Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker has just announced a retro-futuristic musical instrument called Orchid

Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker has just announced a musical instrument called Orchid. It is a good looking music machine with modern bells and whistles. For the uninitiated, a music player is a device or plugin that allows users to simplify the process of playing songs.

To that end, Orchid allows players to trigger full chords by pressing a note in a minor key of one octave. They can be changed by using several buttons on the left. Holding down one of these buttons while playing a key changes the song in all sorts of ways, such as changing something from major to minor.

There are several sounds to choose from, and some simulate playing songs on a stringed instrument across multiple octaves. Internal FX and an arpeggiator allow for even more unique compositions. The Orchid is battery powered and boasts two built-in speakers for portable gaming sessions. The creators call it an “idea machine” and, yes, it’s sequential. Most of the synths I’ve rigged with are tied to a computer or instrument via MIDI and this one works on its own.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the attractive design, put together by co-creator Ignacio Germade. This thing has retro-futuristic vibes to keep. It looks so beautiful and I want to look at it with love.

The Orchid is the first device introduced by Telepathic Instruments, a company founded by Parker, Germade and others. There will only be 1,000 of these little beauties available for purchase this December. The first release is described as a kind of beta test, the company says that “these owners will have the opportunity to adjust and refine” the design before the wider release. It costs $550. That’s a lot of money for a music player but, again, it’s self-contained and very easy on the eyes.