Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker Unveils Innovative New Instrument

Telepathic Instruments, founded by Kevin Parker (Tame Impala) & Friends, are rolling out an innovative new synthesizer. Orchid is made “for chords” and designed with songwriters and producers in mind.

Orchid was originally conceived by Parker more than 10 years ago and is Telepathic’s first product launch. Orchid features “a unique chord logic system,” as per a press release, married with a myriad of ways to mold chords. Orchid is driven by a rich and powerful 16-voice polyphonic synth engine and boasts onboard ambience and FX controls as well as a separate bass synth engine to fire up the low end.

Telepathic Instruments co-founder Ignacio Germade physically designed Orchid right down to its built-in dual stereo speakers and rechargeable battery for musicians on the go. Producers and songwriters can expand their compositions with a velocity-sensitive keyboard, which is by no means limited by its single octave, as press materials explained:

At the heart of Orchid is its innovative chord generating system. The layout consists of a matrix of 8 chord-type selecting and chord modifying keys, together with a single-octave keyboard to choose the root note and trigger the chord. The chords are then voiced with the unit’s patent-pending voicing system, using a rotary encoder to re-pitch and re-position chords. This process effectively expands the potential of the chords to an entire piano’s key set, not just the 12 keys found on the unit.

Orchid offers a range of methods to bring the chord to life that are referred to as Performance modes. These consist of Strum, Slop, Arpeggiator, Pattern and Harp, the latter of which mimics a harp being strummed to the sound of a given chord across a four-octave range. While other chord generators deliver a static and rigid outputting platform, Orchid paints a new landscape.

Additional Features:

• Polyphonic Synth Engine: Made up of 3 separate synth engines each designed by famed German synth developer Stefan Stenzel: a polyphonic virtual analogue subtractive synth, an FM synth and a vintage reed piano emulation based off a famous 60s electric piano with mechanical noise samples for added realism. The virtual analogue and FM synths each comprise 4 oscillators, 4 LFOs, 4 envelope generators and adjustable type filter.
• Onboard Effects: Add depth with built-in effects like Reverb, Chorus and Delay.
• Loop Mode: Capture ideas in real-time and build on them seamlessly.
• MIDI Out: Connect to your DAW and get your performance out of the ideas machine and into the world.

A limited edition of the first 1000 Orchids will become available for customers in the U.S. to purchase on December 18 at telepathicinstruments.com. Ahead of the instrument’s wider release next year, the first 1000 owners will have the chance to sculpt the Orchid’s development as part of The Garden, an online community in partnership with Patreon.