Yamaha Tenori-On music sequencer Video

Yamaha Tenori-On music sequencer Video Transcript

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>> Hey. I'm Donald Bell, senior editor for digital, audio, and MP3, and today we're taking a First Look at the Yamaha Tenori-On. Electronic musicians are at a lack of options when it comes to performing their music. Often audiences are forced to watch some guy behind a laptop point and click his way through the song. I should know. My own brief electronic music career eventually bored even me. Electronic musicians have always struggled to make their performances more interesting for audiences, but no amount of keyboards, drum machines, and laptops can make up for the fact that fans are often left staring at musicians who poke and prod their way around a mysterious lump of complicated gear. The Tenori-On music sequencer is Yamaha's attempt to offer these musicians an instrument that is as fun to play as it is for audiences to watch. The musical concept behind the Tenori-On isn't revolutionary. With a 16 by 16 grid of notes, programming the Tenori-On isn't much different than playing my 1985 Roland TR-707 drum machine. The key distinction between these two pieces of gear is the Tenori-On's unique design and emphasis on live performance. Unlike my old drum machine, there are six different ways to create sequences of notes, or riffs, on the Tenori-On and 256 different sounds that can be linked to each of the sequences. The first of the six sequence modes uses a traditional piano roll-style grid, where notes are organized top to bottom by pitch, and left to right by time. The second mode is a random mode, where you can plot multiple notes and let the Tenori-On randomly alternate between them. The third mode is a draw mode that repeats any movements made on the surface of the instrument. The fourth mode is called "bounce mode" and let's you trigger notes as thought they are being pulled on by gravity. The fifth mode, push mode, generates long, continuous tones. And finally, the sixth mode is a solo mode that allow you to improvise over your sequence. So all these different composing techniques can be layered on top of one another to create complex sequences of looping sounds. Because the Tenori-On's light up grid can be seen on either side of the device, the instrument is visual for audiences as well, which is a critical selling point to electronic musicians who are tired of performing behind a laptop. Other features include an SD card slot for loading your own sounds or storing song sequences. Two rows of five function keys for quickly flipping through the various controls, such as volume, pitch, instrument, and sequence mode, a two-inch LCD screen and navigation controls for accessing the more advanced features, a headphone jack, MIDI jack, and DC power jack. And one the back, you'll find two battery compartments that fit a total of six double A batteries. I'm Donald Bell, and that was a First Look at the Yamaha Tenor-On. ^M00:02:50 [ Music ]