Finally announced! There were whispers at SB last year and hopefully they’ll show a more production ready device at this year’s event 
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That and other products. Embodme is a technology driven company with multiple potential products underway.
With the promise of greater sensitivity, I’d like to try this again for finger drumming. If it’s at least as sensitive and responsive to dynamics as Yamaha’s FGDP devices, that would be good enough. You can’t tell from the existing demo or future demos that only show people whacking the device hard or with hands rather than fingers. It’s hard to communicate sensitivity in words, but using an FGDP as a reference would clarify things.
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Is there still no warranty on Kickstarter ?
Looking forward for this new iteration.
The ERAE II Kickstarter has launched and is going bonkers, with still 29 days left. They say shipping in September.
They just made a Q&A Video. 25 minutes long, and a little rough.
Lots of great new features, plus new release for existing users. Sounds like they are still working through some of the technicals on this, but probably have those in hand.
Configuration Interface
System Overview
Key Features
- Standalone controller/looper with 16 layouts/tracks
- Fully customizable interface with companion App Erae Lab for Layout creation
- Smart arpeggiator, on-the-fly key and scale selection
- Inter-changeable soft silica-gel skin with two included skins : white fabric and black semi-rigid silicone
- High resolution LCD display for menu settings and live mapping
- On-the-fly Key and Scale selection
Video showing prototype ERAE II controlling a modular Eurorack system :
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In my case, considering this device primarily for fingerdrumming and then other uses secondarily, I’m now thinking that Ableton Push 3 is the better choice. At first, it seems apples and oranges, but after giving it some thought having owned the original Erae Touch, I can’t see that even Erae Touch II would be any better than Push 3. And then certainly Push 3 is much more capable when it comes to secondary uses, being thoroughly integrated with Ableton. The price difference, at less than $300, doesn’t really affect the decision.
Ooh, the two midi outputs is nice, to be able to keep mpe data and control days for conventional stuff separate. Also, that third USB port is interesting — I wonder if you’ll be able to eventually connect to two different midi hosts or devices at once? That could be really handy — I’m thinking of this and my Electra one and t1 as the whole midi side of my setup, and if this can connect to both devices via USB at the same time and otherwise allows for smart midi routing, that might let me replace my mrcc with a couple of dumb splitters.
Progress report on the ERAE II from Synthfest France :
Some views here of a new feature under development, the looper at 5:39.
So far they are on schedule, and still intend on getting MIDI 2.0 in by release in September.
The CV with the looper on this will make this super useful for anyone with Eurorack / modular, as you can capture complex ideas and modification in an instant.
Latest on the ERAE II. Shipping soon.
From Synthfest 2024 via SonicState.
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Just got the backer survey for delivering the ERAE II
Same here !
so, Ive had my Erae 2 for a couple of days now…
let me say, Im very impressed…
Ive been quite vocal with criticism of the Erae mk1 , imho, justifiably… it was great in so many ways, but there were some ‘issues’, and I don’t think it was well supported by Embodme.
all that said, I did still love it for what it was, and its flexibility.
so, honestly, backing the Erae 2 on KS, I was extremely ‘nervous’, and sceptical of some of the reassurances Embodme were giving us about the changes from Erae 1.
BUT I backed it, because the CV implementation was something I desperately wanted. Ive been looking for an expressive surface for my eurorack system for a long time… and the looper was a huge bonus (for modulation looping)
AND… I can say, Im glad I took the plunge,
the Erae 2 is much closer to what I wanted, its much more sensitive, and I love the feel of the new surface … and the IO capabilities (CV and midi) make it perfect for my setup.
ofc it does have a few minor issues, to be expected of a new product, but Im sure these can/will be addressed in the future. but overall, its a really good start.
in the above pic, you can see me with my smaller desktop rack,
here I was playing the Eagan Matrix Module and 4ms Meta Modular using both midi and cv.
these modules both absolutely thrive once you have an expressive surface that can expose lots of different controls over the surface… be that for notes, or just simple slider controls for parameters.
… a perfect companion due to their ‘lack’ of front panel controls.
then using the looper of the Erae 2, gives so much immediacy, be that for looping (note) phrases, or just looping modulation.
it felt like it was a risk, but Im glad I went for it
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I hope they will have great success with it
Keeping an eye on this one, MkI has been a really bad experience for me, but maybe they learnt !
Doeas it have a quantize timing function for bad ( cheating ) finger drummers like me ?
[EDIT] Looking at their community forums is still a bit frightening regarding communication though…[/EDIT]
there is quantisation on the looper. (Ive not tested, I turned it off ;))
I can only report on my personal experiences so far.
ofc, the general picture will only become clear as more people get their units, and also over time.
whilst Id love to see a change in approach by Embodme, Im not expecting it.
as Ive said previously, Ive been keeping my expectations in check for Erae 2.
frankly, Id urge people to buy for what is advertised, check the manual , to see how it works today - is that what you need? - like anything, don’t buy on what you hope it might do in the future., or how you might like it to be changed.
anyways, it does have a few (minor for me) issues, but overall the feel, and function is very much what Id hoped for. ofc, Id like the issues I have found (and reported) fixed in a timely manner.
from there… well, as more people get theirs Im sure we will have more reports based on thier experiences (and also expectations ;))
ok, it appears they have had a slight delay to shipping most units until early January
source here
however, they revealed there is a bonus feature - which Id not noticed 
( * )
a built-in vibration based metronome - it’s v. cool. basically you can feel 2 different ‘tones’ for beat/bar - particularly, useful when using the built-in looper.
they shared a clip of it in use…
this does however, highlight one small issue I found… its very intense, especially in a quiet studio on a wooden desk !
so hopefully they can give us a setting to reduce this, as otherwise its a really nice feature.
that said, Im sure in a live/noisy environment it’ll be perfect - so its better its too powerful than too subtle.
( * ) I did see the metronome setting, but incorrectly assumed it was going to send out a click via the CV ports for headphones - something Ive seen on other devices (Squarp pyramid?), so didn’t try it
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Embodme has a booth at NAMM this year.
I’m really excited to hear others experience of the E2 (should be hopefully next week?!)
it’s kind of funny being a lone voice, sure, I don’t seek ‘confirmation’ from others for my usage - I don’t care , it does what it does for me
But it’s uncomfortable being one voice saying how it might work for others, who will have different use-cases/focus. esp. when you feel positive, and its almost inevitable for some it wont work ‘as well’ for their use-case.
so exciting, we’ll soon have new voices, new use-cases to build a more complete picture
also, I will say, Ive obviously provided feedback to Embodme over issues etc, and they have been very receptive, and also open about issues they know about.
and whilst, I don’t have any details about (release) plans etc, Ive a feeling they are ‘on top of it’.
(I guess, Im hoping wider release = perhaps a firmware update, but perhaps not given holidays etc)
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The E2 arrived for me yesterday, so will feed back once I get chance to take it for a spin 
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