TNR-i - US

The iOS version of the world-renowned TENORI-ON brings you a completely new musical interface. Even if you don't know much about music, you can create music intuitively as if you were arranging sounds in space. The music that you see on the 16 × 16 grid of buttons is the music that is performed.

Category	Price	Seller	Device
Music	$19.99	Yamaha Corporation of America	iPhone, iPad, iPod

On the 16 × 16 grid of buttons, basically, the horizontal direction is time, and the vertical direction is pitch.By laying sounds on these buttons, you can combine rhythms and melodies to produce music. A button will glow when its sound is produced. The movements of the glowing lights produce a visual performance.

TNR-i can produce 16 types of sounds at the same time (16 layers), and it can remember up to 16 song patterns produced using those sounds (16 blocks). By switching between song patterns in real time, you can produce a rich variety of musical expressions.
There are six different types of performance modes that you can select for each layer. You can make elaborate music by combining different modes. In score mode, the most fundamental of the modes, you can arrange sounds horizontally (temporally) and vertically (by pitch). In the exciting random mode, the sounds that you arrange are not just played in order—the melody and rhythm constantly change as twists are added. In draw mode, you can perform music by tracing your finger across the buttons as if drawing a picture. In bounce mode, the glowing lights are like bouncing balls that produce sound when they fall. In push mode, you can continuously change the sound as you perform. In solo mode, which is fun for solo performances, you can easily adjust the speed of repetition and the pitch.

First, please try the demo. You can experience the joy of performance just by switching layers.
- Loading the Demo: From the menu (touch the display), touch All Blocks, iD-Xtra_uncTK, and then Load.
- Switching layers: Press R5 and the area that the 16 × 16 buttons are in at the same time. (You can double-tap R5 to hold it and make it easier to switch layers.)

The appeal of TNR-i isn't just limited to its faithful duplication of the TENORI-ON concept and its design and interface, which were developed under the supervision of Toshio Iwai.
If you are connected to a network, you can participate in TNR-i sessions with distant friends and others. Up to four people can connect to each other over a network and enjoy performing together at the same time. First, tap Clear and the display at the same time to activate the Game Center feature. Then, invite your friends, or use the auto-match feature to automatically select a partner, and start your session.
For more details, see page 23 of the internal manual.
Manual: From the menu (touch the display), touch System Menu and then Manual.

If you update the TENORI-ON (TNR-w or TNR-o) to version 2.1 and use it with TNR-i, you can participate in sessions using the TENORI-ON (TNR-w or TNR-o).
For details, see the TENORI-ON webpage at http://www.global.yamaha.com/tenori-on/.

The preset sounds of TNR-i are the same as those of the TENORI-ON, and the performance files are also compatible. You can use iTunes to transfer performance files saved on your TENORI-ON SD card to TNR-i. Of course, the reverse is also possible.

Please enjoy the world of TENORI-ON.

Notes
*The Game Center feature is a network feature provided by Apple. It is mainly used for multi-player gaming. You must have an Internet connection to participate in a network session. You also have to sign in to the Game Center.
*User Voice is not available.
*To run TNR-i smoothly, we recommend that you use an iPhone 4 or later or an iPod touch, 4th generation or later.

Reviews

Not Cool Yamaha
Modular Mike

I have to agree with others that not having the content available from the tenori-e is an unwise move. You must have known there would be backlash do to this but you went ahead and did it anyway. The only way I will give the tenor-i 5 stars is if you make the tenori-e content available. I'm mean really, why didn't you just add it as an upgrade in one whole product? Just smile and it will be all better, right?( wink, wink)

Not Cool Yamaha
Modular Mike

Wonderful music making fun!
Rockson61

This is the first app for iOS that I've truly enjoyed making music with. I am a pretty serious keyboard player and the virtual version of the tenori-on has been a blast to play with despite the fact that I have access to many synthesizers. Once you wrap your head around the concept it's fairly easy to master. Two big thumbs up!!

PLZ Make it ROTATE!
Bluelectrik

I just got the app last night is it's pretty cool but I feel that for all of us trying to use this at a home studio it's pretty nonsense that the grid won't rotate, would make plugging in different devices a lot easier I hope u guys listen and update this feature soon ,it will be pretty helpful specially for those with an ipad2 and the smart cover ...

Better Documentation and ways to export, please!
DenSpin

An outstanding musical instrument and an awful lot of fun but the demo isn't helpful and the documentation is buried in a hard to find place. Not everyone is familiar with the actual instrument, so Yamaha really needs to make this easier to understand and work with. Would be great if I could export in a format GarageBand can use.

Great repro
lttlrck

But I get a notification every time I start it saying it is no recognized by Game Center Would love a darker background.

Very Very Difficult. No Export
Appitap

Let's talk about how difficult this is. One word explains it all. Difficult. It is very hard to understand and find things in the menu, and finding the documentation is a matter of stumbling upon it accidentally. And, there seem to be this trend going around with some developers that release very expensive apps like these. The tend is, the more expensive the app is, the less option you have to export your finished work or no option at all. 1. Music Studio - $15.00 Wi-Fi, iTunes 2. NanoStudio - $15.00 SoundCloud, NanoSync for PC 3. BeatMaker 2 - $20.00 SoundCloud, Wi-Fi (Doesn't work) 4. FL Studio - $15.00 iTunes, FL Studio Desktop 5. TNR-i - US $20.00 Nothing. You can only play. Non of these gives you the option to email you files. I have all 5 of these and I am only able to get my work off FL Studio and Music Studio. I regret buying these. You are most likely to get the option to email your final work from a less expensive app that gets the work done. For example. 1. SoundGrid Live! $3.00 Email and more options 2. FunkBox Drum Machine - $3.00 Email and more options 3. FingerBeat - $5.00 Email and more options I have 3 of these and I love them. No regrets. Don't get this. It's a waste of money. I am already not using it because I have no way of exporting my songs.

So much to offer, yet much is needed
shimoda

I spent time trying to find out what I could about this app before purchasing as there is no Lite version for demo. Compared to other apps at lower prices, the tnr-i seems to fall a bit short in some ways: lack of MIDI integration, inability to export actual audio/copy/paste... However, as others have said, the app is certainly one you can play with for quite some time. If you need a meditative tool, this would go great with SynthPond. As an instrument in its own right, it is an amazing piece of work. You have lots of room to create compositions that can be played back. You can also record a song, make changes, etc, and save the recording. While this is a nice feature, Yamaha could do one better by allowing controlled playback of those performances, even more helpful would be any way to sync this app (again, we need MIDI integration here). From a support standpoint, it is disappointing to see that Yamaha doesn't have appeared to have released any video of their own, in English, or even translate Iwai's video to English. In fact, you can't find anything about this app on their US website as of today (almost two weeks swince US release). If you are serious about your iDevice music production, this could be a powerful tool. Especially if you write on the ipad and transfer the files to play on an iphone thus freeing up the iPad for other creations. I'd actually rate the app 3.5 until Yamaha adds MIDI functionailty and some way to export audio. Otherwise, a solid entry that deserves real consideration when looking for purely compositional inspiration.

Simply amazing
analoghaze

Great at ambient. Anybody who uses their iPad for making music needs this app. The bar has been set. Sounds great. Easy to use. The manual is easy to follow. Highly recommended. This is the real thing in sequencing. Fun!

Like he said + This is it, pretty much...
littlewoodg

As is said above, user voices, and all types of blocks for each block please? But however much it can now be updated, all the top tier mobile DAW apps, (and the best - 20th century - song making UIs of whatever platform) now know what 21st century song making looks like.