I wrote about the Tenori-On a few weeks ago.  After watching several demonstration videos and how Paul De Jong used his magical-awesome music skills to make beautiful music with it, I was in love.  However, the Tenori-On is well over $1000.  Yikes.

I just read about the Bliptronic 5000 on CreateDigitalMusic.com.  It’s basically a cheaper version ($50) of the Tenori-On that you can buy on ThinkGeek.com.  The interface is really similar to the Tenori-On, but it has fewer “modes” and the sound quality is not as good.  But hey, maybe that’s the type of sound that you’re going for.

The coolest feature of the Bliptronic that the Tenori-On lacks is a collaborative function.

According to ThinkGeek.com:

“An infinite number of Bliptronics can be attached together using the link ports and included cables. When one Bliptronic reaches the end of it’s pattern, the next Bliptronic is instantly triggered to start playing. This allows you to make longer songs where each person controls a section of the song. You can even set the tempo and instrument differently on each Bliptronic in the chain to achieve unconventional musical results.”

From CreateDigitalMusic.com:

“You know the grid craze is in full steam once ThinkGeek offers a $50 clone. The Bliptronic 5000 is somewhere between the Tenori-On and monome. It certainly looks like the monome, with an 8-by-8 grid of light-up pads in a square form factor. But like the Tenori-On, it has built-in sounds and speaker, it’s made of aluminum, and it runs on batteries. The Bliptronic also simplifies its user interface. Its 8×8 pads are simply an eight-note octave with eight steps. There’s a play button, and knobs for tempo and tone selector. There’s also the ability to link up devices and play them together – bonus points for that, as aside from basic MIDI function, the Tenori-On as shipped by Yamaha failed to deliver some of the original collaborative features promised by designer Toshio Iwai’s original proposal.

The “old-skool” sounds are pretty lo-fi-sounding from what I can tell, but this unit does have a certain charm. If you’ve got a monome and a Tenori-On and a Launchpad in every room, you can amuse your friends by keeping one of these in the lavatory. And who knows, someone might pick this thing up and do something terrific with it. (I sure can’t argue with the price.)”

I know what I’m adding to my Christmas wish list this year.

I just can´t stop playing around with this

Try it here >>

The ToneMatrix is part of Andre Michelle & Co’s (HobNox) AudioTool project

If HAL 9000 mated with R2-D2 and their electronic offspring was tutored by Kraftwerk it would probably end up something like the Bliptronic 5000 LED Synthesizer.

At once a minimalist musical plaything and a hardcore old-skool synthesizer, the Bliptronic defies categorization as it belts out 8-Bit style style tunes from its grid of glowing buttons.

You’ll notice sound similar to a retro Casiotone with an interface not unlike a simplified Yamaha TENORI-ON… if that makes any sense. Either way, once you start touching the keys of the Bliptronic you’ll be hooked by it’s simple pattern-based approach to music.

Product Features

• Unusual retro synthesizer is played with a grid of glowing buttons
• Create looping patterns and change them dynamically while playing
• Chain multiple units together and create more complex melodies
• One octave range. 8 notes can be played simultaneously
• 8 different old-skool synth sounding instruments to choose from
• Sounds created using FM waveform synthesis
• Set the BPM (beats per minute) from 60 to 180 in 20 BPM increments
• Built in speaker with headphone jack and line-out jack
• Front panel is constructed from brushed aluminum
• Includes, manual and 2 link cables for connecting additional Bliptronic units
• Requires 4 x AA batteries (not included)

So I was looking through digg.com this morning and found an article about ten futuristic musical instruments. One that caught my eye was a synth/sequencer that was like something I had never seen. Maybe it’s the sci-fi LEDs or just its crazy sound, but all I know is that I need one of these things! Here is the demo that I saw. I give you the Tenori-On!

After looking up it’s price ($1000), I poked around online for a virtual version of the Tenori-On and found the iNudge on http://digitaltools.node3000.com/. It is a virtual Tenori-On, a drum machine, and a bunch of other synths all wrapped up into one awesome little music tool/time waster. Here is the site have fun!!!!

http://inudge.net/inudge#/nak

Credit: Tenori on

Credit: Reactable

We’ve all seen the turntables at the DJ stations or the 8-channel mixer at Dre’s studios. Now, check out the incredible new way to produce music baby

TENORI-ON from Yamaha: Equivalent to a 16-channel mixer, Tenori let’s you sequence various sounds against a 2-second  bar. i.e. there are 16 rows each for a particular sound and covering all columns from the front to the end takes 2 seconds. The best part is you create all your samples using your fingers on a touchscreen. Details of the product here.

Reactable: This is another cool set of tools where you use different shapes of chips such as cubes, squares or circular chips to generate different types of sounds. Some of the chips will act as sound generators while others may act as sound filters. Based on how you manipulate the position of the chips in relation to each other or even based or the settings you configure (this is cool, the settings are displayed through LED “halos” around the chip. Modification of these settings are done by running your finger over this “halo”

Yamaha está anunciando Tenori-On Orange, una nueva versión más económica del exitoso Tenori-On lanzado en el 2007. Esta vez se presenta en LEDs de color naranja, ubicados solo en la parte frontal (el anterior modelo tiene en ambos lados). La construcción pasó de ser de plástico, y ya no funciona con pilas.

El sistema operativo y todas las funciones originales no se han tocado. Todo eso permanece intacto en este nuevo modelo. Su precio aún es desconocido, pero se sabe que se estará distribuyendo en el mes de Diciembre. Así que podemos ir agregando esta nueva joya a nuestra lista navideña.

Visto en Monofónicos.net

Nachdem bei Yamaha sich anscheinend viele darüber beklagt haben dass der innovative Tenori-On, mit der intuitiven Bedienoberfläche, nicht gerade preiswert ist, hat sich die Firma nun entschlossen eine budget-freundlichere Version auf den Markt zu bringen.

Der neue Tenori-On trägt den Beinamen ‘Orange’, da die LEDs nun orange leuchten. Auch auf das Aluminium-Gehäuse wurde verzichtet. Es wird nun stattdessen ein einfacheres Plastik-Gehäuse verwendet.

Es mussten auch noch einige andere Veränderungen vorgenommen werden, um das Gerät günstiger verkaufen zu können. Laut Yamaha soll aber auch die ‘Orange’-Variante die selbe “Creative Power” mitbringen, wie der teurere Tenori-On!

Einen kleinen Vorgeschmack, auf das vermutlich im Dezember erscheinende Gerät, bietet dieses Video:

Quelle: YAMAHA

The new – and cheaper! – version of the popular Tenori-On is arriving soon at Dolphin Music. This instrument has captured the imagination of musicians and producers all over the world, including artists such as chart-topping Little Boots. Find out more about the new model…

Yamaha Tenori-On Orange – new, and more affordable model!

The new Yamaha Tenori-On ‘Orange’ offers the same levels of creative power as the original Tenori-On, but has been made significantly more affordable!

For example, Yamaha have replaced the very cool but expensive magnesium casing of the original with a heavy duty and durable plastic casing .

The original Tenori-On became an instant hit worldwide, and has been used by several influential artists such as Massive Attack, Bjork and chart-topping Little Boots. Now, this newer, more affordable version is set to make this incredible and innovative instrument even more popular!

All the same features and spec as the original apart from:

• No Magnesium alloy body – white plastic frame on this model
• Has orange LEDs instead of white LEDs
• No screen on the back of it – has the interface
• Does not run on batteries – mains only

The Yamaha Tenori-On Orange will be arriving soon at Dolphin…just in time for Christmas! But stock is limited…so pre-order yours now! Visit the Yamaha Tenori-On Orange product page for more info.

Yes indeed. Instruments are a lot of fun, and weird instruments all the more so. My electronic music instructor Ivo showed us this video before class one day of a dude playing a bunch of insane homemade (non-electronic) instruments:

I love how they get crazier and crazier! Pretty neat, guy.

Then there’s the Eigenharp.

Very futuristic looking multifunction electronic instrument for both sequencing and playing. Electro sitar-bassoon, anyone? One of these babies will currently set you back about $5,000, so start saving up now.

This next one certainly LOOKS awesome. Little Boots uses one! The Yamaha Tenori-on. “Music instantly becomes a wall of light graffiti as you paint the sounds across its 256 LED buttons,” says the website. Sounds pretty cool, right??

Indeeeed. Too bad I don’t have $1k to spend on it, haha. Free Tenori-on, come to meeee… hey I can dream.

It was a great night at the Kings Arms, here are some photos

Mico

Mico

Worriedaboutsatan

Me

Tenori-on. Here comes the musical instrument of the 21st century. It has been designed and created in 2005 by Toshio Iwai and Yu Nishibori and marketed by Yamaha. Since 2009, its price has dropped (from 869€ / 1300$) and has became available in more and more stores. I think there’s no need to say more. Just check the video below and enjoy !

Tenori-on. Voici l’instrument de musique du 21ème siècle. Conçu par Toshio Iwai et Yu Nishibori, il est développé et commercialisé par Yamaha. Depuis 2009, son prix a considérablement baissé (à partir de 869€) et il est disponible dans de plus ne plus de magasins. Mais plus que les mots, les images s’imposent. Regardez cette video et profitez-en.

Tenori-on

Little Boots is Victoria Christina Hesketh from Blackpool, England. At first glance she may look a bit like Lady Gaga, but that’s where the comparisons stop – and she’d prefer it that way. And don’t even to compare her to La Roux. The media has tried to set them up against each other in the electro-pop genre already, but there is a clear distinction between their sounds – though both brilliantly talented artists.

Little Boots is a singer and multi-instrumentalist who plays the piano, various other keyboard instruments and the flute. However, her Tenori-on appears to be her trademark instrument. The Tenori-on is a Japanese, electronic musical instrument constructed of backlit LED light buttons that are pressed to create sounds. It far more complicated and versatile than that, but that would require a whole new post.

Starting out as the band Dead Disco with a group of her college mates, the group later dissolved and Victoria moved on to do more of her own personal work. This culminated as Hands, her solo album, under the alias Little Boots.

Hands, which was released on the 8^th of June 2009, has received mostly positive reviews, with Rolling Stones Magazine identifying her an artist to look out for in 2009. Her breakthrough single New in Town was followed by Remedy, which seems to be doing very well too.

The album, classified as electro-pop, is layered with synths and other electronic instruments that perfectly complement her voice and songwriting style. The album is one of those rare gems that entertains listeners from the first to the last track and takes you through a musical journey that shows her versatility as an artist. Give it a listen, it’s definitely not the usual mass-market fodder that we’ve come to hear everyday. Little Boots has managed to deliver an album that leaves you dancing in public… and on-your-toes in anticipation for a follow-up album.

Anyone who’s a fan of Little Boots’ toy the Tenori-On might like to have a play with some online versions before shelling out 800 smackeroos.  They’re really easy to use and a bit of fun if you want to procrastinate.

inudge

The induge intereface. Quite intuative and will have you making plinky loveliness in no time.

Online Tone Matrix

This is just a monophonic tone matrix, so only one sound…but it’s just lovely.

Bei dem Online-Sample-Tool Incredibox teilt man Figuren Acapella/Beatbox Soundeffekte zu, was sich nicht nur ganz nett anhört, sondern zusätzlich überraschend unterhaltsam ist.

[via Kfmw]

Wer noch ein paar Nette Online-Musik-Sequencer, die vor allem durch ihre spielerische intuitive Bedienung überzeugen sucht, dem ist wahrscheinlich mit dem iNudge, dem Hobnox 909/303-Online-Emulator und der ToneMatrix geholfen.

[via Nerdcore]

Letztere erinnert an das Tenori-On, welches mal in einer Folge von Tracks vorkam, in der es um Musikinstrumente des 21.Jahrhunderts ging. Und ja, ich will den Reactable.

Das Internet wäre nicht das Internet, wenn es die Folge nicht irgendwo zu sehen gäbe. I love it:

Toshio Iwai’s Playing of an Interactive Musical Device.

An incredible artist, i guess to me he is. An interactive media artist.

Take a look at Toshio Iwai’s Short History if you are interested in Interactive Art.

Video Games Live, l’événement qui fait le tour du monde et fait jouer à un orchestre symphonique les plus grands thèmes de jeux video passera par le Palais des Congrès de Paris cette année encore. Un concours est organisé pour l’occasion, et le vainqueur aura la chance de jouer sur scène pendant le spectacle, devant 3800 personnes.

Voici ma participation, si vous voulez m’aider, votez pour la video (en cliquant sur la 5è étoile en bas à droite de la vidéo), commentez-la, envoyez le lien à vos contacts, et postez-le sur les sites et forums qui pourraient être intéressés! Je dois gagner ce concours!

Un grand merci d’avance!

Bad Things (Jace Everett)

MP3

Afternoon!

Monday was a sad day for me, but also a happy day.
I went to see my dad’s grave…it was…an odd experience, I was quite worried the night before, not really knowing how I was going to feel, and I still don’t know how I felt.It was a very mixed up mish-mash of emotions, a part of me was happy because after so long I was there with my dad again, but at the same time I was sad because it reminded me, in cold hard stone, that he was dead. Luckily I had a good friend with me who was a great comfort.

The rest of the week has been pretty uneventful, but I have been listening to FrankMusik’s debut album all week, it is absolutely brilliant, it moves the heart whilst moving the body in a trance/rave/electronica/pop blend of sounds and beats. ‘Gotta Boyfriend’ and ‘Your Boy’ are two of my absolute favourites. Check him out, NOW!!

Yesterday I saw Bill Bailey on stage!! Absolutely brilliant. Although me and my friend agree that since his first few sets, he has grown considerably more bitter about the world. The fuzzy warm Klingon of Devon has become the political lemon-faced troll, but he does a damn good job with that theremin, and I don’t think anyone else could get away with drawing a swastika on a tenori-on. He’s a brilliant performance artist, I use that term rather than comedian, because although he is a lyrical genius with jokes, he also delivers some amazing musical performances as well a general on-stage banter with hecklers, and can also be quite informative as well with some of his chosen subject matters, such as Barnacles or Iranian instruments. Lets hope he keeps going for many years to come!

I’m off to Kent for a week now, woop!!

Got my hands on a Tenori-On just as I was starting on the Artistry project. Had a go at creating some rhythm loops for the video, but I didn’t get to use them at all in the end. They are unfinished and unpolished, and I’m no musician, but it really doesn’t take much to create a loop on this beautiful instrument. It’s pure genius and mad fun.

I created both pieces on the go and it definitely beats burying my head in a PSP or DS any day.

Back in September 2007, Björk headlined the Austin City Limits Music Festival (’round these parts, we just call it ACL). She came to support Volta, which was released in May of the same year. Many of my friends were clamoring to go, and may have interpreted my reticence to go as snobbish or elitist (or maybe they thought I was just being a hater). I would’ve loved to have seen Björk — I’ve been a huge fan since I was ten — but knew I wasn’t going to be happy with her show in a festival setting. It would’ve been hot, I would’ve been sweaty, I probably wouldn’t have been able to see her, much less hear her, and there weren’t enough other musical acts I wanted to see that in my mind validated buying a pass. It very well may make me a hater.

All of this is to say that, apart from actually being there, the performances in Björk’s Voltaïc is exactly how I would have wanted to see her. It’s a must-see.

Voltaïc is actually a four-disc set, complete with one DVD of music videos for songs from Volta, one CD comprised of remixed versions of songs from Volta, one live CD, and one live DVD featuring two very different musical performances. This last aspect of the collection will be what I focus on in this post.

The first performance on the DVD is a concert in Reykjavík. The venue is Langholtskirkja Church. She performs several pieces from Medúlla, which features songs primarily arranged in a capella and the voice providing a myriad of surprising instrumental possibilities. She has a mixed choir backing her for songs like “Mouth’s Cradle” and “Who Is It?” and what I wouldn’t give to have been in that ensemble. And when she does perform with more traditional instrumentation, as she does with “The Dull Flame of Desire,” she is backed by an all-female Icelandic brass ensemble. Churches tend to be built for sound, and Langholtskirkja is no exception. The space allows Björk and her various ensembles a larger, deeper, richer sonic resonance for their musical interplay.

The second performance, which is from a show in Paris, is a wild, post-global, post-colonial affair. Fitting for a tour to promote an album that boasts songs like “Earth Intruders” and “Declare Independence,” the set is draped with flags that depict frogs and trees as national emblems. Female members of the backing band are slathered in day-glo war paint and feathers.

It may be easy to theorize these accoutrements as reductionist in their allegiance to primitivism (or as petty theivery to the imagery global pop stars like M.I.A. have popularized), but I hasten to abide by this argument without knowing more about Icelandic folklore. Also, there is a concerted effort made to juxtapose traditional instruments with electronics, thus providing a larger set of possibilities for how popular music can sound and how it can be made. On this stage, a harpsichord and a brass ensemble can co-exist with a Reactable, a Tenori-On, and a tricked-out drum kit. Likewise, the instrumentalists are notably mixed gender (though not mixed race); Jónas Sen plays harpsichord, Chris Corsano of Don Caballero is on drums, Mark Bell and Damian Taylor fiddle with electronics, and Björk’s brass ensemble appear again, suggesting that this new nation will be run by a bunch of pissed-off female warrior punks who have no real use for man’s phallic preoccupation with guitars. It’s a world I’d be fine with.

But both performances put primary importance on the voice, as it’s clearly the instrument Björk values most. Indeed, she is quick to remind, the voice is an instrument, and thus the vocalist is not simply a site of objectification but a portal of subjectivities. You get a sense in these performances, which are at such contrast with one another, how sensitive, durable, and complex Björk’s intonation and phrasing are and just how distinct her voice is. Oh, that voice. If we want to borrow from Roland Barthes and his discussion of the grain of the voice, we might put Björk on one end of the spectrum and, say, Neko Case, on the other. If Case’s voice has no grain, and is perfectly pitched and clear, then perhaps it would be fair to say that Björk’s is all grain — excitingly, exhuberantly, defiantly flawed. 

I also appreciate how Björk incorporates stage presence as an extension of her voice, and how the performances capture this as a set of discursive practices than singular entity. Maybe I come up with the word “reverent” because of the venue, but her Reykjavík performance is meditative, quiet, and thoughtful. By contrast, her Paris performance is, to borrow from the title of an earlier tune, “violently happy” (made all the more remarkable for me when I read that she was sick during that particular show).

Likewise, I appreciate how she uses clothing to convey mood and reflect the tone she’s trying to convey in her set list. In the Reykjavík show, we see a slinky, celestial Björk in a form-fitting sequined dress, purple tights, red wedges, and her hair wrapped in braids. Through fashion, Björk suggests that this performance will be self-possessed, intimate, and a bit sensual (amen!). In the Paris concert, however, her costuming is wild and colorful, pairing wide, brightly patterned, ruffly dresses with metallic leggings that allow her to take up maximum space on stage. Notably, her hair is down, waving about her shoulders. Her feet are bare. This is a great physical reflection of her set list, which emphasizes the punkish electronica of Volta, Homogenic, and Post.

And yet. All of this madness, all of this self-containment, all of these contradictions, and all of this joy is organized by one pixieish Icelandic woman who thrives on the beautiful chaos generated from multiple players, multiple instruments, and multiple personas. But she’s the same person who responds to the end of each song with a shy nod or a politely clipped “merci, bien!” Whether in church or going hunting, she’s always Björk.

victoria hesketh - little boots

photo by mike refuerzo

this MGMT cover with the tenori-on is AMAZING.

shes so talented.