Seems Artiphon (creators of the Instrument 1) have a new instrument coming. Seems dedicated to drums, given the ‘drum roll, please’ email tagline and use of drum emojis.
Thoughts on what it will do?
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I’m guessing it seems drum oriented because of the limited number of pads for playing, but the capacitive-sensing technology used, plus the gesture modifies (slide, tilt, etc), allow for very nuanced and expressive playing of tonal instruments.
Yep, I posted while it was still a mystery. Since seeing the video, though, I’m a bit meh about it. Got excited because the Instrument 1 was a guitar-like midi controller. So was hoping this would be a hang-drum style midi controller. Oh well.
For the price it’s piqued my interest. Kind of like a hardware version of Propellerhead’s Figure. It actually does look like the sort of thing I’d have on my desk to just pick up and fart about on. Nothing serious but still a bit of fun. Will keep an eye on this one.
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“Minimalist form factor, feathertouch sensitivity, and instant playability”—they just described me perfectly.
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Haha
I considered a Karlax many times, but the price is ridiculous even if it’s still possible to get one. Artiphon’s looks almost as useful and , 10 years later, they’re doing it for 98% cheaper. I pledged.
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It is great for drums as well. And, no reason you couldn’t use it to play hang drum samples via midi. 
I’d like to try it with SWAM modeled woodwinds. I get a lot of mileage out of a Roland Aerophone, but the main drawback is that damn breath condensation. I’ve used many breath controllers, and there’s no avoiding dripping water all over the place after a few minutes, which is really annoying, especially in a small playing space, but the Aerophone does play with a very natural feel, and as a wind player, that’s nice. But maybe this Orb will allow enough dimensions of modulation so that you can hold it in one hand to shape the line and play notes on a keyboard in the other hand. That will tether me to a keyboard, but solve the dripping water problem.
I backed one and I am looking forward to it.
I am more interested in using it as a standalone hardware device than using it as controller. So I was a bit hesitant because there seems to be no possibility to edit the internal sounds. Probably the synth engine gets boring for me after a while (if I like the sounds at all). But maybe it will also work as a controller for a hardware synth, let’s see.
It is a great, innovative system and the developers have my respect to bring such a device on the market. (I am tinkering and developing myself prototypes of motion controllers/instruments and know that this is a long way)
BTW I don’t see this device mainly as drum synth. I am more interested using it for more musical and intuitive expression of electronic sound. On a usual synth there is always a huge man-machine distance when turning knobs, using wheels or even with a responsive aftertouch keboard. The dimensions which bring the motion sensors in makes opens it really up.
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I just received mine, a month after it became available at retail stores worldwide.
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Engadget is reporting that Artiphon just opened up Orba’s synth engines for design today: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.engadget.com/amp/artiphon-orba-musical-grapefruit-mpe-synth-132643942.html
I am at work and can’t test. Anyone tried this yet?
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I did. It works as advertised. Get the software here and be sure to read the manual. One thing to be mindful of, is that the Orba will continue playing its current built in synth; the app ís a synth engine with its own output. So either turn the Orba internal synth all the way off and use it as an output, or choose a different output.
After editing, you can save the created sound to the Orba.
I missed this at first, so I was listening to two sounds at the same time, while only one was responding to my edits. Now that I know how to work it, it’s actually quite versatile. Especially for a €98 portable MPE synth.
Now if only they added quantization and that song import and export actually worked…
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does orba have any string/pluck modeling?
No. Two oscs with some fairly common params and something called “wave guide”, which does have either string or pipe, but this definately is not modeling. You can get the manual for all parameters here.
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A competitor of Orba2!
Strange to see a company such as Donner doing a Kickstarter. I kinda like the idea of one of these faceless tech-clone companies branching out and offering new products with features that unlock with tiers of support. Whether the products will be any good is another thing mind you.
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