Tame Impala's Kevin Parker has invented a new instrument called The Orchid

Developed by Tame Impala’s Parker and friends and originally conceived as a tool for Parker’s own songwriting more than 10 years ago, Orchid’s unique chord generator serves as a gateway to sophisticated harmony, a tool for breaking from routine and discovering new ideas with speed, freedom and precision.

“I often feel like a song has its own destiny. Some kind of cosmic path that it takes—one that you’ve often got no control over," Kevin Parker says. "When you’re writing a song, an instrument is an interface between what’s on your mind and what you hear. You don’t always know it, but you know it when you hear it. Orchid helps you express what you’re hearing—or find the idea you were looking for.”

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Orchid is powered by three separate synths: a polyphonic virtual analog subtractive synth, an FM synth and a vintage reed piano emulation based off a famous 1960s electric piano, with mechanical noise samples for added realism.

Orchid offers a multitude of ways to shape, perform and alter foundational musical elements while building new compositions. They include Performance modes such as Strum, Slop, Arpeggiator, Pattern and Harp, the latter of which mimics a harp being strummed to the sound of a given chord across a four-octave range. The animated display shows chord names as you experiment and a patent-pending voicing system enabling instant re-voicing and re-pitching.