Keytar is instrument with keys that resembles
guitar for those who don't know.
Prince played solo on Keytar on Gett off
house style and it was his best solo that nite.
was Prince using Keytar ion the studio and if he did on which songs?

wow i didn't know that
did he played it on Dance from 3121 after the piano solo

well, he wouldn't have played Purpleaxxe Patent #91826171 on record as said device is a wireless midi controller with no native audio engine (or Sample + Synthesis as is commonly known, hence "S to the S" in I Wanna Melt With U, , 1992 [or Safe Sex, which is equally applicable to the notion of sample + synthesis as it does not require contact with a real acoustic instrument]) but having said that he may have used it in the studio just cuz it looks f'ing cool but it's mostly the fault of the liberals and their maverick what is the plural of agenda?

It's called a Purpleaxxe or some variation of that, and he actually holds a patent on its design.

well, he wouldn't have played Purpleaxxe Patent #91826171 on record as said device is a wireless midi controller with no native audio engine (or Sample + Synthesis as is commonly known, hence "S to the S" in I Wanna Melt With U, , 1992 [or Safe Sex, which is equally applicable to the notion of sample + synthesis as it does not require contact with a real acoustic instrument]) but having said that he may have used it in the studio just cuz it looks f'ing cool but it's mostly the fault of the liberals and their maverick what is the plural of agenda?

Prince's Pretty Patent

Sure, everybody's linking to Ironic Sans' (admittedly entertaining) Celebrity Patents, since Waxy pointed them out, but did you know Prince actually has a real patent?

Patent D349127 is for a portable electronic keyboard musical instrument. But Prince prefers to call the monstrosity the Purpleaxxe™.



It's a horrible 80s-style keytar, though it wasn't created or actively used until well into the 90s. Prince, of course, didn't inflict the ungainly shoulder-mounted funk launcher on his own frame -- he made his then-keyboardist Tommy Elm play it. But no, this sort of humiliation wasn't enough for Prince to inflict on the young man, he also renamed the poor fellow Tommy Barbarella, after -- you guessed it! -- the 1968 Jane Fonda sci-fi cheesecake flick. As you might guess, it's one of Prince's favorite movies.

Though the Purpleaxxe™ has fallen into disuse in the interceding decade and a half, Elm is still saddled with his unfortunate sobriquet (joining such stalwart Prince-named talents as Carmen Electra). And you can find mention of the Purpleaxxe™ in various liner notes on Prince's albums, as well as the lyrics to a b-side remix on an out-of-print CD single from 1992. You know, if you're in to that sort of thing.

3:24 AM | 1 Comment

Tagged patents, prince, purpleaxxe, tommy barbarella

mrsquirrel said:

You're on crack.

Dang. I didn't know Prince had a patent on that thing.

http://dashes.com/anil/20...retty.html

mrsquirrel said:

Beaten to it

one can maybe assume that anildash isn't a prince fan?!

by the way, its only a design patent, not a patent for inventing the keytar - they were around when prince first started recording. he just has a patent on his own keytar design. (that's not aimed at you SG)

Mindflux said:

Anil Dash is a great guy, smart as a whip, and yes, a big Prince fan. He used to work for Six Apart, when it owned Livejournal (which is where I think I met him). I've kept up with his blogs, his twitter, et al. He's been interviewed by lots of folks in technology and been featured as a speaker at many events. The guy is unstoppable and a totally nice fellow. His wife is a lucky gal, I'm sure.

ravein2thejoy said:

can you point me to anything that confirms this is just a midi-controller? Prince usually refers to it as a sampler.