After selling out its first run in less than four minutes late last year, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker and the Telepathic Instruments team are making 3,000 additional units available of their bespoke musical instrument, Orchid, beginning May 29. The product is aimed at helping users easily generate chords as a means to aid the compositional and creative processes.
The 12-note keyboard was “originally conceived as a tool for Parker’s own songwriting” more than a decade ago. It contains a patent-pending chord voicing engine, three separate synthesizer emulators (a polyphonic virtual analog subtractive synth, an FM synth and a vintage reed piano emulation inspired by a famous 1960s electric piano), a MIDI out port, built-in speakers and a rechargeable battery, while modes such as Strum, Slop, Arpeggiator, Pattern and Harp allow for adding numerous human touches.
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Initial users have been able to “shape and refine” the instrument through an online community dubbed the Garden in tandem with Patreon, leading to the inclusion of 10 new sounds, an improved loop mode and numerous bug fixes and UX refinements. Those interested in purchasing an Orchid this time around must follow the Garden for instructions.
Telepathic is also launching Telepathic Studios to help artists develop their songwriting processes with the help of Orchid. Sessions are set in London from May 23-24 and will also be held later this year in Los Angeles. Among the musicians already using Orchid are Gracie Abrams, Fred again.. and Murda Beats.
Tame Impala hasn’t performed since March 2023, and Parker has spent the time since focusing on songwriting and production work for artists such as Dua Lipa and Justice.
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