Hi Guys,
I just saw this link on Facebook, spotted by Chris I think (who is a member here).

http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2015/01/29/korg-noritake-introduce-futuristic-nutube-vacuum-tubes.

It looks to be a stereo preamp the likes of 12AX7.
Cheers, Brek.

edit,,, I tried to [url][/url] the link Brad, but it appears as more text.

The URL tags don't work here - to help thwart spammers. Instead there is a script I run that will detect text links and convert them automatically. I can also press a button to run it manually if needed. Job done.

I was about to say that the guts in those chips look like the fluorescent displays found in old calculators though the site does confirm it.

Noretake make VFDs, so no stranger to sucking atmosphere out of rectangular glass envelopes.
It’s my feeling that most folk here would have an aversion to these, but not to say a company
shouldn’t do it to take advantage of what would be a new market for current products.

Personally, I am not against it and don't know why anyone would be though it's like anything. Some will like it and others won't. It's probably a little strange though but who knows, there may be a benefit to it all.

Most Russian space hardware still uses valves here and there and they may benefit in some way. The world relies on the Russians to transport people to and from the space station at the moment and any valve-equipped gear they use may benefit from further miniaturisation.

I wonder if these devices will make their way into a future 'Currawong' kit amplifier...

You can trick a VFD into being a signal level amplifier, similar to a triode tube using a directly heated cathode filament. In normal use, as far as I can figure out, the grid is pushed positive in relation to the cathode to cause a florescent painted plate to glow with electrons hitting it. As an amplifier, we'd want to keep the grid in the negative voltage area. To get the plate current up, you'd increase the plate voltage to something like 120VDC. Which should make the VFD act more like a triode tube. This is for small signal amplification, not output to drive a speaker level power. The main application for this would be in audio preamp stages, to add some 2nd harmonic distortion, which is said to add a pleasing effect to music, sometimes called "warmth".