The Volume Layer

Actually, I am not very happy with the volume-control from the tenori-on. (R4)
I do not like the vertical style and I cannot do anything else on this page.
So I decided to make a kind of mixer-page on layer8.
Layer8 is one of the Random-Layers and I am not using all 4 of them anyway.
In the moment the 2 top rows are free for new ideas, but the other led´s work as kind of volume-slider. See here how you can set volumes:



The animation of the layer doen`t matter at all, so I put the animation-style to "simple" Size1, that it doesn`t bother me.

You find the new Volume Layer in the new update 0.96, which is availible on the left side of this blog. here is how it looks:

working with the version 0.952

Here you can see a video of working with the version 0.952.
Midi-Channel 1 is a synth-bass, controlled also by layer3 for the filter.
Layer 6 & 7 are playing the drums.
Layer 11 is for the sequenzer and Layer 15 is playing a pad.
Enjoy.

Version 0.952

After the concert on Sunday (which went well) I made a few adjustments and here is the release of version 0.952. (you find it on the left side of this blog)
Whats new?
The Midi-engine for channel1 is much more stable now, polyphony up to 16 voices - no more midi "hangs"...
If included a slider for the note-length now, I always had problems with handling some polyphonic tasks if i put the note length on the tenori-on to high - so the patch is now doing the job, and this works much better.
I am still not happy with the remote-mode. The status of the led`s is not always the status of the patterns or samples trigered in Live, and that makes it somehow quite confusing. If I want to find a solution I have to find out, if the led`s of the Tenori-On can be triggered by Midi-massages. If anybody has a hint for me it would be appreciated !

Version 0.95

I promised to be quick. Here we are: version 0.95 is ready.



Now I have 4 rows on layer5 for the remote-functions - this is triggering 64 samples or whatever and should be enough for the most things I do live.
Also I included the "dubdialer". The 5th row on layer5 on the tenori-on is now sending controller messages, and the value can be set on the dialer itself - great for dubs !

This version I will use on my concert on Sunday and then I decide how to get further on....

the dubdialer

Hey, thank you for your attention - I am now working on the tenori-on "dubdialer" in my application. I wanted to use some dial-function on the tenori-on, so I made a dial which stores the value and can be switches on and off - great for dubs - thats why I called it the dubdialer :-)




There will be a new version soon, because I need it on a concert on Sunday....

Version 0.94

After the concert I began working on a new version, which also enables me to use the tenori-on also as a remote control for Ableton Live.
Here is my version 0.94.





This is only work in progress, but you can control samples now in the gate-mode and there are some basic remote-functions.
The Layers are used as:

Layer1 = Midi-Notes on Midi-Channel1
Layer2 = Velocity for the notes on Midi-Channel1
Layer3 = controller on Midi-channel1 e.a. for Cutoff-Filter
Layer4 = controller on Midi-channel1 e.a. for Resonance
Layer5 = basic remote-functions

I noticed that the full polyphony is not working correctly, so in the moment Midi-Channel1 works only with up to 4 voices, but its only 0.94...:-)

Live

Yesterday was my first live-concert with the tenori-on.
I used the Fadervox for controlling Ableton Live and with the Tenori-On and my "tenori-on helper" I programmed a few sequences on the spot and played some solos in the solo-mode.
Everything went well and I am glad that I can adjust the synchronisation of the Midi-clock!
Here are some impressions of the setup:

Some more videos

Here are some more videos about and with the tenori-on:

Old video with Toshio Iwai on the Art Futura 05


Toshio Iwai on the Ars Electronica 06


Zwei Videos auf sonicstate:

The tenori-on helper 0.9

I am using different midi-controller for a long time now. Even in the "Pre-Midi" era I played a kind of weird controller called "The Digitarre" (The Digi-Guitar), which was controlling a huge digital sequencer.
I normally play Donald Buchlas "Thunder" and "Lightning II" as my Midi-controllers I am very much into sequencing and Midi-controller, so decided to buy the Tenori-On in London.
First of all, its a great machine. It is such fun to play it!

But, and there are a few "but", if you are looking not only from the side of having fun with it - if you would like to use it as a serious tool in live-situations:

1.The way blocks can be copied and arranged is very easy. Put it would also be very helpful, if there would be a possibilty to automate the arrangement of the blocks, to create songs. I also would like a kind of arranger very much. And: It also would make perfect sense, if I could stack some of the blocks together, to create longer patterns.

2. The tenori-On puts out Midi-Notes. The velocity is always 100. To control external synthesizers it would be great to give the possibilty to assign a layer to different mode, like sending controller. I made a small program in MAX/MSP, which I will describe later on.

3.To use the Tenori-On as a tool for a DAW, the Midi-clock is not useable, because of two reasons: First it is a Midi-Clock and not a Midi-timecode, which makes it a little unstable, and second, it has a delay. I tried it on different computer-systems with 3 different Midi-Interfaces and the Midi-Clock has a delay between 50 and 65ms in tempo 120 in master, as well as in slave-mode. This is not usable for using the Tenori-on as a programmer for sequences in DAWs. But I also found a workaround.

4. It is not really handy and possible to use the tenori-on as a controller for Ableton Live. Because of the Midi-Out situation it coul only provide 16 Midi-Notes on each Layer, and also not very flexible - I have to think about a patch with Max/Msp.

First solution:
I wrote this MAX/MSP-patch called the "tenori-on helper" and i gave it the version-number 0.9, because I finished it today, and I am not sure if everything is working without mistakes.
The program does:

1. You can adjust to Midi-Clock in ms to your DAW, the only thing is, that you tenori-on has to start on the second beat - then everything works in sync - adjustable for each Midi-Channel.

2. I changed as an input for my DAW the first 4 Layers:
Layer1 = Midi-Notes on Midi-Channel1
Layer2 = Velocity for the notes on channel1
Layer3 = controller on channel1 to use it for like Cutoff-Filter
Layer4 = controller on channel1 to use it for like Resonance

If you are interested to try this out, you will find the software here:
The tenori-on helper 0.9 (6.5mb)

Feedback is welcome......

The Modes

If you are not familiar with the tenori-on - here you can find the official videos from Yamaha.

This is the score mode:
http://www.tenori-on.co.uk/movies/ScoreMode.mov

This is the random mode
http://www.tenori-on.co.uk/movies/RandomMode.mov

This is the draw mode
http://www.tenori-on.co.uk/movies/DrawMode.mov

This is the bounce mode
http://www.tenori-on.co.uk/movies/BounceMode.mov

This is the push mode
http://www.tenori-on.co.uk/movies/PushMode.mov

This is the solo mode
http://www.tenori-on.co.uk/movies/SoloMode.mov

Tenori-On

This blog is about the tenori-on, the new instrument from yamaha.
"Media artist Toshio Iwai and Yamaha have collaborated to design a new digital musical instrument for the 21st century, TENORI-ON. A 16x16 matrix of LED switches allows everyone to play music intuitively, creating a "visible music" interface."

I am one of the happy early users and would like to use it for my favourite DAW "Ableton Live".
The problem is, that the tenori-on is giving only midi-notes as the output - so I have to write a patch with Max/Msp to use it.