Yamaha Corp. is releasing a next-generation musical instrument, the Tenori-on, which the company claims allows people to intuitively create and play music by pressing 256 colorfully illuminated buttons.
Knowledge of music composition is not needed, and tunes can even be created by randomly pressing the buttons, Yamaha said.
A matrix of 16 x 16 buttons is arrayed on a square board measuring 20 cm x 20 cm. The vertical order represents the musical scale, and the horizontal order represents the time and order the sounds are to be played, according to Yamaha.
By interacting with the buttons, a variety of music can be played, accompanied by corresponding lights that blink on the other side of the board, the company said.
The Tenori-on, which comes with 256 preinstalled sounds and can take others via memory card, will go on sale May 20 priced at ¥121,000.
