We live in complex times. I have for some time thought that ANKO was the house brand for K-Mart and Target stores. Indeed nearly every item sold, from fish tweezers to baby bottles is now ANKO. A person of my age remembers the no brands that used to fill the cheap supermarkets and our shared house fridges.
But no! This is the 21st century and ANKO is in fact the global capability center for Kmart Group Australia. We fuel customer experience for iconic Australian retail brands – Kmart and Target. So there.
My customer experience was quite fuelled the last few days as it’s been my birthday and a few ANKO instruments have joined the fleet. Let’s start with the ANKO Play and Learn Touch and Play Piano.
No, hang on, that’s the Baby Einstein Magic Touch Piano … that costs a lot more, made in Germany with USA branding…
That’s better – wouldn’t want to confuse the real thing with some cheap knock off. Wait a second*… nah must be too much customer fuel. Anyway.
If you are curious about the action on the keys then you are reading the wrong blog. I like that you are tapping your fingers on a solid bit of wood. How does that work? Magic. Quite a few synthesisers would be much better if they were completely carved out of wood – not just the end cheeks. Unlike many electronic toy pianos the notes here are completely polyphonic. The black keys only play the same note as the nearest colour – but they do play.
You can play piano samples, xylophone, dog or cat. I can’t think of any analogue synthesiser that plays cats which is weird seeing as synthesiser dorks keep going on about cats. You can trust ANKO to provide the cats. I don’t think I really need this keyboard but I’ve made a commitment to look at at musical toys – not as things that need to be circuit bent or screwed up, but as their own little niche of sound.
I also am building a 3D environment with these toys … but more on that later.
* Look for a picture of Einstein on the ‘real version’. The local one has a mirror ball.