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A couple of nights ago I attended the NYC launch of the Tenori-On electronic instrument/midi controller, created by Yamaha, Toshio Iwai, and Yu Nishibori. Aside from some excellent performances and a free drink, I got a chance to play the thing at Southpaw and that made my night. It is super-intuitive, and while (as I have mentioned previously) it does appear limited in a number of respects (you are stuck on a grid, minimal MIDI functionality, short sample length, very few built-in effects) it was a joy to play. I loved "Bounce" mode, and the easy visual access to polyrhythms. The interface is extremely well thought out, the design is very attractive, and it has a distinctive sound (though you can of course load your own samples). I really enjoyed the presentation that Toshio Iwai gave about his previous works of art and how the Tenori-On fits into that context. He spoke of his respect for the Theremin and some of his ideas about design in general and musical instrument design in particular.

One thing I really started to appreciate after hearing the talk, getting my hands on the instrument and watching several seasoned performers bleep away, is that this is a very specific tool designed, with an aesthetic eye, to be able to carry out a particular set of tasks. I appreciate that it is an object that acknowledges its own limitations (unlike the upcoming MPC5000000000000000000, which has a serious case of feature-bloat). While it might be nice to have delay on some layers and not others, it's more like an actual instrument this way. While it might be nice to have some groove or swing, the grid can be a pretty generous place.

All this is to say that I have changed my tune. I am now officially obsessed with the device and checking the Keyfax site every 12 seconds to see when the thing goes on sale (not that I can really afford it unless I sell off some gear). A Yamaha wonk at the show claimed that they would go on sale May 1st for $1200 (But only 100 of them... not sure how that's going to work). Although one of the official pages claims mid-April.

My previous gripes about the price-to-feature ratio (basically thinking of it mostly as a controller) have gone by the wayside due to two factors, really: 1) It is an art-object. That may not matter to most people, and knowing corporate culture, the $ is probably NOT going to the artist/inventor for the most part, but I like myself a good OBJECT. 2) The interface/portability combo is so delightful, even after 10 minutes of plinking in a dark basement, that I feel confident it will inspire a new direction or two for my live and improvised work. Hard to put a price on that.


I have to admit, the thought has also crossed me mind, that the tumescence of my current obsession has been led on by the fact that I truly believed in my heart-of-hearts (at least in the solipsistic ventricle) that I was going to win this thing at the give-away. And, of course, I didn't.