I’m even sadder - I’m indiegogo crowdfunder #382, so I have all the Kickstarter people in front of me and then another 381 indiegogo people in front of that. By the time the Kordbot ships to me, I might have actually practiced and learned how to play chords by myself using, like you know, a keyboard and a book or something.
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to me this whole thing is filed under “lesson learned”
I will not crowdfund anything anymore and I do not care about the KB thing anymore.
I had some ideas on how to put this thing to use, when it was announced, but right now I just don’t need it anymore… things have changed or I changed and evolved…
ouf, i just funded my first Kickstarter with the theoryboard which is very similar to this.
fingers crossed they meet their may '18 deadline.
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theoryboard looks nice but it is quite large?
I still hope for an app that supports the launchpad to play chords…
something like a small push focused on harmony…
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I simply have not enough desk space to make the theory board fit…
To be honest I bought the desk with the idea in mind that it has to be small so I cannot buy too many instruments…
it works…
a bit…
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I hope you give the kordbot a good shot when you get it delivered.
As a regular indiegogo and kickstarter backer, in my view Brad has really impressed me in what he as delivered; it really is top notch in the price bracket and in several price brackets above that. I cannot see the profit margin. This has been a labour of love.
I was not in a hurry to get it, but after the long wait, getting it and using it, I’m still a supporter - the real test is, once he gets the 1000 or so initial units delivered (which must be a nightmare), what then? It’s all about the firmware development. I am sure that development is what Brad is really interested in, but got sideswiped by early adopters piling in and the huge task of going from zero and suddenly trying to become a Korg or Roland and shipping out a quality v1 product en masse.
My 2c is, if he can get the initial delivery wave satisfied with the hardware (to the high spec that I have already received), the real future story about Isla instruments future is their ability to deliver rapid and interesting development of the firmware.
And, for the record, I’ve zero connection with Isla/Brad/Kordbot, just like the story and have been really impressed with the box he delivered so far.
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There’s something new on the horizon - a program called KordsKontrol. Look on YouTube for that name and I think the website is kordskontrol.com. Java app running on a PC (only for now) that works with a Korg PadKontrol and some other hardware.
I don’t typically use a computer with my music gear and when I have it turned on (a Mac mini) it’s used as a 2 track recorder, so the KK approach doesn’t work for me. I’ll sit quietly by and hope feature creep doesn’t sink the Kordbot development. I voted for no sequencer and minimal other functionality until the core chording aspects were solid and the best they could be, but no one listens to that kind of talk. Everyone wants every feature ever invented rolled into the Kordbot whether it makes sense or not.
Given that there’s one developer, every minute he spends on researching and trying to implement some esoteric feature means one less minute he has for bug fixes.
Just got my colour choice and shipping address confirmation email that I replied to and immediately followed up by shipping notification, for anyone who cares.
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still nothing here…
started learning Chords 
But I say two Yetis yesterday, still no Kordbot…
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I have the Kordbot since last week, it feels a bit plastic. And it had a lockup, when checking out the menus.The buttons are also sub optimal.
But it seems to be a great arpeggiator + chord memory, is nice. Its just not easy to play with this type of key bed.
I think the Project should be redone with proper Keys /Buttons.
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thank you for your short review…
Again , expectations have been lowered…
meh…
theoryboard for me / we’ll see how manufacturing goes tho :-/
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problem with theoryboard is:
affordable right now,
about 400 plus delivery and taxes and soon about 800 bucks… plus tax and delivery…
But, do I want to spend 400 bucks for a product that I don’t know, and that noone has reviewed?
And by the time it can be reviewed the price will raise and is not very interesting to me anymore…
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and the fun thing about Kordbot is that the first delivery date was announced to
be SEP 2016
And right now it is still not delivered…
And with the theoryboard they say it is MAY 2018… I guess this is also just an estimate date…
look at the kickstarter from GR-1 Granular Synthesizer… It was announced for DEZ 2017 and now it is JAN 18 and I will take a look in January for the real date…
I understand that you have to raise high expectations to get enough orders to make this work… That is how kickstarter works… But I will not give money for this anymore…
The Kordbot buyer experience is the worst for me, I do not want to repeat that…
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this is my first kickstarter, so i don’t have much experience, but it sounds like there have been plenty of other unhappy campers.
with the most recent update, the theoryboard people released a photo of them winning a sacramento university competition…so yeah, i think they’ve got a lot of bright people steering the ship whereas a lot of these other starters had only 1 or 2 people building it from the ground up.
we shall see
I’m happy I paid $299.99 (spent a week checking it as people left the kickstarter toward the deadline) but ya never know, maybe nothing goes anywhere. fingers crossed
will cross fingers for you
I hope for a good experience.
I have ordered many Kickstarter projects mostly board games, and many of them have very high delays, but you get very innovative ideas. Sometimes the presentation is not that perfect, but its something new, which will inspire more products. (Like seen here with the Theory Board.)
I think that is a good thing, i hope Elektron will do some scale support in their sequencer in the future. Its a garage company, and they may now have the funds to do a better product in the future. See it as as it is, its generating a lot of startup company’s, and that is good to see some innovation done which wouldn’t exist without this platform. Also the guy from ISLA Instruments is honest, and fulfills his orders. Its not fair to compare him to established companies.
i have an eye for the Theory Board… but i prefer to go with more stable products. since i have to pay way more in my country…Yes i agree, everybody wants a better sequencer but honestly i don’t think Today Elektron is a garage company.
I do not doubt that Brad is a honest guy…
That is not the point
The point - in my case - is, that I do not like the way things went on with Kordbot…
Sort of a fine idea ruined through the buyer experience…
it will be a disappointment as it took too long…
Imagine isla would have announced this thing with 12 months delivery time… I would expect that it would not have been produced…
And now it is 15 months after the first announced delivery date…
Right now I am not even sure if I will pick it up from customs… It would be like picking up a bad memory or bad experience…
I am not sure I want this in my house right now…
How small is the screen/text? I find it hard to determine from the videos how big/clear the text is on the screen.
If the contrast is good, i normally don’t have much problem if the text is small but clear.
I saw in some other gear shot that the Kordbot was bigger than a Lexicon 480L remote, so that gives me some general idea of the size of the entire thing.