Crave blog. Brian Tong is joined by guest host Ariel Nunez, who brings a musical flavor to this week's show. They talk about an iPod boom box straight out of the '80s, the super hot Tenori-On musical sequencer, Motorola's ZN5 cell phone that is focusing on photos, and more juice for your iPhone. Plus, Brian hates on robots.
I don't easily give in to the gadget striptease of unboxing videos, but it felt a little like Christmas morning when Yamaha's futuristic Tenori-On music instrument landed on my desk today. Besides, with only 60 Tenori-On instruments on sale in the U.S. (only 17 left at the time of this writing), I figure this video might allow deprived electronic musicians to work through their anguish.
Expect a full review of the Tenori-On to make its way on CNET next week. By the looks of my video, I'll need some time to figure this thing out.
For more footage of the Tenori-On in action, take a look at my interview with Yamaha's Yu Nishibori, filmed at Robotspeak back in December.
The Yamaha Tenori-On music sequencer in all its bleepy glory.
(Credit: Yamaha)Yamaha's elusive Tenori-On music sequencer officially goes on sale today in the U.S. Yamaha is asking $1,200 for the Tenori-On, which isn't a bad deal when held up to comparable devices such as the Akai MPC1000.
With only 60 units in stock, and a rabid throng of electronic musicians champing at the bit for these things, we expect Yamaha will sell through its supply by the time you read this. For the rest of you, there's always the T-shirt.
The Tenori-On's hand-brushed magnesium body is light and durable. The illuminated 16x16 matrix of buttons combines the satisfaction of popping bubble wrap, with the pride of programming a drum machine.
(Credit: CNET Networks/Donald Bell)
All my ranting and whining must have finally paid off because this week I finally got some time with Yamaha's mystery-enshrouded Tenori-On music sequencer.
Prototypes of the Tenori-On have traveled the globe, popping up in the U.K. and Germany, but rarely in the United States. I couldn't believe my luck when San Francisco electronic musician retailer Robotspeak (my former employer) gave me the heads-up that Yamaha would be dropping by the shop for a rare demonstration. ... Read more
The Monome is a homegrown, hand crafted, blinky box interface for electronic musicians.
(Credit: Monome.org)The latest testament to the geek appeal of blinking pixels are two handheld electronic musician interfaces called the Monome and the Tenori-On. Both are slated for a new release in the next few months and while they have a lot in common conceptually, there are a few key differences between the two that I'll explore here.
Even if you couldn't care less about electronic music, these products demonstrate stunning interface design (not to mention eye candy). Remember, it was an obscure music interface company named Jazz Mutant that pioneered the multi-touch screen interface long before the iPhone came to town. (Videos after the break.)... Read more
It's a Fender Strat for nerds.
(Credit: FutureMusic)Toshio Iwai, the designer of beloved Nintendo DS music game Electroplankton, has been showing a prototype of his jaw-dropping Tenori-On instrument since 2005. Last week, Yamaha announced plans to turn this Star Trek-worthy digital sound toy into an actual shipping product, retailing with an estimated price tag of around $1,000. For most consumers, that is an insane price for a beautiful sound toy, but electronic musicians and artists are falling all over themselves for this thing. The Tenori-On is a touch screen grid of white LEDs that allows you to compose music by activating little squares that trigger built-in sounds or samples loaded off a flash memory card. It has a built-in speaker, headphone output, and MIDI connections for other music gear. You really have to see this in action to appreciate it. There's a great video of the device on YouTube and a more in-depth one at Sonicstate. For now, I'll just keep honing my touch-screen music skills on Nintendo's ElectroPlankton.
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