To me, yes it does. Keytar is just too silly for me, right down there with slanket and yogilates. I can roll with shoulder synthesizer though, and that’s exactly what we have today, the Lucina AX-09 by Roland. Set to debut at Musikmesse 2010 in Frankfurt, the Lucina will apparently be marketed towards children, with a lightweight design and intuitive interface. I don’t know anything about synthesizers, so I can’t say whether or not the Lucina really does have an intuitive interface.
Other features of the Lucina include the 37-note, velocity-sensitive keyboard and built-in “150 sounds that cover a wide stylistic range.” The Lucina also has an external in audio jack for playing audio from an mp3 or CD player, but if all you have are wav or mp3 files, just feed them to the device via its USB port, so you can play along with them without being tethered to a wire.
No word on the price yet, but Synthopia has got word that the Lucina will be cheap. Roland, if you want Lucina to be a hit with kids, make sure that Rock Band 3 and Guitar Hero 6 have shoulder synthesizers.
