{"id":3420,"date":"2010-03-20T19:46:39","date_gmt":"2010-03-21T02:46:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/?p=3420"},"modified":"2010-03-20T19:46:39","modified_gmt":"2010-03-21T02:46:39","slug":"review-the-otamatone-a-musical-note-you-can-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/2010\/03\/20\/review-the-otamatone-a-musical-note-you-can-play\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: the Otamatone, a musical note you can play"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"content_div-3420\">\n<p>I recently bought an <a href=\"http:\/\/otamatone.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Otamatone<\/a>; I had seen an ad for a show at the <a href=\"http:\/\/secure.giantrobot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Giant Robot<\/a> store on Sawtelle to introduce the instrument \/ toy but couldn&#8217;t attend. I was so happy when I saw <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thinkgeek.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">ThinkGeek<\/a> offering one a couple days later; you can purchase one from them <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thinkgeek.com\/electronics\/musical-instruments\/cd38\/\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>There are four controls for the instrument, two in front and two in back. The two in back are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A slider switch to select off, mid-volume or full-volume, and<\/li>\n<li>A pitch range for low, medium or high.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The front of the note stem is a pitch slider &#8211; if you touch that slider, you play a sound; pitch is determined by the position on the slider. And you open or close the note body to change the volume of the sound.<\/p>\n<p>Hear are some pictures of the instrument:<\/p>\n<div class=\"tiled-gallery type-rectangular tiled-gallery-unresized\" data-original-width=\"500\" data-carousel-extra='{&quot;blog_id&quot;:1,&quot;permalink&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.alephnaught.com\\\/Blog\\\/2010\\\/03\\\/20\\\/review-the-otamatone-a-musical-note-you-can-play\\\/&quot;,&quot;likes_blog_id&quot;:37193943}' itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageGallery\" > <div class=\"gallery-row\" style=\"width: 500px; height: 331px;\" data-original-width=\"500\" data-original-height=\"331\" > <div class=\"gallery-group images-1\" style=\"width: 249px; height: 331px;\" data-original-width=\"249\" data-original-height=\"331\" > <div class=\"tiled-gallery-item tiled-gallery-item-small\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFront.jpg?ssl=1\" border=\"0\" itemprop=\"url\"> <meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"245\"> <meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"327\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\" colorbox-3420\" data-attachment-id=\"3424\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFront.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"600,800\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;4&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;DSC-T10&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1268653041&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;9.45&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;320&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.16666666666667&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Otamatone Front\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFront.jpg?fit=225%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFront.jpg?fit=600%2C800&#038;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFront.jpg?w=245&#038;h=327&#038;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFront.jpg?w=600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFront.jpg?resize=112%2C150&amp;ssl=1 112w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFront.jpg?resize=225%2C300&amp;ssl=1 225w\" width=\"245\" height=\"327\" loading=\"lazy\" data-original-width=\"245\" data-original-height=\"327\" itemprop=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/image\" title=\"Otamatone Front\" alt=\"The front of the Otamatone\" style=\"width: 245px; height: 327px;\" \/> <\/a> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-caption\" itemprop=\"caption description\"> The front of the Otamatone <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <!-- close group --> <div class=\"gallery-group images-1\" style=\"width: 251px; height: 331px;\" data-original-width=\"251\" data-original-height=\"331\" > <div class=\"tiled-gallery-item tiled-gallery-item-small\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneRear.jpg?ssl=1\" border=\"0\" itemprop=\"url\"> <meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"247\"> <meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"327\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\" colorbox-3420\" data-attachment-id=\"3425\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneRear.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"600,793\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;3.5&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;DSC-T10&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1268652856&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;6.33&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;320&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.16666666666667&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Otamatone Rear\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneRear.jpg?fit=226%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneRear.jpg?fit=600%2C793&#038;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneRear.jpg?w=247&#038;h=327&#038;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneRear.jpg?w=600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneRear.jpg?resize=113%2C150&amp;ssl=1 113w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneRear.jpg?resize=226%2C300&amp;ssl=1 226w\" width=\"247\" height=\"327\" loading=\"lazy\" data-original-width=\"247\" data-original-height=\"327\" itemprop=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/image\" title=\"Otamatone Rear\" alt=\"A detail shot of the rear of the Otamatone\" style=\"width: 247px; height: 327px;\" \/> <\/a> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-caption\" itemprop=\"caption description\"> A detail shot of the rear of the Otamatone showing the controls <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <!-- close group --> <\/div> <!-- close row --> <div class=\"gallery-row\" style=\"width: 500px; height: 186px;\" data-original-width=\"500\" data-original-height=\"186\" > <div class=\"gallery-group images-1\" style=\"width: 366px; height: 186px;\" data-original-width=\"366\" data-original-height=\"186\" > <div class=\"tiled-gallery-item tiled-gallery-item-large\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneHeader.jpg?ssl=1\" border=\"0\" itemprop=\"url\"> <meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"362\"> <meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"182\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\" colorbox-3420\" data-attachment-id=\"3426\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneHeader.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"565,284\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Otamatone Header\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneHeader.jpg?fit=300%2C150&#038;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneHeader.jpg?fit=565%2C284&#038;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneHeader.jpg?w=362&#038;h=182&#038;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneHeader.jpg?w=565&amp;ssl=1 565w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneHeader.jpg?resize=150%2C75&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneHeader.jpg?resize=300%2C150&amp;ssl=1 300w\" width=\"362\" height=\"182\" loading=\"lazy\" data-original-width=\"362\" data-original-height=\"182\" itemprop=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/image\" title=\"Otamatone Header\" alt=\"A picture of a white Otamatone\" style=\"width: 362px; height: 182px;\" \/> <\/a> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-caption\" itemprop=\"caption description\"> A picture of a white Otamatone <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <!-- close group --> <div class=\"gallery-group images-1\" style=\"width: 134px; height: 186px;\" data-original-width=\"134\" data-original-height=\"186\" > <div class=\"tiled-gallery-item tiled-gallery-item-small\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFolderInside.jpg?ssl=1\" border=\"0\" itemprop=\"url\"> <meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"130\"> <meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"182\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\" colorbox-3420\" data-attachment-id=\"3423\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFolderInside.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"600,839\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;4&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;DSC-T10&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1269136878&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;11.92&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;320&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.05&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Otamatone Folder Inside\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFolderInside.jpg?fit=214%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFolderInside.jpg?fit=600%2C839&#038;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFolderInside.jpg?w=130&#038;h=182&#038;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFolderInside.jpg?w=600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFolderInside.jpg?resize=107%2C150&amp;ssl=1 107w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFolderInside.jpg?resize=214%2C300&amp;ssl=1 214w\" width=\"130\" height=\"182\" loading=\"lazy\" data-original-width=\"130\" data-original-height=\"182\" itemprop=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/image\" title=\"Otamatone Folder Inside\" alt=\"The inside of the front and back, containing the instructions\" style=\"width: 130px; height: 182px;\" \/> <\/a> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-caption\" itemprop=\"caption description\"> The inside of the front and back, containing the instructions <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <!-- close group --> <\/div> <!-- close row --> <div class=\"gallery-row\" style=\"width: 500px; height: 703px;\" data-original-width=\"500\" data-original-height=\"703\" > <div class=\"gallery-group images-1\" style=\"width: 500px; height: 703px;\" data-original-width=\"500\" data-original-height=\"703\" > <div class=\"tiled-gallery-item tiled-gallery-item-large\" itemprop=\"associatedMedia\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFolderFront.jpg?ssl=1\" border=\"0\" itemprop=\"url\"> <meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"496\"> <meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"699\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\" colorbox-3420\" data-attachment-id=\"3422\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFolderFront.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"600,846\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;4&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;DSC-T10&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1269136913&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;11.92&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;320&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.076923076923077&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Otamatone Folder Front\" data-image-description=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFolderFront.jpg?fit=212%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFolderFront.jpg?fit=600%2C846&#038;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFolderFront.jpg?w=496&#038;h=699&#038;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFolderFront.jpg?w=600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFolderFront.jpg?resize=106%2C150&amp;ssl=1 106w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/03\/OtamatoneFolderFront.jpg?resize=212%2C300&amp;ssl=1 212w\" width=\"496\" height=\"699\" loading=\"lazy\" data-original-width=\"496\" data-original-height=\"699\" itemprop=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/image\" title=\"Otamatone Folder Front\" alt=\"Front and back of the package\" style=\"width: 496px; height: 699px;\" \/> <\/a> <div class=\"tiled-gallery-caption\" itemprop=\"caption description\"> The front and back of the package <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <!-- close group --> <\/div> <!-- close row --> <\/div>\n<p>Its a fun instrument to play but not easy to control &#8211; like a Theremin, its hard to hit an exact pitch without a lot of practice. Here is a short video where I (try to) play this little toy:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><!--YouTube Error: bad URL entered--><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"translate_block\" style=\"display: none;\">\n<hr class=\"translate_hr\" \/>\n<a class=\"translate_translate\" id=\"translate_button_post-3420\" lang=\"en\" xml:lang=\"en\" href=\"javascript:show_translate_popup('en', 'post', 3420);\"><span>Translate<\/span><\/a><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/plugins\/google-ajax-translation\/transparent.gif?resize=16%2C16&#038;ssl=1\" id=\"translate_loading_post-3420\" class=\"translate_loading colorbox-3420\" style=\"display: none;\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"\" \/>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I recently bought an Otamatone; I had seen an ad for a show at the Giant Robot store on Sawtelle to introduce the instrument \/ toy but couldn&#8217;t attend. I was so happy when I saw ThinkGeek offering one a couple days later; you can purchase one from them here. There are four controls for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[674,675],"class_list":["post-3420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","tag-electronic-music-instruments","tag-music-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2w3Qj-Ta","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3420\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alephnaught.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}