Yamaha shows their newest electronic keyboard design concepts at the Milano Salone 2008, an exhibition of interieur and design. They present a series of physical keyboard that are adequate for different situations of the everyday life. If we trust them, in the near future we will choose a keyboard instrument not on the technical parameters but the physical abilities that determines the concrete usability of a piece. In this world, keyboards are much more blending into the environment - a rather practical approach to the composers' mind. A very dull flash application shows how.

Frankfurt' Musikmesse, the world's biggest musical instrument and studio equipment show was held last week, and we were there of course to have an insider view of the current state of the music industry. We experienced slightly even worse mood than last year, the industry's weaking and transforming rapidly. Three sharp process can be observed:

After the huge success Tenori-On's worldwide availability was only a question of time. Now we have the answer: in the first day of Musikmesse, Frankfurt a series of launch parties is starting. The first event will be held of course in Frankfurt, at a bar called Nachtleben, in 12th, March (admission is free). You can read the full list of parties and the acts performing there here.

Yamaha starts a new MIDI controller keyboard family which has solution for a wide range of needs. Starting with the two-octave KX25 (on the picture), the biggest model is a real, 88-key monster, KX8. All have USB connection, bundled with Cubase AI4 version, and their finest feature is the sophisticated arpeggiator with 342 patterns. The product page is very detailed, check it. Price still not known.

Every year PC World makes a top list of what they found the most innovative products of the year. This year's sensation for us is that an electronic musical instrument, Yamaha's Tenori-On succeeded in dropping the list between iPhone, Google gadgets, 100 USD laptop and so on. Tenori-On has become the 16. - the full list can be checked here. Congratulations for Yamaha and we hope this surprise will strengthen all the leaders of the company to distribute the instrument worldwide as soon as possible.

Japanese musical instrument giant, Yamaha has announced yesterday they had a successful negotiation with the Austrian financial investor company that owns all the shares of Bösendorfer. According this, they will acquire all the shares of Bösendorfer earlier next year, at a price which is not public (still).

Rumours said Yamaha guaranteed to keep the manufacturing process in Vienna, the city which cannot be imagined without the Bösendorfer sound. The company has 180 employees now, and makes a turnover of 13 million euro per year.

Here comes the official press release.

Yamaha's new wonder device, Tenori-On has launched in order this week, and its web site has opened fully also. It is still available in the UK only but the smart teaser campaign worked well: all the stocks were running out in some days. Price can't be said cheap, around 1200 USD, and inside is an AWM2 tone generator with 253 presets and a polyphony of 32. It can handle uploaded samples also, but this is not the most sophisticated feature of the instrument. It has six operation modes, which determines the functionality of the 16-by-16 LED matrix. Own sound is generated via a small speaker, and there is MIDI In and out, plus an SD card slot. Wish I could try it soon.

Things like this were mentioned as instruments of the XXI. century a couple of years ago - and really! Yamaha considers their newest baby, Tenori-On as a game thus they distribute it only within the UK but nobody knows what can be the future of this device. What we can see is we can get - a 16 by 16 push button matrix with LED inside, but the actual spec will be revealed only in 4th September at the launch parties and on its website which is still half-empty nowadays.

This futuristic Yamaha drum controller called DD-65 will be available this summer. it has eight pads, two pedal inputs, and has an own speaker set but has professional features also like the drum stand kit and the CF card slot, plus the USB. it has more than 200 sounds, the sequencer has a capacity of 100 songs, it has reverb, eq, and you can play it not only with sticks but with hand also.

Only hours passed only since the latest Yamaha press release of the new, affordable Motif and we have one more new Motif, promised for April. The Motif XS6 is targeted for the professional area with its price of 2800 USD, but it has features also. A big touch screen, 8 knobs and faders, not less than 355 megabyte of waveform ROM, sampling RAM expandable to 1 gigabyte, four smart arpeggiators, and built-in sequencer. One of the most powerful workstations of the time, no doubt. With bundled Cubase AI. Here you can preorder.

It is said that Yamaha's new and small Motif called MM6 Mini Mo will hit the streets in January. It has basically the same sound generator than its big predecessor but doesn't include the workstation features so we get a normal, very capable but affordable 61-keys hardware synth for 700 USD. As you can see on the picture the real-time knobs are still there and they will be the key features in the marketing as I suspect - besides the reasonable amount of preprogrammed grooves which make the instrument an ideal entry-level live synth. A small version of Cubase is also a part of the package... Check a dealer's site.