lawdon

Just some guy. Lapsed podcaster.

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posts from @lawdon tagged #music gear

As a rule, I'm obsessed with futuristic 2000s product design. Everything was chasing a plasticy, silver future that we most certainly did not get. A standout example in music-making equipment I was recently reminded of was the Yamaha Tenori-On, which was essentially a sequencer/synthesizer with a physical GUI. While there are devices of a similar ilk nowadays (things like pad controllers meant for use with a digital audio workstation, such as Novation's products), the type of playful design in such a psuedo-professional package is rarer.

Video demos of the device are pretty rare and old, and as best as I can tell, production didn't continue into the 2010s. It was ridiculously expensive for the time (for a somewhat limited product), with a CNET review from 2008 quoting a cost of $1,200, which is approximately $1650 USD today. The few used units which pop up on the Reverb music gear marketplace continue to cost over $1000, unsurprising given what seems like a fairly limited production run.