- Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker has brought a decade-long vision to life with The Orchid synthesiser.
- The Aussie producing phenom who’s notably collaborated with Kanye West, Travis Scott, Rihanna, Dua Lipa, and Lady Gaga has developed this through his company Telepathic Instruments.
- Limited to just 1,000 units, The Orchid will be available to purchase from December 18th for US$549 (AU$845).
Grammy-nominated Kevin Parker of Tame Impala fame has distilled his years of producing and songwriting knowhow into an intuitive music synthesiser like no other.
Developed by Telepathic Instruments — the audio hardware company Parker co-founded alongside Ignacio Germade — The Orchid has been described as an advanced “idea machine” that’ll enable you to “expand the possibilities of songwriting and musical exploration.”
RELATED: JBL’s New Tour Pro 3 Earbuds Unlock Wireless Freedom Everywhere (Even At 36,000 Feet)
One that allows you to freely stumble and discover what you’re after without extensive music theory at your intellectual disposal.
The Orchid features a matrix of eight keys to select and modify chords, along with a single-octave keyboard to choose a root note and trigger said chords. But don’t be fooled by the compact design: you can still generate sounds like an 88-key piano by leveraging the controls.
The velocity-sensitive keys also mean you can dictate the volume based on how hard (or softly) you make contact.
At the heart of this gamechanger is a “chord logic system” that enables mixing and matching of virtually infinite chord combinations without manually having to play them, and a patent-pending voicing dial.
As for what kind of soundscapes you can expect, by all accounts this includes: everything from jazz to retro-futuristic effects emulating the moon. The four different types of Performance Modes are ‘strum’, ‘slop’, ‘arpeggiator’, and ‘harp’ — each one offering control over how chords are triggered like never before.
RELATED: 17 Cutting-Edge Christmas Gifts For The Tech Obsessive In Your Life
Additionally, The Orchid includes an obligatory looping mode, 16-voice polyphonic synth engine with onboard ambience, all the usual onboard effects (e.g. reverb, delay), modulation FX, a separate bottom-end bass synth engine, dual stereo built-in speakers, MIDI output, plus a rechargeable battery.
The only catch? This deliciously retro bit of kit will be limited to just 1,000 units. At least to begin with.
Telepathic Instruments and Kevin Parker’s The Orchid will be available to purchase from December 18th for US$549 (AU$845) — hit the link below for all the details.
