Yamaha's Tenori-On music maker gets reviewed

It's been over two years since we first heard of the Tenori-On instrument, and it's just now hitting boutique audio shops and a particular reviewer's hands. For those who have been hyping themselves up over this thing, we don't exactly have oodles of good news to share, and while the negatives did seem to outweigh the positives, here's the gist of it. On the bright side, the music maker is unique, cute and quite intuitive. It also got brownie points for boasting internal speakers and for being able to run on batteries. Unfortunately, it rings up at £599 (around $1,200), and it simply "feels too cheap" to cost so much; additionally, it lacks touch sensitivity and a hardware volume control. Granted, the hardcore fans may still find the issues acceptable, so do yourself a favor and hit the pros and cons list in the read link below before jumping to conclusions.

[lyl545646 @ Oct 9th 2007 7:11AM]

Don't bother clicking this.... I tried...

[wodheila @ Oct 9th 2007 7:31AM]

I'll stick with my Strat.

[Alan Partridge @ Oct 9th 2007 8:06AM]

When you see this thing in action (with someone who knowshow to use the thing) its pretty damn cool - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SGwDhKTrwU

[Marty @ Oct 9th 2007 8:25AM]

Hey, I hope the kid in the picture made sure his shirt is lead-free.

[chris @ Oct 9th 2007 8:31AM]

The reactable is so much cooler than this toy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h-RhyopUmc

[sovyanz @ Oct 9th 2007 10:37AM]

i wonder how you will order these, they look just like bombs

[jmdbcool @ Oct 9th 2007 3:30PM]

Wow. That is way too much money for a simple music toy like this. He said it in the review, it's not a synth, and it feels like a toy. So why not market it as a toy? Something along the lines of the DS game Electroplankton-- a fun music toy. I would pay $40 or $50 for a simpler version of this (they could ditch the Midi-out, and the LED menu). If they marketed it correctly, it would be a great device to teach kids about music, and a fun toy for us big kids to play with too.

I've been waiting a long time for this to become available, ever since I saw that video years ago. Right now, I'm pretty disappointed.

[The Jeremy @ Oct 9th 2007 8:03PM]

Pfff...unimpressed compared to the Hotz Box and that was back in circa 1988. Too bad the music industry players squelched it and Atari didn't end up mass-producing it.

[ros_eee @ Oct 15th 2007 5:15PM]

Did you actually try it or did you just copy this from someone elses review?

[Mike @ Nov 1st 2007 11:52AM]

Just thought I'd let everyone know that DV247.COM have got them in stock! Yamaha Tenori-On