Making MIDI Music with the Yamaha Tenori-On

Chris Pirillo — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 10:30:46 +0000

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I have no musical ability or talent at all. It’s not for lack of trying, I assure you. I love music, and I love creating music. Thanks to the person from the community who recommended this great new toy, I can do this easily! And… special thanks to Ponzi for getting me this for Christmas!

The TENORI-ON from the folks at Yamaha is just amazing. It’s absolutely COOL. It’s so new, you cannot purchase it in the United States as of yet. Using this, you can easily and quickly create your own music, and even save it! You can’t go wrong… with the TENORI-ON, there is no such thing as “bad music”.

You’re going to create your music by changing instrument sounds, and adding different “layers”, so to speak. As the first chords you created loop, you can add another… and another… and, you get the point. As I was demonstrating the TENORI-ON during this recording, the community members in the live.pirillo.com chat room were all dancing in their chairs. This is a lot of fun, and you’ll be the hit at any party!

The TENORI-ON is a unique 16 x 16 LED button matrix performance instrument with a stunning visual display. For DJs & producers it is a unique performance tool enabling them to perform using MIDI and load the TENORI-ON with samples to ‘jam / improvise’ within their set BPMs.

TENORI-ON layers can be thought of as “performance parts” or “recording tracks.” The TENORI-ON has a total of 16 layers. Separate notes and voices can be assigned to each layer, and all layers can be played together in synchronization.
The 16 layers are divided into six performance mode groups as shown in the illustration below. The six modes have different note entry methods and operation. Up to 16 layers created using different modes can be combined for rich, complex musical expression.

Once complete set of 16 layers is called a “block.”
The TENORI-ON can store up to 16 programmed blocks (16-layer groups) in memory, and you can switch from block to block instantly during performance.
You could, for example, create a musical composition in one block, then copy that composition to another block and edit it to create a variation of the original composition. Or you can load a number of previously-created compositions into separate blocks from an SD Memory Card and switch between them to create variation during playback.

The TENORI-ON retails for about $1200.00. It may seem pricey to you, but it can be used by DJ’s and professional Musicians. It’s being used on several artist’s upcoming albums, so be on the ‘listen’ for the TENORI-ON. You can also listen to a free demo!

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Making MIDI Music with the Yamaha Tenori-On

Chris Pirillo » tenori

Making MIDI Music with the Yamaha Tenori-On