Thoughts and photos from the Tenori-on Berlin event.
Posted April 9th, 2008 by Oliver CheslerFiled Under: hardware, live performance, synthesizer
Last night I went to the infamous and quite beautiful nightclub Berghain in Berlin to see the Tenori-on launch event. I’ve been highly interested in the Tenori-on since I first read about it almost a year ago. The device is right up my alley: a sequencer, white leds, and it’s made for live performance. So what did I think when I finally got to see it in person?
When I walked into Berghain they had kiosks hooked up with several 
Tenori-on available to use. Right away I was shocked at how bright the white leds bling out at you. You instantly get that “wow this is futuristic” feeling.
Upstairs in the main room it was crowded as I suspected it would be. I mean come on this is Berlin where even the women are sequencer freaks! Lots of people wearing Ableton shirts and the stage had four Macbooks ready to accompany the Tenoris. This was my kind of geekfest!
We heard three live acts before the inventor of the Tenori, Toshio Iwai would talk. The first two acts were ho hum. I was mesmerized by the Tenori but the music and technique of the first performers was not interesting. The third act Sutekh from San Fransisco blew me away! I never really heard of this guy before but most of my friends did. He played all noise and he had the Tenoris led display going crazy. It was quite evil and machine like. I cant explain what he was doing but the Tenori-on’s display reminded me of the scene in 2001 A Space Odyssey when they travel through the worm hole. Inside the visuals he was doing two things at once and they seemed to be going at different speeds. I even think he played a game of pong! Without the visual aspect would I have like the music so much?
Finally it was time for Tenori Toshio to speak. He gave a really incredible powerpoint style talk. He detailed how he got the idea to create the Tenori-on. He showed the early software he programmed, including a game that was never released for the Super Nintendo system. He showed his art installations all which had elements of the Tenori-on. Finally he took us by video to Yamaha and the factory where the Tenori-on is created. He ended with a video of a robot who polishes the metal on the Tenori. I was laughing pretty hard when I realized the robot was talking to itself as it finished tasks.
There was a full night of performances after Toshio Iwai spoke. I will have some interviews from some of those artists on Wire to the Ear soon. You will find it pretty interesting how they were invited to perform for this tour and what they received as payment!
To see the full set of photos from this event: click here
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haven’t heard of sutekh???
oh man… he’s one of my absolute favourites. you have to check out his ‘live’ album ‘incest.’ it is truly one of the most sublime moments in the whole force inc digital glitch funk aesthetic. i had the pleasure of seeing him live and meeting him for the first time @ mutek last summer in montreal. i believe he’s also done a battery kit or two for native instruments. brilliant sound designer… can’t say enough about his work. that whole san fran glitch scene is really great: check out his buddy twerk as well and kit clayton.
graham
Please tell me they got free Tenori’s as compensation! Or at least a magic upgrade coupon for a Tenori for Gb sample storage in one. Fuck I want two of em with a kp3 in the middle…and a Lemur controller…god damm gearlust….back to my M1 VST reliving the 90’s..
…and BTW Im visualiing Mr Chesler beating a light brite on stage …its like i felt when I saw Tony Baccala on the Sopranos in a choo choo Charlie hat playing with a train set which was really fucked up for Sopranos fans especially when the week before we saw him bust a cap in some canadian dude and give Tony Soprano ass whoopin hell never forget…ahem ahem…
…or like the first time i saw Adam X in Groove with a shaved head and leather pants!! I still wonder what synth he used on Audiobiography..do I smell an X interview coming?? That’d be hot.
Hi Graham. I’ve been doing my research on him since the show. Def some cool stuff.
Hi. digitalbeatsyndrome. Yes indeed… they did get free Tenoris! Not bad for a short live set. The received them 2 months in advance to have time to prepare.
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