Isn't there something a bit terrifying about this picture? About how complicated that thing looks? It's a Chromatone 312, with a Janko keyboard (and apparently a Korg sound set). The keyboard layout was patented in 1882 by Hungarian mathematician/musician Paul von Janko. Notes are repeated, so that chords in different keys are played the same way, and an octave span is smaller than on a normal keyboard. They're also called Wholetone keyboards.
This red keyboard is the Wholetone Revolution MIDI controller, which seems to have been out of production for a while. There are plenty of baffling charts to explain how the wholetone system works, but no price or export details on the Japan-only Chromatone 312. I'd love to hear from anyone who's played one.
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velocipede
I read through most of the information on the product. It is not yet for sale in Japan either. In addition to the Janko keyboard, it seems to have quite a lot of features, including a 5 track sequencer. I could imagine this becoming popular among dance and loop oriented musicians.
