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Doc Sam, That DJ Made My Day! |
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Dr. Samuel Says -
Arts & Science
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Written by Dr. Samuel Centralia, Ph.D., D.D.S., Esq.
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Wednesday, 05 September 2007 |
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While my background is principally in theoretical physics, applied metallurgy and subsonic detonations, you might be surprised to know that I can also bring the block-rocking beats. So I'm psyched to talk about today's item, an electronic supergadget that may well prove to be among the first genuinely new musical instruments of the 21st century.
 Having essentially burnt out on international corporate espionage in
the late 1980s, I spent a couple years tucked into San Francisco's
nascent rave scene . Under my stage name, DJ Doc Binary, I cultivated an
intimate knowledge of electronic music, as well as semisynthetic
entactogens . The long-established trouble with electronic music is that
you need a lot of hardware, and are ultimately bound to the traditional
piano keyboard. Yamaha's new widget aims to change all that.
The tenori-on (Japanese for "sound in your palm," roughly) is an 8-inch
square touch-sensitive instrument that allows musicians to create beats
and sequences by tapping their fingers along the surface. Both the
front and back faces of the tenori-on consist of a 16 x 16 matrix of
LED buttons that function both as interface and display. Each LED
button is keyed to drum beat, bassline, audio sample, what-have-you.
(You can use the unit's formidable array of built-in tracks, or upload
your own via MIDI device.) Once you've compiled your elements into a
complete set, you save it as a "block." Because the display lights up
each button/track, you have a visual representation of your
synchronized tracks.
In terms of pure function, it's not much different than various digital
turntablism devices already employed worldwide. But you have to love
that form! Combining finger-painting and music-making, the tenori-on
certainly presents as a new kind of artistic instrument. Plus, a
handheld 8-inch square is much more manageable than a ping-pong table
stacked with sequencers and crossfaders. Still not as cool as a guitar,
though. Guitar players always look cool. Someone playing the tenori-on,
conversely, looks like they're engaged in a particularly intense
session of Etch-a-Sketch.
Still, I'm sure some enterprising young DJ will figure a way to make it
all look sexy. One final detail: You can hook up two tenori-ons for a
synchronized performance. Could this be the DJ battle ground of the
future?
Yamaha is currently test-launching the tenori-on in the UK.
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