Prizim Zither

What the Heck is a Prizim Zither?  You want the short answer?  It's an autoharp on Steroids.  It's an ascended autoharp.  (Well you asked for the short answer!) 

Actually, we can get as detailed as you want: here's the official web definition:

What is the Prizim Zither?

Much as a prism bends white light into colorful rainbows, the Prizim Zither bends simple musical chords into more colorful ones. The sparkling melodies and harmonies of the Prizim are a delight to hear. The Prizim is the next step in the evolution of a truly ancient instrument. Having been called “an Autoharp on steroids”…it is, indeed, a glorified or “ascended” autoharp. It was developed in 2006 by Todd Crowley with help from Will Smith and Hal Weeks.
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The Prizim is the latest member of the ancient Zither family. The instrument dates back further than recorded history. Its closest relative is the Autoharp; indeed, the Prizim is an evolved autoharp; or, as one of the design collaborators called it, “an autoharp on steroids.” Visually, it looks just like an autoharp, but the resemblance ends there.
The autoharp uses a simple mechanism whereby the player depresses a single button attatched to a bar to create one of up to 21 simple chords (major, minor and dominant 7ths).  The Prizim player must depress two buttons to create those same chords. Single bars on the Prizim create scales. When 2 of these bars are combined, chords then become possible for the player…including Majors, Minors, Major 7ths, Minor 7ths, add9, sus4, minor 6’s major 6’s, and 9th chords.
Because the Prizim is chromatically tuned it can play in 6 keys. Because it has diatonic major scales on 6 of it’s bars, it can perform diatonic “open chording”, an advanced technique heard previously only on diatonic autoharps (which can only play in 1 or 2 keys).
The technique of playing two bars at once is not a new innovation; it was used by several autoharp players in the past 20 or 30 years. The Prizim is different than these “tandem bar” predecessors in that it retains the same arrangements of the fingering positions throughout it’s 6 keys; the player merely moves everything over by one button and the music moves up or down the circle of 5ths, making left hand technique almost as easy as playing on a standard autoharp. The button layout is also congruent with a very commonly used autoharp button layout, so that the player, can adapt to playing the Prizim in very little time. (Two bars may be depressed with one finger).
The Prizim’s unique structure was created in 2006 by Todd Crowley, with advice from Will Smith and Hal Weeks.
For 5 years, the instrument was called the “Diachromic Autoharp” (Diatonic/Chromatic). It has now been dubbed the “Prizim Zither” as the “Auto” part is somewhat diminished (it is, at best, semi-automatic) and the Autoharp never was a harp, it’s always been a zither. The creators felt it needed an evocative name to set it apart as the next step in Zither Evolution. It’s player “bends” the straight chords into “color” chords much as a prism would bend light into colorful rainbows.
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There's more detail (the extended treatise, in fact, complete with fingering charts and history of it's development here: http://diatoddnics.com/blog/diachromic-autoharp/

My buddy Todd Crowley invented the thing, with input from a couple of other autoharp madmen, Hal Weeks (whom I know personally...) and Wil Smith.

I put together the first prototype, played it, and never went back to playing straight autoharp again.  This is so much better in every way. 

Look back here for postings on youtube...I will soon be putting up video, both showcasing my playing, and showcasing this wonderful step in autoharp evolution!