Otamatone

The Otamatone (オタマトーン) is an electronic musical instrument synthesizer. It was developed in Japan by the CUBE toy company and the Maywa Denki design firm,[1] led by the brothers Masamichi and Nobumichi Tosa.[2]

Description

It is a singing toy whose body is shaped like an eighth note (it also somewhat resembles a tadpole, "otamajakushi" being Japanese for "tadpole"), with sound emerging from a "mouth" on the notehead. It requires two hands to play: while one hand holds and squeezes the "head", the other hand controls the pitch of the tune by placing the finger on a ribbon controller on the stem; a higher position on the stem creates a lower sound.[3] The ribbon controller is deliberately delinearized to resemble a guitar, so there is a shorter distance between higher notes than between lower ones. Varying the pressure on the head (thereby opening and closing the "mouth" of the instrument) creates a wah-wah effect, and shaking the neck (and thereby slightly changing pressure on the head) creates a vibrato effect. Switches on the back of the head allow users to change octave, turn it off or on, or change the volume.

The sound made by this instrument can be compared to the sound of a theremin,[4] synthesizer, or jinghu.

Variants

Multiple versions are available:

References

  1. "about Otamatone". Retrieved 11 Jan 2017.
  2. "Maywa Denki". Retrieved 11 Jan 2017.
  3. Sarah M. Schlachetzki (March 2014). Fusing Lab and Gallery: Device Art in Japan and International Nano Art. transcript Verlag. pp. 35–. ISBN 978-3-8394-2026-3.
  4. "About Otamatone". Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  5. "Otamatone shop". Retrieved 24 May 2014.
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