...scratch that. It looks ghastly. ;-)
Completely flat touch surface?
They could just make a phone app instead.
What's the point if there is no tactile help for the fingers?
...must be quite irritating for Artiphon to see rubbish like this advertised as "innovative" and "revolutionary". They've even copied ideas like sampling a toy duck in the demo video, the automatic sample retuning, etc. Utterly devoid of any originality or innovation at all.
https://youtu.be/t6kgYZCXo9M?t=24
https://youtu.be/9JbCsfXlBwk?t=5
I have been a bit surprised that something like this hadn't appeared sooner - I just expected when it did come it would look physically more like the Orba.
Actually, taking a closer look, it seems to potentially have some advantages over the Orbas - not so much the Chorda perhaps. They also don't seem to be so keen on mangling sounds with "effects", which for me would be an advantage. It may come down to how well it actually performs.
However, I've found the Orba to be very likeable to hold and play with, I'm not sure the Medo will have that, but then I don't think the Chorda will have quite that characteristic either. (One reason I got an Orba in the first place was because my ageing hands and fingers don't cope so well these days and the Orba doesn't aggravate them - the Chorda, I suspect, won't be so good in that respect.)
The format is likeable; I took one to a jam night recently and next time people were asking after it.
I did a bit more looking at the Medo - it doesn't have pressure sensitivity and aftertouch (if I'm wrong, they don't demonstrate it in their videos). They do mention gestures like tilt etc. but that isn't shown in their videos either. Bump is shown though. It may be that the keyboard can be set to use 15 sections for playing notes - but again that is not shown anywhere I could find - I only noticed it in a response to a comment on the Kickstarter. And it does stick to the Diatonic and Pentatonic scales only attitude, which I take exception to, but I'm a weirdo, I suppose!
Their approach does seem to be quite different to Artiphon's. I found myself thinking the Medo was more an alternative to the Kaossilator, whereas the Chorda (and to a lesser extent the Orba) like an alternative to the Roli Lumi. (That's stretching things, I know, but that's how it seemed to me.)
Oh, and the Medo has quick switching between pentatonic and diatonic scales - something the Orba and Chorda both desperately need. (Have to mention that - it's something others are begging for.)
BJG145
This looks like a less cool Orba ripoff. Wonder what the sample handling is like.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/donner-medo/donner-medo-portable-multi-function-musical-instrument?ref=recommendation-ended-project-backer-2