NAMM's a busy place, and despite our most determined efforts, we manage to miss more than a few interesting products on the show floor each year. One such product is Toraiz ChordCat, a chord-generating groovebox from AlphaTheta had on display in advance of a US launch later this year.
Originally launched under Pioneer DJ, the Toraiz line found the historically DJ-focused brand making the shift into instruments for studio and stage with the SP-16 sampler, Squid sequencer and AS-1 monosynth. The latest addition to the Toraiz family is ChordCat, a budget groovebox designed to help musicians craft chord sequences without any music theory knowledge.
ChordCat is equipped with 145 preset sounds and 16 drum kits that can be sequenced via its 128-step sequencer, which offers 8 tracks with 16 patterns accessible per track. The sequencer is controlled via the grid of 16 buttons on its left-hand side, while the XY pad on the right-hand side is used to edit parameters across various modes. The row of 13 buttons across the bottom can act as a conventional keyboard, or be used to trigger chords in a sequence.
This brings us to ChordCat's raison d'être: helping you cook up chord sequences without knowing a thing about theory. Using its Chord Cruiser mode, you can start off a sequence with a single chord and ChordCat will pick out a number of harmonically suitable chords from its 10,000-strong chord bank that could work as a subsequent chord, which you can audition via the XY pad.
When you hear a chord you like, you can assign it to the sequence on the keyboard. Repeat this process and you're able to build chord progressions by ear alone, just by choosing chords you're into from Chordcat's suggestions. If you want to edit the voicing of a particular chord, enter Voicing mode and various voicings of the selected chord will be spread across the XY pad for you to audition.
ChordCat is also equipped with a basic arpeggiator and delay and ducker effects, which can be controlled Kaoss-style via the XY pad. It can be powered via six AA batteries or USB, and is equipped with MIDI in, out and thru along with a headphone out and 1/4" main output.
ChordCat is currently only available in Japan, but AlphaTheta plans to launch in the US and Europe later this year. We've got no official word on price, but judging by how much its going for overseas, it could be less than $200/£200.
Watch a demo video below.
