Musical items wash up on the Beach fairly often, but this time I had to check twice to make sure it was exactly that. Yamaha's new concept music maker, the Tenori-On, puts a new spin on the the ideal of digital music. Toshio Iwai, the creator, says the inspiration for the device came to him from manual paper tape music boxes. The Tenori-On features 256 Leds (16 x 16) on both sides so that the composer and the audience can enjoy the light show. The screen (for lack of a better name) picks out the placement of the note on what I would imagine to be a virtual running musical paper feed (not unlike a player piano) while the side function buttons set octave, sound, tempo and more. The Tenori-On is not exactly cheap at $1158, and it starts shipping on May 12, 2008. I have to say it, the phrase "Musical Etch-A-Sketch" does come to mind.
Aloha from the Beach,
greg
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