Tame Impala‘s Kevin Parker has launched a new device, Orchid, with his company, Telepathic Instruments.
In a video describing Orchid, Telepathic explains that it “looks like a synth with a keyboard and some buttons.”
“But Orchid is not just a synth,” it continues. “Orchid is more like an ‘ideas machine.'”
Basically, you can play a note using the keys and augment it with the buttons to, for example, make the note major or minor. You can also use a dial to select different effects.
“Using the synth’s unique chord logic system, users can craft seemingly endless variations of chords with ease and precision, together with its unprecedented chord voicing system that pitches and positions chords at the turn of a single dial,” Telepathic says. “This process effectively expands the potential of the chords to an entire piano’s key set, not just the 12 velocity sensitive keys found on the unit.”
