+1 for the OT as a couch companion.
My favorite sofa instrument is the Yamaha Reface YC. I used it a lot sitting on a bench or on the grass in different parks… I would take the YC with a power bank and a usb 5v to 12v (or 9v?) cable, and my friend would bring an acoustic guitar
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MPC one or the iPad for me…
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Don’t have it yet ( obviously ) but the Hydrasynth Explorer with the 36 aftertouch mini keys, built in battery and arpeggiator.
I’m weird. What I use is the Roland AE-10 wind-midi sax. The Aerophone. Built in battery and speaker. ( Now on sale, at Sweetwater and perhaps other places. ) I’m tempted to get a red one too.
There are 4 models, but the AE-10 is the only one on sale.
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mc101 or ipad
I end up with every instrument/gear on the couch at some point. Most of the time, I set up a desk and barely use it. Off to the couch or home bar to relax. It’s nice to separate the pack and zone in on one piece of gear.
Guitar / Bass
MPC Live
OT
DN
404
AR/OP-Z/deluge (when I owned them)
All fun couch companions
MPC Live - first version
I played with a Live 2 and that’s cool as well. Has that speaker. But is kind of big
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Yep, me too. Only annoying thing is that the headphone jack (on the One) is awkwardly placed (and loose). Also been playing with Renoise on my laptop…
couchbeats sessions are where most of my music happens. most of the time, my tool of choice is my old MacBook air + ableton.
next best is probably one or a combo of digitakt, typhon, and micromonsta 2. the typhon is great for just messing around with sound design. its sequencer is pretty fun. the MM2 requires a controller or some other way to play notes, so it’s not as convenient unless sequenced from the DT or something else. still fun, though.
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Everything’s been mentioned, but to add my +1s
The M8. Way ahead in a class of its own for couch use. Rechargeable internal battery. Decent FM. Full-featured PSG chip tune style waves. Braids macro synth. And samples. All with table-based modulation plus a UI that’s tuned to be portable. So good.
MC-101. Battery powered. Four tracks with faders let’s you not just compose but get a feel for performing. The sequencer is top notch. Sound engine is way underrated, IMHO, but very Roland-greatest-hits inspired.
Polyend Tracker. Runs great off a power bank. Very lap-shaped. Keyboard-esque entry, big screen, tracker-style sequencing, and intuitive song mode make it great for composing, though it also has a very creative performance mode. My only wish is it had synth engine in addition to samples.
A4. Have to run a power cord for this, but otherwise man. I love this thing in my lap! Something about the tiny faux-keyboard, all the macro knobs, four tracks and endless patch tweaking adds up to tons of fun when I have the time to just sit with it for an hour or two.
Honorable mention: Micromonsta 2. Only the lack of sequencer limits this from being in the lap-list. But it’s tiny enough (and sips little enough battery from a power bank) that it can be a great +1 to any of the above — especially given its multitimbrality. I usually use it as the synth engine I wish the Polyend Tracker had 
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hi elektronauts,
how do you listen to your couch-gear ? headphones , speakers, wireless ?
I don´t like headphones, and I don´t like cables on my couch.
I always end up with a small acoustic guitar.
I’ve bought battery packs for all manner of gear with the intention of couch jamming (As-1, M:C, Typhon, maschine+, TR6s, MPC One, LXR02, and on and on). However, I keep going back to MB Pro and a relatively strange use case at that. I run the Nord G2 demo under Parallels and save my creations to iCloud. Then when back in the “studio” I load them up in the real G2 and expand on them. I’ve created hundreds of G2 patches that way.
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Novation Circuit Rhythm or Koala on my phone are my go tos for doing stuff away from my desk.
That’s the first thing I noticed when i see it in shop, it’s smaller than i thought…
Yeah Rhythm powered by USB and computer plugged in, ideals for sampling series soundtrack
Can’t see myself cabling the TV up for something like this, but maybe there’s a bluetooth solution ? I know plugging a bluetooth transmitter into the TV is possible, but is there such a thing as a bluetooth receiver I could use with a sampler or with iPad/iPhone ?
EDIT: Okay, I see bluetooth receivers are a thing.
Yeah I hear you on the headphone jack situation, mines slack but it only ever gave me grief when using cans with a mic built in, with my DT 990s and audio technicas it’s fine… still you’re right, it should definitely be on the back of the unit, it’s just as big a problem when using a keyboard in front of the unit too, very poor design choice imho…
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Machinedrum, nothing beats it still.
The PO’s are also a go to. Cycles too.
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