This new instrument, the TENORI-ON, enables people to draw music. This adds a visual element to the music itself. The inventor says people can compose music in 20 minutes. The TENORI-ON has many buttons that are assigned to a specific note and color. This, to me, is a breakthrough that people have been waiting for for a long time. People who aren't "artsy" (drawing wise), are able to use their musical abilities to visualize their compositions. The same thing goes for people who aren't music oriented. The best thing is that each product is hand made, not factory assembled. It is a top quality product. The TENORI-ON is even polished. It makes me excited to see what else they come up with.
Yamaha says strong interest in new music machine
1 hour ago
TOKYO (AFP) — Yamaha says it is seeing brisk interest in a new digital musical instrument that enables users to create and play music as if they are drawing pictures.
After a successful advance launch in Britain, Yamaha offered the instrument online in Japan last week at 121,000 yen (1,170 dollars) each.
It has already sold a few hundred of the new instrument, against planned sales of 1,000 in Japan for the entire first year, according to the company.
The square device, measuring 20 centimetres (eight inches) by 20 centimetres, has 256 buttons in rows on one side that can be played in various modes.
To make a basic sequence, the player just pushes buttons which are assigned specific notes.
"You will be able to compose music in 20 minutes," Yu Nishibori, one of the developers of the TENORI-ON, told AFP.
The LED buttons also create visual effects such as dots, lines or more complex patterns as the machine plays music.
In the "draw mode," the user freely draws a line to create music, while the "push mode" makes pushing buttons cause a ripple effect, with surrounding buttons illuminating with gradually changing tones.
The TENORI-ON -- the name is coined from "tenori" meaning palm-held in Japanese, has another set of 256 buttons on the backside that illuminate to any watching audience as the performer plays the music.
Despite its silver-metallic, factory-automation look, the instrument requires a great deal of manual labour to make, including polishing, Nishibori said.
"The TENORI-ON is made entirely in Japan and manually for the most part. It's impossible to mass-produce it at a factory," he said, arguing it was a piece of "artwork" like a good acoustic piano.
Yamaha started selling the device in North America and Europe, except Britain, at about the same time as the Japanese launch last week.
Well...America seems to have done it again. They managed to find a way to be lazy while trying to fix our little weight problem. The Nintendo Wii workout games are designed to give Americans proper exercise. Nintendo has found the perfect formula. Give the people virtual exercise. The youth of America will most likely take this hook, line, and sinker. Not only have video games corrupted the minds of America's youth, it has brainwashed them into doing nothing but playing video games. Even when they aren't playing them, they are talking about them. Video games own the youth of America. This Solution is indeed perfect on Nintendo's part. People have been rotting in front of their tv screens ever since duck hunter and Mario. Why not give them something else to do while they rot? Because waving your arms around is getting plenty of exercise. I honestly don't understand why people can't go outside and get some real exercise. Why is it that we feel like it is better exercise if we are skiing down a hill. Guess what! You aren't even moving. Have people even thought about this concept? This is a Video game that helps make you fit? seems contradictory to me. "Wii Fit allows you to break a sweat in front of your TV." Does this sound right to you?
Wii Fit Debuts in U.S. to Help Fight Flab
Nintendo's Wii Fit hits U.S. stores today promising to be the latest exercise fad to draw weight-conscious Americans to Nintendo's popular gaming console. Wii Fit allows you to break a sweat in front of your TV to 40 fitness activities including strength training, aerobics, yoga, skiing, and snowboarding. The game's activities all take place on a small balance board that can sense when you are leaning forward, backward, to the side or even crouching.
Already a mega-hit in Japan after its release last year, Wii Fit is expected to sell three million copies in the U.S. over the next few months, and is already sold out online and many stores across the country have sold their supplies through pre-orders.
Wii Fit is expected to be the next hit for a video game console that has been consistently defying expectations against its competitors Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's Playstation 3. In April, the Wii sold 714,000 units, which was almost double the sales of the Xbox and PS3 combined during the same period. Unlike, the other two consoles, the Wii has a broad family appeal despite its inability to match with the other two consoles in terms of graphics capability. Nevertheless, Wii Fit is expected to be the next big video game hit following the release of Grand Theft Auto IV in April.
As with other Nintendo hits, Wii Fit sprouted from the mind of Shigeru Miyamoto, the video game wizard behind the "Mario" and "Zelda" titles. The idea behind Wii Fit came to Miyamoto almost four years ago as he was tracking his own weight, he says. In an interview with Reuters, Miyamoto remarked that the concept for the balance board came after an employee discovered it was fun to try and balance on two floor scales at once.
Wii Fit has already generated impressive buzz - before the game has even arrived in U.S. Early reviews are very positive, but only time will tell if the game becomes a hit or share the fate of the countless fitness fads.
CREDIT - PC World contributor Ian Paul filed this report
