Orba 2

[ped]

Has anyone tried one of these? It looks really fun and I’m wondering if it might encourage my son and his cousins to start their journey into synthesis. Not a bad price either. Sure it’s not as comprehensive for advanced users but it looks like a nice way to start crafting some loops…

 

https://artiphon.com/pages/orba
 

 

[naxos10]

Seems like an interesting bit of kit ped👍

 

Any piece of tech that gets kids into music is worth it.

[Maude]

I've got to be honest, it looks/sounds really good in that demo. But my fear is always that once in my hands I'll make it sound like a bad Bontempi demo. 

[ped]

Same 😂 I’ll let you know. It can be used with Bluetooth MIDI to control GarageBand instruments too which is cool. And if I get annoyed with it it should be a nice shape and weight to chuck out of the window

[Maude]

There's actually some good demos on YouTube showing what it can do, and it's limitations, rather than fancy demos by the manufacturer. 

I found one using the preloaded strings section and was impressed. I like the way you can slide your finger around the pad to change vibrato, intensity and the tone of the strings, the cutoff just emphasises the top end of the strings giving them a nice swell, and it transitions nicely between chords when you change pad. 

[ped]

Yeah it looks kind of easy doesn’t it. And the quantisation should help. Tbh I was expecting it to be way more expensive. 

[Maude]

[Strained tone] Must resist. 😁

[ped]

It’s super fun. It has haptics and you can really feel the bass through the device. Easy to use and craft tunes with. My son had it in the car and was playing some soft sounding synths which fade into vibrato and he started saying how it sounded like a sad song and started making up a story to go with the music. Whilst the music he created left a lot to be desired, it was great listening to him engaging with the sounds. 

[Waddo Soqable]

Looks great, a kind of stylophone for the 2020s 😁

[ped]

Having real fun with this thing. The app works really well and it's pretty seamless to use. It's amazing or just playing around with on the sofa. I've recorded 5 or 6 loops which I will play bass along to at some stage, though doing synth bass on the Orba is great fun too.

[Maude]

I see that Donner have released a competitor to the Orba, the Medo. 

I don't know if it's different at all or just a reverse engineered Orba clone. 

Apparently $149 kickstarter price then it will $299 which seems pricey compared to the orba, especially if it doesn't do anything different. Can't find a UK price right now. 

 

 

[ped]

10 hours ago, Maude said:

I see that Donner have released a competitor to the Orba, the Medo. 

I don't know if it's different at all or just a reverse engineered Orba clone. 

Apparently $149 kickstarter price then it will $299 which seems pricey compared to the orba, especially if it doesn't do anything different. Can't find a UK price right now. 

 

 

Interesting, thanks. It looks like it’s got twice as many ‘keys’ as the Orba but I’d be interested to see how it feels and sounds. The downfall of these devices can be in how it responds and how good the accompanying app is, so there’s a lot of unknowns at this point but I’ll wait and see. 
 

I still love my Orba, it’s just great for messing about with and my son plays it a lot. Maybe some competition will be good but Artiphon who make the Orba have shifted focus into their new ‘Chorda’ instrument

 

 https://artiphon.com

 

Let’s hope they keep up development and updates for the Orba. 

[Richard R]

That really does look fun, and easier to noodle out song ideas than taking a keyboard on the train. 

 

This review goes through the good and bad. Saving songs is now added (according to the comment post)

 

 

 

[ped]

On 06/10/2023 at 21:48, Maude said:

I see that Donner have released a competitor to the Orba, the Medo. 

I don't know if it's different at all or just a reverse engineered Orba clone. 

Apparently $149 kickstarter price then it will $299 which seems pricey compared to the orba, especially if it doesn't do anything different. Can't find a UK price right now. 

 

 

 

One extra feature that looks really useful is the built in mic for instant sampling. Can't get one in the UK at the moment but I'll be looking. I notice the Orba is now available in blue and white, and the app(s) have been updated too.

[Maude]

On 14/03/2023 at 19:29, Waddo Soqable said:

Looks great, a kind of stylophone for the 2020s 😁

Stylophone have improved things a bit. 

 

 

[ped]

Orba 3 is being released soon! It has a built in sampler which will be really useful, it was a faff before when you had to use the phone to make a sample

 

https://artiphon.com

 

[basskit_case]

Medo is £88.89 on Amazon Black Friday Deals 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Donner-MEDO-Controller-Electronic-Instrument/dp/B0D4QP4QMM/ref=sr_1_3?nsdOptOutParam=true&sr=8-3

[ped]

1 minute ago, basskit_case said:

Medo is £88.89 on Amazon Black Friday Deals 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Donner-MEDO-Controller-Electronic-Instrument/dp/B0D4QP4QMM/ref=sr_1_3?nsdOptOutParam=true&sr=8-3

 

Thanks, very tempting.

 

Artiphon have just released the Orba 3, which has built in sample recording too. I'm more likely to go for one of those, I think.