What if I described an instrument that looked like a guitar, had buttons on the neck, played by strumming a switch-like mechanism on the body, and synched up to your television to allow you to play along with some of your favorite music, like Nirvana, Eric Clapton, Green Day, or The Beatles?
Are you imagining this:
If this is what you imagined then you would be wrong.
While Guitar Hero came out in 2005, what I was describing is nearly 15 years older and potentialy much cooler. I am talking about the Lonestar Technologies' The Key "interactive musical instrument."
Not much information exists explaining these musical oddities. Lonestar Technologies Inc. originated as a karaoke machine manufacturer around 1989 with their Super K karaoke cassette deck that interfaced with home televisions to display lyrics and by 1992 became a leader in the karaoke audiocassette hardware market. Around 1993 stories started to be written about their newest contribution to the music scene - The Key.
As written on August 9th for Bloomberg:
Randy Jackson, of Zebra fame, was involved in the development of the instrument. When interviewed by RCF, Jackson had this to say about The Key:
An article for the Chicago Tribune cited the price of the guitar at a higher $599 (nearly $200 more than originally advertised) and while expected to hit retail shelves by September, 1995, orders were being taken over phone by calling 1-800-4-THE-KEY, with additional products to be offered depending on success.
That success never came.
The only other notable musician who was known to have played The Key was Jon Anderson of Yes.
Despite failing to make it big in the marketplace, The Key was quite innovative for its time and as mentioned before was an early attempt at what the Guitar Hero and Rock Band video games were able to achieve nearly a decade later - create a karaoke instrument. What exactly made this thing special?
The Key was a single oscillator digital synthesizer with 6-note polyphony. The Key has dozens of preset sounds - mostly guitar or stringed instrument sounds - as well as a canned rhythm, pitch bend, and perhaps its defining feature - the cartridge slot to accept SONGPACS, which allow you to play along with certain songs. The Key also had technology that allowed you to play along with VHS, Laserdisc, or CDs, and with a 4P4C modular connector the ability to play in conjunction with another Key, but without a manual it is unknown just how this worked.
The way I see it, The Key is to a regular guitar as the Omnichord is to a chorded zither. The latest iteration of the Omnichord, the Q-Chord, may have even been inspired by the karaoke nature of The Key with their own song cartridges for playing along with some standards and hits.
So with all that being said, what is my opinion of The Key?
Build
The entire body of this synthesizer is made with a hard plastic and feels pretty strong and on par with other keyboard synthesizers. While it seems sturdy, all the weight is placed in the body and made even heavier if using 6 "D" cell batteries to power the thing, although you could also use rechargeable Eneloop batteries in an adapter and save a few ounces. I imagine most of the weight seems to come from the speaker, which despite some of the few comments online I found to be quiet sufficient for playing around with outside. With that being said, it does make me nervous holding it from the neck - especially since all the buttons are on the neck.
For the neck, the buttons all feel wiggly and some don't seem to respond when depressed while other times there seems to be a minute delay if you release your finger too late while strumming causing a completely different chord to be played. It also seems that some of the buttons are either sensitive or don't work. This may be an age issue but considering this device looks brand new and in the box, complete with the little plastic cover that was placed over the veins, I will probably lean in the direction of this being a quality issue.
The buttons on the body are pretty responsive but the two side buttons do kind of feel a bit flimsy. As for the main feature - the "veins" - For the most part they seem responsive although it seemed that some seemed to work better when strumming in one direction versus the other.
Cosmetics
This is probably the best part of the instrument. Unlike my other digital guitars like the Casio DG-20 or the Suzuki Unisynth, which utilize strings, this thing looks odd... but sleek. I personally think the speaker placement is perfect and the symmetric appearance is refreshing from the angular bodies of the other guitars mentioned. It is also nice to see this thing has actual rubber buttons (except for the expression and change buttons) and that, also unlike the Casio and Suzuki, the neck is not rubber.
Perhaps my only complaint would be that on the neck the keys correspond to various notes. Depressing any combination of keys helps form different chords. All the keys are white except for a few with little black lines that appear to indicate where the black keys would lay on a traditional piano keyboard... but there are no black keys! None of the keys are marked so the only way to tell which key is what is through trial and error and memorization. Also, because of where the black markings are on the keys, when holding this while standing, it makes it a bit difficult to see, but that isn't too big of a deal since I prefer to play with it sitting down since the area right above the speaker seems perfect for resting on your thigh so you can play this thing like a lap guitar.
Sound
I probably equate the sounds of this instrument to be like that of a home keyboard of that era. Since the sounds are a bit more expressive and some unique, I would probably place this a bit on the higher end. Granted the sounds are digitally synthesized (although some sound like samples) so don't expect a realistic sounding guitar, they have a nice timbre, with the exception of a few that have that cheesy MIDI overdrive sound, but again, considering the era this thing came from the sounds it produces are quite impressive. Once strumming is mastered this thing can provide some wonderful atmosphere. Don't go looking for a groove machine in this device. The rhythms are rather generic and without an intro or fill, repetitive.
Features
While scrolling through the voices it goes up to the 120s, this thing skips around and only has 55 voices. Many sound the same with only some minute differences and some sounds seems to only work with some of the keys. As for rhythms, there are 26 rhythms and zero fills. You can control the tempo but that requires a press of a button to access that feature.
On the body of the instrument are a couple of other buttons. "STRUMMER" selects the voice while "SONG" picks the rhythm. The rhythm can be started and paused but not stopped unless you switch to a different "song" and then switch back. Otherwise and picks right back up from where it was stopped. There are also "KEYBOARD," "EXIT," "ENTER," and "MODE" buttons but so far I can't quite figure out what they do. When changing the mode the screen changes and to 2 different messages but I'm not sure what they mean.
A couple of the other features may be lost to time. The SONGPAC cartridges (which I do not have) allow to play along with a favorite song and I am unsure just how this thing syncs up with a VHS, laserdisc, or CD to allow you to play along. I am also unsure how the networking capabilities with another Key works. I suppose that also presents another issue - finding someone who also has this thing.
While one of the saving graces for this instrument is the presence of a MIDI port, it also has a low and high sound output but each uses a 1/8" jack. This was probably because the target audience was the home consumer and not the professional musician. By 1993 most home electronics switched from 1/4" to 1/8" inputs. When recording there was virtually no floor noise so I would say the output was pretty good.
And for all you lefties out there, this thing appears to have an additional strap lock so you could play with your left hand (although I do not know if you can alter the order in which the veins play the notes).
Overall
This thing is truly something. This thing looks like what the future looked like to someone from the 70s. I could imagine this thing as a prop in a movie like Logan's Run. It is kind of nice that this thing doesn't look as dated as the DG-20 or Unisynth. The sounds are also unique enough that they can blend with a variety of different instruments. I was playing around with this thing with a variety of different rhythm and drum machines from the 70s, 80s, and 90s and this thing blended quite nicely. I would probably put this in the same category of instrument as the former mentioned digital guitars or the Suzuki Omnichord. It is not quite suited for lead but makes a great rhythm or accent piece, and since it is easay to just turn on and jump right in, it could be perfect for testing out some chords for a song - especially if you are not the best guitarist but love that strummed sound.
Sample
All voices and rhythms:
Strumming:
Gallery
Are you imagining this:
If this is what you imagined then you would be wrong.
While Guitar Hero came out in 2005, what I was describing is nearly 15 years older and potentialy much cooler. I am talking about the Lonestar Technologies' The Key "interactive musical instrument."
Not much information exists explaining these musical oddities. Lonestar Technologies Inc. originated as a karaoke machine manufacturer around 1989 with their Super K karaoke cassette deck that interfaced with home televisions to display lyrics and by 1992 became a leader in the karaoke audiocassette hardware market. Around 1993 stories started to be written about their newest contribution to the music scene - The Key.
As written on August 9th for Bloomberg:
The Hicksville (N.Y.) company has developed an instrument called The Key. It looks like an electric guitar, but instead of strings, it has six plastic "fins" and white, piano-like keys on the neck. The Key accepts cartridges that contain song tracks stored in read-only memory. Plug in a card, strum the fins, and the device creates the chords for the song you've selected. Lonestar President Lawrence Richenstein says the programming used in The Key cartridges can be encoded onto musical laser disks and rock videos for use in karaoke setups, which would allow lounge-singer wannabes to play along while they croon.BusinessWeek called it a "karaoke guitar" and the advertised price was $400 but it didn't really seem to get any traction.
Randy Jackson, of Zebra fame, was involved in the development of the instrument. When interviewed by RCF, Jackson had this to say about The Key:
While he seemed involved with the product, appearing at a charity karaoke-type event in 1995, and with magazines like Popular mechanics buzzing about the new (now 2-year-old instrument), the instrument yet to hit retail shelves and seemed to only be available through mail order.“What an amazing project. It was a big change for me, going from being a full time musician to doing development for such an innovative company. “The Key" had a very futuristic design and by itself is a guitar-like synthesizer, where the "frets" are like keys on a keyboard and the "strings" are made up of synthetic "veins" attached to the body. “The Key” could be used as a stand-alone MIDI controller and had it's own internal sound engine. Chords are formed by pressing different combinations of keys while strumming the "veins". "The Key" could also be used as a video "reader" that would allow the user to play along with music videos on encoded video tapes. We also developed cartridges called "Song Pacs" that could be plugged into a slot in the instrument and used to accompany the player. The "Song Pac" cartridges included midi versions of licensed songs and allowed the user to play an album’s worth of songs on each cartridge. I liked to describe "The Key" as an electronic Autoharp. We got Jon Anderson from Yes to try out the instrument and he ended up writing a bunch of songs using "The Key". "The Key" was pretty expensive when it was released and only a few could afford it. "The Key" was a very ambitious project and may have been a little ahead of its time”.
An article for the Chicago Tribune cited the price of the guitar at a higher $599 (nearly $200 more than originally advertised) and while expected to hit retail shelves by September, 1995, orders were being taken over phone by calling 1-800-4-THE-KEY, with additional products to be offered depending on success.
That success never came.
The only other notable musician who was known to have played The Key was Jon Anderson of Yes.
Despite failing to make it big in the marketplace, The Key was quite innovative for its time and as mentioned before was an early attempt at what the Guitar Hero and Rock Band video games were able to achieve nearly a decade later - create a karaoke instrument. What exactly made this thing special?
The Key was a single oscillator digital synthesizer with 6-note polyphony. The Key has dozens of preset sounds - mostly guitar or stringed instrument sounds - as well as a canned rhythm, pitch bend, and perhaps its defining feature - the cartridge slot to accept SONGPACS, which allow you to play along with certain songs. The Key also had technology that allowed you to play along with VHS, Laserdisc, or CDs, and with a 4P4C modular connector the ability to play in conjunction with another Key, but without a manual it is unknown just how this worked.
The way I see it, The Key is to a regular guitar as the Omnichord is to a chorded zither. The latest iteration of the Omnichord, the Q-Chord, may have even been inspired by the karaoke nature of The Key with their own song cartridges for playing along with some standards and hits.
So with all that being said, what is my opinion of The Key?
Build
The entire body of this synthesizer is made with a hard plastic and feels pretty strong and on par with other keyboard synthesizers. While it seems sturdy, all the weight is placed in the body and made even heavier if using 6 "D" cell batteries to power the thing, although you could also use rechargeable Eneloop batteries in an adapter and save a few ounces. I imagine most of the weight seems to come from the speaker, which despite some of the few comments online I found to be quiet sufficient for playing around with outside. With that being said, it does make me nervous holding it from the neck - especially since all the buttons are on the neck.
For the neck, the buttons all feel wiggly and some don't seem to respond when depressed while other times there seems to be a minute delay if you release your finger too late while strumming causing a completely different chord to be played. It also seems that some of the buttons are either sensitive or don't work. This may be an age issue but considering this device looks brand new and in the box, complete with the little plastic cover that was placed over the veins, I will probably lean in the direction of this being a quality issue.
The buttons on the body are pretty responsive but the two side buttons do kind of feel a bit flimsy. As for the main feature - the "veins" - For the most part they seem responsive although it seemed that some seemed to work better when strumming in one direction versus the other.
Cosmetics
This is probably the best part of the instrument. Unlike my other digital guitars like the Casio DG-20 or the Suzuki Unisynth, which utilize strings, this thing looks odd... but sleek. I personally think the speaker placement is perfect and the symmetric appearance is refreshing from the angular bodies of the other guitars mentioned. It is also nice to see this thing has actual rubber buttons (except for the expression and change buttons) and that, also unlike the Casio and Suzuki, the neck is not rubber.
Perhaps my only complaint would be that on the neck the keys correspond to various notes. Depressing any combination of keys helps form different chords. All the keys are white except for a few with little black lines that appear to indicate where the black keys would lay on a traditional piano keyboard... but there are no black keys! None of the keys are marked so the only way to tell which key is what is through trial and error and memorization. Also, because of where the black markings are on the keys, when holding this while standing, it makes it a bit difficult to see, but that isn't too big of a deal since I prefer to play with it sitting down since the area right above the speaker seems perfect for resting on your thigh so you can play this thing like a lap guitar.
Sound
I probably equate the sounds of this instrument to be like that of a home keyboard of that era. Since the sounds are a bit more expressive and some unique, I would probably place this a bit on the higher end. Granted the sounds are digitally synthesized (although some sound like samples) so don't expect a realistic sounding guitar, they have a nice timbre, with the exception of a few that have that cheesy MIDI overdrive sound, but again, considering the era this thing came from the sounds it produces are quite impressive. Once strumming is mastered this thing can provide some wonderful atmosphere. Don't go looking for a groove machine in this device. The rhythms are rather generic and without an intro or fill, repetitive.
Features
While scrolling through the voices it goes up to the 120s, this thing skips around and only has 55 voices. Many sound the same with only some minute differences and some sounds seems to only work with some of the keys. As for rhythms, there are 26 rhythms and zero fills. You can control the tempo but that requires a press of a button to access that feature.
On the body of the instrument are a couple of other buttons. "STRUMMER" selects the voice while "SONG" picks the rhythm. The rhythm can be started and paused but not stopped unless you switch to a different "song" and then switch back. Otherwise and picks right back up from where it was stopped. There are also "KEYBOARD," "EXIT," "ENTER," and "MODE" buttons but so far I can't quite figure out what they do. When changing the mode the screen changes and to 2 different messages but I'm not sure what they mean.
A couple of the other features may be lost to time. The SONGPAC cartridges (which I do not have) allow to play along with a favorite song and I am unsure just how this thing syncs up with a VHS, laserdisc, or CD to allow you to play along. I am also unsure how the networking capabilities with another Key works. I suppose that also presents another issue - finding someone who also has this thing.
While one of the saving graces for this instrument is the presence of a MIDI port, it also has a low and high sound output but each uses a 1/8" jack. This was probably because the target audience was the home consumer and not the professional musician. By 1993 most home electronics switched from 1/4" to 1/8" inputs. When recording there was virtually no floor noise so I would say the output was pretty good.
And for all you lefties out there, this thing appears to have an additional strap lock so you could play with your left hand (although I do not know if you can alter the order in which the veins play the notes).
Overall
This thing is truly something. This thing looks like what the future looked like to someone from the 70s. I could imagine this thing as a prop in a movie like Logan's Run. It is kind of nice that this thing doesn't look as dated as the DG-20 or Unisynth. The sounds are also unique enough that they can blend with a variety of different instruments. I was playing around with this thing with a variety of different rhythm and drum machines from the 70s, 80s, and 90s and this thing blended quite nicely. I would probably put this in the same category of instrument as the former mentioned digital guitars or the Suzuki Omnichord. It is not quite suited for lead but makes a great rhythm or accent piece, and since it is easay to just turn on and jump right in, it could be perfect for testing out some chords for a song - especially if you are not the best guitarist but love that strummed sound.
Sample
All voices and rhythms:
Strumming:
Gallery
