i wonder if they will have those kinds of sales considering this will probably sell well. it seems like its already getting gassed up by the tubers, i wouldnt be surprised if they were sitting on a bunch of the other shoddier looking pieces.
Not initially but give it a year
I wonder what Donner have planned next, that magnetic detachable keyboard must have been designed with future products & uses in mind
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I like it! funny to look at this next to the Space Bee. Both nice SH-101 clones with attractive designs. The SB is on another level of build quality but this looks like a proper mass market one
yes please ill probably get one if they do
Here’s some music with the L1, with one piece more ambient, one IDM-ish, and one like video game soundtrack music.
My brief thought on the L1 is that it’s kind of amazing. It sounds remarkably like the SH-101 but with some incredible quality of life updates: MIDI, detachable keyboard (it’s really just a module), extra envelope, triangle wave, and all at a budget price! If you’re into what the SH-101 does, and want a modern iteration, this one is kind of a no-brainer for me.
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This is the kind of demo that I wanted to see.
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Great demo (as usual with your music 
) - how do you like the keyboard? Is it comparable in quality to the Arturia Keystep for example?
I was hoping people would be putting me off…
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It is not comparable in quality to the Keystep, no. Definitely cheaper feeling, but not enough to bother me when I’m playing. (By contrast, I generally quite like the feeling of the Keystep.)
What I like the keyboard for is quick exploration, finding some notes, dropping them into one sequencer or another, and then removing the keybed so I have more real estate on the table.
And thanks!
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I could probably dig into the literature and confirm this for myself but is it like the SH-101 where tempo is purely a product of the LFO / MOD parameter speed or is the tempo incrementally adjusted by a bpm control? Like, I guess that I’m asking if the sequencer clocks itself in the way that you would normally expect a modern up and down BPM control to work where it’s controlled by an onboard timer chip, something like that?
Great question, and this is another one of those incremental improvements: the LFO is unlocked from the tempo. Not sure if there’s a way to synch them—there probably is, because every other iterative improvement I’ve encountered can be reverted to the SH-101 design.
So the clock seems to be a completely separate thing from the LFO, if that answers your question.
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That’s exactly what I wanted to know, thank you! Not that it isn’t cool jamming with the SH using the LFO for tempo, because I enjoy that quite a bit, but it does seem like a useful option to at least make clock and LFO separable.
It is one aspect though, where if someone really wanted to assess the purchase based on ability to mimic an SH-101 as it relates to the behavioral quirks, this is one point where it would matter.
Not saying that as a detriment to the fantastic value that you get out of this device either way, but it’s a hugely unique part of the sequencer / modulation behavior of the roland is that unless you’re clocking it externally, everything revolves around the LFO speed (and that the LFO cannot be synced to external clock).
Also, per azzarole’s question up higher about fader length, do you feel that the scale length (or I guess throw-length) of the faders is the same as it is on the SH101? It’s not shorter a la MC202?
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Feels about the same fader length as the SH-101. By contrast, I wanted to love the SH-01a but the short faders made it really hard to dial anything in right. These faders feel like they do on my SH-101, in terms of playing them.
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And one from the Swedish guy 
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Spoiler: He thinks it’s not bad.
Edit: I’m sure my comment alone made him change the thumbnail 
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Sounds quite nice, imho. For example the arpeggio here https://youtu.be/LHaaJ_kpB2g?si=OMUNb6mFrdTJQ0M-&t=1109
Or here arp with resonance https://youtu.be/LHaaJ_kpB2g?si=2Qh5lN0gClTYPf0_&t=1501
Also the audio rate lfo can sound nice. Lfo can be tempo synced (internal or external clock). Pretty nice.
I think I know what I want for christmas.
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Sounds great. Better than the B option.
I like the arp has its own clock, with swing.
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I also ordered one which got here today. And it’s really nice. The faders are fun to play around with and it sounds really good. Needs some FX but even running it through a Digitone does wonders to the sound. The UI is on the small side but still very usable, so no disadvantage here and the form factor makes it easy to use it on your lap for example. Super lightweigt as well. Build quality is OK overall, it’s not an Elektron. Everything else is super easy to use, no hidden key combos and everything is labeled properly. A bit sad that it can’t be powered via USB.
The keyboard is pretty crappy though… Keystep feels much better in comparison. And while the magnet is a great idea, the connection isn’t that stable (as in it will always move around a bit but you won’t loose the connection easily). I wonder if I can send back the keyboard alone because it just isn’t really worth the money in my opinion (129,99€ as of now). It’s a bit of a shame because the user interface on the keyboard is very good as well. A few small buttons, even an OLED display and it also displays the amount of modulation. Just the keybed and the plastic case are wonky… But it can be used standalone as well.
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Would you mind posting some pictures of the module in context? I always appreciate real life size comparison.
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