Here's the Yamaha press release in full...
First debuted in London in the Winter of 2007 to unprecedented global press interest the amazing Yamaha Tenori-On has captured and fuelled the imagination of some of the world's most influential and creative experimental live and studio musicians, producers, and DJ's including Bjork, Ono Yoko Plastic band and new artists such as Little Boots. The instrument also naturally found it's way into many studios and now figures prominently and regularly at many of the world's major live music events.
The eye - catching and intriguing design had an immediate impact - offering people an intuitive and creative new way of bringing music production and performance together whilst enhancing the two activities in the process, a unique attribute. Since 2007 Tenori-On has also picked up numerous prestigious design awards thanks to it's addictive and brilliant interface and striking design. Recently it won a coveted place in New York's Museum of Modern Art.
But, as is often the case with new concepts, Tenori-On was admired and desired but often out of the reach of the millions of people who posted 'I want one' comments online - now the Tenori-On evolution continues as Yamaha unveil the eagerly awaited and more 'wallet friendly' addition to the Tenori-On family - The Tenori-On TNR-O 'Orange' .
The new Tenori-On 'Orange' offers the same levels of creative power as the original 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.
Yamaha's Peter Peck explains the thinking "We know everyone loves the concept and fresh approach of Tenori-On, however, as you'd expect we have received thousands of requests for a more affordable version. We therefore looked at many ways of reducing the price without compromising the all-important product concept or creative operating system. By removing the battery option and the back panel LED's and changing the chassis construction from the magnesium found on the original to a more affordable material we have achieved our goal of creating the more affordable Tenori-On 'Orange', bringing the full creative capability of Tenori-On to a much wider audience."
To coincide with the unveiling of the new model Yamaha have also confirmed a free forthcoming firmware update for current Tenori-On customers. Following a range of user comments Yamaha are currently in the process of creating a new operating system which is expected to be available from January 2010.The update will address a number of areas including the syncing of Tenori-On to external DAW applications and offer an improved MIDI sync implementation.
Pricing and Availability:
Tenori-On 'Orange' will be shipping from December 2009 and the final European pricing will be announced during November.
More information:
