I just got one of these a few days back, I was quite interested in the original one, but never actually took the plunge - my reasoning for not getting the original was that it was probably too similar to just using pd on the rpi, which I had briefly dabbled with a few years back, and lost interest in due to it feeling a bit underpowered at the time.
Anyway, recently I was looking to get a Kaliedoloop and went to the C&G page, only to see that it was discontinued. I had seen the Organelle M around the time of its launch last year but didnāt really take much notice (aside from really enjoying the C&G promo vid)
Whilst on the page I watched a couple of videos on the latest patches, and I also watched loopopās video, then I watched @thetechnobear Orac video and his Organelle M video. This ended with me buying one.
I thought it would be good to do a review from the point of view of someone who doesnāt know that much about computer programming and coming at it purely from an instrument point of view, so here goes.
As most people know I am not too much of a fan of using computers for music, I donāt have the patience and they kill my buzz, so I did have some reservations about buying something C&G market as a music computer, also my prior rpi experiences often ended in me getting fed up. However I have always very much enjoyed making instruments my own, by way of customisation, mods, and of course sound programming.
Right, so it arrives and I start playing around with it - and play as in playful, as in fun, as in enjoyable like when you was a kid losing yourself in a toy. The preset patches give a lot of insight into the capabilities and range from samplers, fx, synths, utilities etc, a very few of them are a bit gimmicky but easily removed. But for the most part they are very nice and vary in what they do, how they sound, and how they work, although nothing too complicated to use.
I was quite happy to learn that it doesnāt really feel like a computer, but more like a little box of creative possibilities. Loading new patches is simple enough, over wifi using my ipad or any computer, quick and foolproof, overall operation is very simple with very minimal menu diving most of the time, and when you do it could not be simpler, a very nice minimal and efficient UI, lovely.
Due to the more powerful pi board inside boot up time is very quick, about 12-14 seconds, and because it doesnāt have all the other crap that a pi install has, bonus.
I think C&G have done a great job of removing all the hassle of computers, the fixed hardware platform appeals to me and it has a fairly decent minimal set of controls and midi in and out, just enough and nothing more, excellent. Bit of a quirky design but Iām fine with that, the little maple keys are alright by me and the battery power and speaker (which sounds surprisingly decent) are also very handy. I can arse about on the sofa and when I get something cool happening, I can take it into my setup and develop ideas further.
I love samplers, and it has a bunch of them, and most of them offer something fun or unique, but also of course down the line I can make my own.
Portable sound collecting is another big draw, although in this particular function I think there are a couple of minor niggles. The built in mic has a switch, but it is a little inaccessible to get to, being almost recessed on the back panel, and the mic unfortunately picks up the click of the record button on most of the patches, obviously not an issue when using line in, and it would be fairly simple to overcome this by modifying a patch to wait a little after the button is pressed before recording. Also a footswitch can be used to start recording.
The included fx patches were also quite a pleasant surprise, and again give a good insight into the capabilities.
The synth patches are pretty ok too, some quite unusual stuff and some more bread and butter stuff to, like FM and analog emulation.
The community patches cover a huge range of stuff, pretty much most things you can reasonably think of are there, plus quite a few more unusual things and some utilities like a midi monitor and of course Orac the modular patch chaining creation by @thetechnobear
Anyway, Iāll wrap it up for now, Iāll probably add more later, but Iāll close by saying if you enjoy tinkering but are not overly technical then it is definitely worth checking out the Organelle M, it is a great platform for inspiration and I have found it to be a great seed of creative fun, it will make great sample fodder for OT users, and thanks to the programable nature should allow me to do things that no other product offers, bespoke solutions for specific needs.
Already ideas are swimming in my mind for midi utilities and custom samplers, but all that aside the existing patches are a lot of fun and take me down different paths, I love it.
great stuff!