Otamatone Deluxe Electronic Musical Instrument for Adults Portable Synthesizer Digital Electric Music from Japan by Cube/Maywa Denki Cool Stuff Gifts, Black [English Manual]

I got this for my brother who is a musician and also works in the music industry. He absolutely loves it. He had never seen one before yet was able to play it within minutes of having it out of the box. He lives 3 hours away but couldn't wait to get home so he could plug it into his amp and effects pedal. I have gotten him other instruments in the past and he has loved them all but this is the first one I, ve given him that he was actually excited to play. Great gift idea. I ordered the deluxe model which is larger in size. The classic model would be perfect for kids. And it's so simple to play anyone could play it without clearing the room. It sounds great too. Fantastic! Fun, affordable, SUPER easy and cute too. Would definitely buy this again.

Pretty cool hard to play tho

The Otamatone is a very cool instrument that will guarantee moments of fun

The Otamatone Deluxe is NOT a children's toy (unless the child is one of those unusual ones who is careful with their toys and their friends). If your child has any remnant of "hulk smash", ninja-sword slash, caveman bash-type of energy left in them, this is NOT an appropriate gift as they will break it very, very quickly. That said, if you're reasonably mature and careful, this instrument feels well-made enough to last for years of occasional noodling.The touch-strip is pleasingly responsive and does not require too much pressure to play. Pitch-wise, the note spacing is not linear, but rather wider at the top and tighter at the bottom end of the strip, similar to a stringed instrument. If you have large fingertips, you may have trouble playing in tune near the bottom end of the strip, especially in the mid- and high-range settings.Sounds ugly to many but I love it. Once you learn to play with expression, it is far more tolerable for haters and enjoyable for music geeks and other lovers.I'd love to hack it to add CV pitch output -- haven't broken it down but if it's the same analogue circuitry as the original, I see no reason it couldn't be done.

The Otamatone Deluxe has been one of those weird novelty instruments that I have had on my wish list for quite a while, so I finally caved and I'm glad I did. It's a fun little instrument to be creative with, or to simply make some strange noises with. This thing is big! Although I have read through the specs before I bought this, it still took me a bit by surprise what 18" really was, upon arrival. Echoing what a few other reviewers said...1. ) Yes, it does have a theremin-like sound to it. I truly love the kinds of sounds I can make out of this thing. Admittingly, I'm a novice, but I haven't had too much luck noticing much of a difference with the mouth function of the Otamatone, but that could just be because I don't exactly know how to properly use the instrument and would need much more practice. Nothing worth taking stars off for...I'm sure it's just my own lack of experience.2 . ) Yes, the three AA batteries that are included with this instrument are some off-brand ones (mine were labeled as "New Leader" brand), so I wouldn't count on these being a reliable, high-energy battery...and who exactly knows how old they are to begin with. It's honestly nothing to gripe about or knock any stars off for, as most products don't even include batteries at all. Just grab a few Duracell or Energizer brand batteries and you'll be good to go. Or do like I do and skip batteries altogether and grab yourself an external 5v adapter with the proper specs (I went with this one and it works perfectly: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GUNQACS?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details).3.) Now on to a major gripe of mine. As another reviewer said, the headphone jack is lousy. They claimed that the headphone jack "will not work", but that's a bit inaccurate. The headphone jack actually DOES work, however, it is also wired up to the internal speaker simultaneously. For whatever insane reason, the headphone jack does NOT disengage the internal speaker when the plug is inserted into the jack like mostly all other products do, rather, you hear sound both through the headphones AND the internal speaker simultaneously. This literally makes no sense at all to me! What good is a headphone jack (meaning to practice quietly), if it doesn't cut the internal speaker off? The manual even describes this to be their design (see pic). To be fair about it all, it's actually labeled as a "line out" jack, but the manual confirms it to be a headphone jack, too (see pic). A big part of my intent with this instrument was supposed to be for quiet time headphone practicing and for recording this into a recording machine directly (without a microphone) via the "line out" jack. Again, although these things can still be done, you'll simultaneously have the internal speaker live. One thing to mention here is that the Otamatone mouth function is nothing more than a manual audible "wah" thing on the user's end and plays no part in the digital circuitry of the instrument, therefore, when using the "line out" jack for headphone/recording use, you will not achieve the mouth function audibly coming out of that jack. For this, I can sort of justify why the "line out" is tied in with the internal speaker, but to me it's really a downgrade, since I don't necessarily need the mouth function to practice or record just some strange noises with. At $80, I really wish there was even an option of having a switch/button incorporated on this to control whether or not you actually wanted the internal speaker engaged when having a plug inserted into the line out jack. Unfortunately this is not the case and I will apparently have to take this apart and modify this myself with such a switch or go digging around to see what kind of jack is being used and modify/install a shorting jack that cuts off the internal speaker. For this, I'm knocking off a star for, since it seems absolutely nuts to me to imagine a company installing a headphone/line out jack that is essentially useless if the cheesy internal speaker does not disengage while using this feature for headphone (quiet time) use or for direct recording purposes. And since it's even described in the manual, it's an intentional design and was not just something overlooked, a manufacturing flaw, a bad jack or otherwise. Again, I kind of understand the logic, but again I don't. A justifiable function, only to understand that part of the sound is the digital circuitry, while the other part of the sound is simple manual manipulation of the mouth function to "wah" the soundwaves coming out of the internal speaker that's driven from within the Otamatone mouth. I suppose this could instrument could be mic'd for recording purposes, if need be. So it definitely has a caveat in that particular area of "line out/headphone" jack, which is bittersweet to me.Overall, I'm not going to be overly critical to an $80 weird novelty instrument (borderline 'toy'). It's definitely a fun thing to fool around and to have fun making strange noises with. I plan on trying some external effects to make this thing really interesting in the near future. So if you're looking for something different, I'd still suggest this. It's a lot of fun. The box that it's shipped in is pretty decent for storing it for now, but for about an additional $50, there are storage cases for the Deluxe out there, which I may go with eventually to protect this better. All in all, a lot of fun!

I bought this as a supplementary tool for my music lessons, and I have to say it was a great purchase. All my students, and pretty much all kids in general love this thing. I use it for ear training exercises and for messing around. It also sounds pretty cool if you run it through a bunch of guitar pedals.

this is the best item i have ever bought. i know it’s kinda like a toy, but i use it with my marshall amplifier and my guitar pedals and it sounds unreal. i think i might be on to something

This instrument is the strangest, coolest, most annoying thing ever! I love it! It plays just fine if you know what you're doing, and the strap fits on almost everyone! The thick plastic protects from drops, and looks great overall; amazing build quality! Now the value, I'd say you get what you pay for! It's the perfect price for the perfect instrument! Great value!