SynthFest France 2025/Superbooth 2025: Napkey Instruments NapKey Chord is a modern Autoharp Synthesizer and MIDI controller.
I’m shocked. Benjamin Cholet, musician of the band Napkey and founder of Napkey Instruments, has passed away. According to the information I have, he died of an apartment fire in Paris last week—my heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.
At Synthfest France, he showed me the new Napykey Chord, which was just before its market launch. What will happen next with Napkey is unclear. RIP Benjamin.
Article from April 26, 2025
SynthFest France and Superbooth are very close in time. One is in April, the other a few weeks later in May. So, it’s pretty standard to see the same companies at both shows. One of these is the young French company Napkey Instruments.
In 2024, they did a Kickstarter campaign for their new product. At SynthFest France, Napkey Instruments showcased the final production unit of its NapKey Chord, a modern interpretation of the classic Autoharp.
Napkey Instruments NapKey Chord
Napkey Chord is a portable (29.9 x 15.7 x 2.8 cm) hardware chord instrument inspired by the classic Autoharp. It’s both a standalone Synthesizer and a MIDI controller.
It features 36 custom-made chord buttons, giving you up to 108 chord combinations at your fingertips. It provides 36 major, minor, and 7th chords.
As already said, you can work with up to 108 chords, including 24 maj7 and min7 chords, the 24 augmented and diminished chords, and the 24 sus4 and add9 chords. A chord inversion function gives more options. Alongside the buttons, it also has a strumplate.
Three play modes to explore. Strum mode allows you to strum chords like on a guitar. Chord mode sustains your notes while you can strum over them and Play mode triggers the chords without sustaining them.
The chords can be output in two ways: either via USB-C MIDI or TRS MIDI out. Alternatively, you can use the built-in 20-voice polyphonic Synthesizer. It’s very feature-minimal and gives you control over the waveform with seamless morphing from sine to sawtooth waves, envelope decay, and volume.
Napkey Instruments Napkey Chord is bus-powered and does not require an extra power supply when used as a MIDI controller on a computer or tablet. Further, it has a built-in speaker.
On the connectivity side, it features a MIDI TRS Type A 3.5mm socket, a USB-C socket (supporting MIDI and power), and a stereo 3.5mm audio output.
First Impression
At first glance, it’s a lovely and useful tool for quickly learning chords. I would have expected a bit more from the features, especially for the price, also on the Synthesizer engine side. Since the firmware is updatable, there’s hope for new features in the future.
Napkey Instruments’ NapKey Chord is available now for pre-order on Indiegogo until mid-June for 349€ (black) and 399€ (transparent ghost edition, limited to 500 units). The official price is to be announced, but Ben, the developer, estimates it will be 379€ (black) and 479€ (ghost).
The Kickstarter pre-orders will start shipping at the beginning of June 2025. After this, the official website will open with the option to order it directly from the developers. Napkey Chord is made in France.
More information here: Napkey Instruments
The 70s/80s homecomputer design really made my day. Beautiful! Will have a look at the devices.
Well, thats a spirit breaker..
Just saw the wonderful beautiful design and then read the shocking news! Condolences to all involved. Such sad news
Wow, Tom, that is indeed shocking. I never met the guy but still, my condolences to his family , band members and friends