Can’t seem to pre-order this. My VISA keeps returning ‘card was declined’ for some reason, and there’s no paypal option 
Hopefully I cab answer these for you well enough:
The battery is not removeable or replaceable. Maybe if you went dismantling seriously but that’s beyond me personally so I assume it’s a no.
No physical dial for the volume but there is separate Output and Speaker volume parameters on the Project Screen as well as, in the Mixer Screen, an Overall volume and volume for each track, send effect, audio in, and usb.
Max song length is a tricky thing. max amount of chains on the song screen is FF in hexadecimal, but each chain can hold from 1 phrase of 1 step to 16 phrases of 16 steps. Each step could be set to any relative speed. So you could optimise things crazily if needed but you can make very long tracks.
USB is indeed micro as has been stated.
Not sure about usb midi, it might, but I know it’s not a USB host.
Sampling on the go via the Audio Input is absolutely there but no Mic. I know someone has used headphones as a pseudo Mic plugged into the Audio Input but thats all I can say for sure.
I’ve not tried it with other devices really but you can definitely get a good amount of loudness from it (has a limiter built in that can crank it and sound good) but it definitely has little noise going on.
Pretty sure you can only sync it via midi in.
Hopefully this has helped.
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Thanks for the clarifications, it’s better to know the limitations before making a decision 
It’s a bummer for the battery, as it’s probably the first thing that’ll die.
I can get with the other limitations, too bad for USB-C and the mic (built-in mic would have been so much fun!). It’s sad that the audio output wasn’t specifically designed for a line-out/headphone combo, but I guess as the main appeal is for the chiptune/lsdj community the noise floor will always be better than a gameboy 
I’m also wondering if there’s also USB audio output, as I understood USB input is a thing?
What’s really triggering me is also the open source part, as when the firmware will be published I see room for more homebrew synths and effects, some sort of SDK would be awesome, thinking of the NTS-1 community.
The battery should be moderately easy to replace. Not as easy as AAs but way easier than a cell phone.
The audio output is totally fine as far as line out/headphone. I use my M8 with earbuds, studio headphones and also in my studio setup alongside other synths and drum machines without any issue.
USB audio in/out works! As does USB MIDI i/o!
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I’m more in the writing department
If you need anyone for proofreading, structuring the info, other writing/editing tasks I’d love to help out!
Fika breaks all day.
Call your bank, i had this and it was fraud protection
I don’t know if this helps but for me m8 isnt just a couch/travel toy its a new brain for my setup that replaces OT midi and polyend tracker midi! 
and gives me faster control over samples than OT or polyend offered me , but i also come from a lsdj background and i was already quick with using handheld trackers.
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What’s the backstory of the developer of M8?
Seems a pretty astoundingly well-executed first venture into audio electronics.
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im not good with origin stories ! but here we go : trash80 was manufactured in a robotics lab somewhere in Silicon Valley where he slowly rose to be one of the legendary chiptune composers of our time, with every video game console and vintage computer system sound chip fused to his circuity he thought, “I need more MORE POWER!” and thus he started making his own electronics???
here is his 2008 album heavily using the NES sound chip that makes me feel things
any thoughts on this @trash80 ? “What’s the backstory of the developer of M8?
Seems a pretty astoundingly well-executed first venture into audio electronics.”
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This great album is how i found him haha, man this is a bit nostalgic for me.
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In case you all are interested, there’s a donation fund started by Storm Blooper to help get the M8 tracker in the hands of BIPOC musicians. The intent is increase access and inclusivity by providing discounts to BIPOC and LGBTQ identified individuals by April 9th. Already chatted with Storm Blooper about it on Twitter. It’s legit!
(PS. if you’re a musician in one of the aforementioned categories, DM S.B. for more details on how to access the funding)
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It’s not my first project really. I dabbled in electronics and programming since I was a teenager. I might be either known for some of my projects or some of the communities I helped build…
2000ish I ran Arguru’s website- who made quite a few trackers back then RIP. I discovered the crappy hack for gameboy known as the “prosound mod” (the creator of LSDJ coined the name), 2003~2005 I worked on some Native Instruments Reaktor library stuff including a thing called OKI Computer, in 2008 I worked on the backend for 8bitcollective - a chiptune community, and developed the Arudinoboy - an open-soruce MIDI for gameboy thing. 2010 I created chipmusic.org - another chip community, 2012 I created weeklybeats.com, 2015 I made an open-soruce YM2149 synth / arudino project and I have a few Max4Live synths available on my github - trash80 (Timothy Lamb) · GitHub
M8 Started as a MIDI tracker idea for Teensy 3.1 back in 2013~2014 that I never finished. In 2019 I dusted it off to control my YM2149 synth, it lead down the rabbit-hole to where the project is today. You can see a almost semi-complete history of it on my Instagram I have a story collection the top my page “M8 tracker” - Trash80 / Timothy Lamb (@trash80music) is on Instagram
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Respect for Arguru!
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Arguru is a legend!
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Thanks trash80 - an interesting journey! the M8 looks really good
So you are THE Timothy ‘OKI Computer’ Lamb! 
I do recall seeing your name around Reaktor (library) quarters over the years
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Wow it really has been a long journey, thanks for sharing your story!
Seeing the prototypes evolution is really interesting:
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I haven’t read this entire topic so maybe this has already been asked, but are there any sample editing options? Particularly:
-The ability to edit start and end points
-Sample chopping
-Fade in/Fade out
-Envelopes
-The ability to pitch samples and play them in different scales
-Sample playback effects
Very interesting device though not cheap for Canadians (us to can conversion, tax, import fees , shipping)
Im gonna have to read the manual and watch all those videos before i take a decision.
