Kevin Parker is no deadbeat.
Just hours after the Tame Impala mastermind collected his second Grammy Award for best dance / electronic recording, another win as details emerged on Parker’s smashing start in the electronic instruments industry.
Parker is co-creator of Orchid, the synthesizer designed for musicians and producers to explore new ideas. In year one, the synth generated A$12 million ($8.4 million) in sales, according to Charl Laubscher, CEO and co-founder of Telepathic Instruments, the Australian startup behind it.
The first batch of 1,000 Orchids (priced at about $549) hit the market in December 2024 and sold out in 3 minutes, reps say. That number lifts to 10,000-plus units shifted across 60 countries in its first full year on sale, with the likes of Kid Cudi, Travis Scott, Fred Again, Benny Blanco, Dua Lipa, Don Toliver, Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien, Crowded House, Childish Gambino and Janelle Monáe getting their hands on its keys.
Related
Designed by Telepathic Instruments co-founder Ignacio Germade, Orchid largely operates as a chord generating system — a cheat code for Parker to bypass his own limitations as a keyboard player.
Here’s where the fun starts. The operator can choose a root note from its single-octave keyboard, and utilize its eight chord-type selecting and chord modifying keys.
Put simply, hitting the “E” on the keyboard and the “Minor” chord modifying key will provide an E minor chord, with the ability to modify it further. A patent is said to be pending on a key component of its “chord logic system,” and Telepathic Instruments is planning a major new drop for April.
“There have been no paid endorsements, no influencer contracts, and no artist sponsorship deals,” remarks Laubscher, in a statement. “Orchid has spread through the music industry the old fashioned way, passed from artist to artist, studio to studio because it’s a product artists actually love working with.”
On Sunday, Feb. 1, Parker snagged the golden gramophone for “End of Summer,” the lead track from Tame Impala’s fifth album, Deadbeat. The title peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, just one off the No. 3 peak for his project’s best-charting album, 2020 predecessor The Slow Rush. Deadbeat topped at least six Billboard charts and landed three songs on the Billboard Hot 100.
Tame Impala won a first-ever Grammy Award last year for its work on Justice’s “Neverender,” which also won in the best dance/electronic recording category. This 2026 win, however, is Tame Impala’s first Grammy win as solo act.
Parker won’t give away all his musical secrets. Speaking with Forbes Australia, he remarks: “I don’t like to tell people what music I’ve written on the Orchid, but, you know, if I didn’t use the thing that I’d been longing for so much and put so much time and effort and money into creating, it would have been kind of a failure.” But, he continues, “anyone with a keen ear should be able to hear it.”
