Yamaha Tenori-On Version 2

By Paul Dakeyne

January 14, 2010 | Posted in Music Technology

Following the recent launch of the smaller, more affordable and erm.. orange TNR-O, Yamaha this week announce the arrival of Tenori-On version 2. Credited as giving musicians “new composition dimensions and thought processes”, this somewhat enigmatic control surface/MIDI instrument continues its journey of improvement and expanded user expressiveness. Once again working with Japanese media artist, Toshio Iwai, Yamaha have made available a significant firmware update to add new functionality and improve existing features.

Also applicable to the orange TNR-O, tighter operation is promised with instantaneous real-time performance response. A more efficient environment when used with a DAW is also ensured with a much improved midi-sync protocol focused primarily on recognising F2 MIDI song position messages for seamless integration.

Two panel key, global muting (and un-muting) then enters the arena allowing the unit to dynamically interact with other studio or live performances. Add this to the same top panel access for changing loop speeds and ‘out of sync’ trigger points (a nice little feature of the original Tenori-On, but previously hidden deep within a complex menu structure), and you have the audio equivalent of warp drive.

Tenori-On users had previously requested a feature whereby they could expand and edit the instrument’s global note scaling. Yamaha has listened and bestowed version 2 with the ability to create a global ‘user scale’ which allows different notes from different octaves to be sequenced within one single layer (previously confined to just 16 consecutive notes per layer).

Rounding off the version two firmware improvements is the new ‘swing’ function. This gives a very accurate + or – 23 per cent swing ‘feel’ when using the jog wheel in real-time. The creative possibilities of this are encouraging when you consider the Tenori-On, when slaved to a user’s sequencer, could ‘swing’ whilst the DAW audio and MIDI tracks remained rigid. Nice.

So if the mysteries of this unique and mystical machine float your particular musical boat, now you’ve got even more oars to paddle with: just download the new firmware update, stick on a pair of ‘Little Boots’ and you’re off!

About Paul Dakeyne

Paul Dakeyne has written 592 post in this blog.

Paul Dakeyne is a DJ/Producer who has dedicated the past two decades of his life to dance music production and DJ'ing. For six years, he toured globally for the world famous Ministry of Sound and has played DJ sets for the likes of U2 and for the legendary, Kraftwerk, Although remixing around 250 records in his career, as an artist in his own right, Paul landed one of dance music's seminal crossover moments with his "18 Strings' monster hit by Tinman - scoring a UK top ten in 1994. He also co-wrote and produced the music for BBC's Watchdog and Crimewatch when they were both revamped in 2001 and '06 respectively. His other career highlights have included an A&R stint for Mercury Records, lecturing in 'DJ culture and music technology' and creating mash-up mixes for Radio 1's, Chris Moyles. Paul joined the DV group in 2003 leading to his role as blog and feature author here at the DV Mag.

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Tags: Controller, little boots, MIDI instrument, tenori-on, TNR-O, yamaha

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