Benjamin Cholet has launched a Kickstarter project to fund production of the NapkeyChord, an electronic autoharp that they say “breaks traditional boundaries and expands creative possibilities for musicians of all levels”.
The NapkeyChord is a modern take on the autoharp, designed to make playing chords accessible to everyone, from beginners to professionals. Its 36 chord buttons are arranged into three rows (major, minor, and 7th) and allow you to play up to 84 chords, organized in the circle of fifths.
Select the chord of your choice, and the 21 capacitive touch pads “strumplate” will allow you to strum notes in the selected chord across octaves, adding versatility to musical performance.
It’s designed to be equally at home being used as a mobile device or in the studio. It’s compatible with hardware synths and VST plugins via dual MIDI outputs (via USB C or TRS type A).
Here’s the NapkeyChord intro video:
How it the NapkeyChord works:
Pricing and Availability:
Production of the NapkeyChord Electronic Autoharp is being funded via a Kickstarter campaign, and it is available to project backers for 350€ (MSRP 399€), or about $370 USD.
Note: Crowdfunding projects can involve risk, which is detailed at the project site.
Looks awesome, I do worry about Kickstarters though….definitly do you research on the people behind it as well as other Kickstarters before you support. Thankfully I have always got the gear from Kickstarters I supported, but there have been a few in the synth/music instrument world recently that even tthough being funded….still ran out of funds and the products never came….so just be careful and just assume the money is already lost.
If you love chords for a comparable price you can get Kordbot which has like 1000% more features. Cheers!
Kickstarter, no thank you 🙂
That’s a bit much to risk on it, but if it appears later at a rational price, I’ll be right on one. I like the basic form. I had an Omnichord and that space-age autoharp approach can take you to some fun places.
If you want to demo something like this for cheaper than a cup of coffee Chordian for Ipad is great. I’ve had enough fun with it that it definitely has me interested in this.
Aodyo killed Kickstarter.
Superlative Instruments beat them to it.
i have a prototype which sounds lovely with the baby audio crystalline