Yamaha is releasing a Vocaloid keytar that you’ll probably never be able to buy

Derided by some, Yamaha’s Vocaloid ‘singing synth’ technology has been a massive hit in Japan, to the extent that the company appears to putting it into a keytar.

From what we can gather - the website is in Japanese - you can load different ‘singers’ into the hardware via a mobile app, then play them from the keyboard while making real-time parameter adjustments with your left hand.

The VKB-100, as it’s known, is scheduled to ship in Winter 2017, but we suspect that it’s highly unlikely that it’ll get a worldwide release. We wouldn’t bet against it becoming a hipster curio, though; give it a listen in the video below.

(Via Synthtopia)

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I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.

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