SB-1 Space Bee

Another application of the old axiom, “Perfect is the enemy of good”.

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Perhaps i’m just being overcharitable in the hope that my last-batch sacrifice nothing Abstrakt Avalon makes it in time :slight_smile:

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I’ll keep a pair of fingers crossed for you. And for the folks waiting for a Bee. It’s no fun to commit to an objectively costly thing only to have to deal with all the waiting and uncertainty on top of that :’(

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when i was selling mine a few years ago it took a while to get rid of it.
dropped the price a little too, and it included a sem cartridge , everything was immaculate.

and was pretty cheap considering …ah well…

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Without commenting on the incredible planning and forethought and chutzpah this kind of undertaking requires, I just never gelled with the product concept, personally. I had serious eyebrow-raisers from the get-go, like, what am I going to do with an SH-101 on a park bench? Am I gonna use it in conjunction with a laptop? If so, make it more versatile, not just a replica of a 101. At least have different filter types for a wide range of sounds.

This thing never spoke to me. And sorry but what’s with these company names that brag, like “Superlative” or “Gamechanger”? They just make me think of fresh faced dudes in matching polos with amazing skin radiance pitching an idea on Shark Tank and using phrases like “disrupting the ______ space”…

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Perfect is the enemy of finished.

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I really don’t want to be too negative, but I’m beginning to wonder about the hubris of this project.

Ultimately, this thing is broadly an SH-101 : I have an original sat in the room next to me right now. It’s a nice, fun little synth that always sits well in a mix & is surprisingly versatile, but ultimately, it’s a basic Roland mono synth. I’ve never been 100% behind the mythical status these things have acquired over the last 25 years or so - (ditto the Juno 60)

With that in mind, I really do wonder about this project. There are so many other things commercially available right now that largely fill this gap…& do a lot, lot more. Ok, the battery, portability etc… but is that really such a priority for most musicians ? I dunno, this seems to be getting a bit obsessive, a bit crazy now.

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I get that the wait is annoying but this seems harsh. Plenty of people still drop 1k on vintage 101s and this thing looks like a pretty big upgrade. Maybe we’ve become so used to clones being small and cheap that it feels weird when someone goes full hog with it.

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yeah, you’re probably right on reflection. I guess this is maybe tainted by the fact I have a vintage 101 ( I think it cost £250 ) & I can’t imagine dropping £1k on one in 2022 - but that’s a different issue. I do still think it’s an awful lot of time and effort for something that ultimately isn’t that special. YMMV of course. :slight_smile:

I guess I can count out your support of my soon-to-be company: Superlaxative

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Yeah I used to be obsessed with the idea of everything battery powered but realistically if it isn’t something tiny like the M8 I am never gonna break it out in public. For a while I had pretty much an all battery powered set up and quickly realized I would rather just make music in the studio. Honestly to me the SB-1 does look kind of appealing just for the form factor and that it looks like it is a very nice quality keybed. I suppose it depends on the actual release to see how quality that all is. Kind of funnily if they just made this as a smallish high end midi controller instead of a synth I would really be all over it. I also really don’t get the appeal of the OXI One having a battery either no way I would pull a pads controller covered in glowing lights out in a coffee shop either… anyways as to not verge off topic I do think SB-1 is pretty interesting, if it has good midi implementation as a controller I could see using it as a main controller on top of it being a nice synth, still it is pricey but any “premium keys” seem like they are gonna cost you an arm and a leg.

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Certainly, I wanted one back then, but lacked for funds. Now there’s more persons with funds, but less availability.

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There’s a new update but I have no idea what it is. Anyone care to take screen shot a post?

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:popcorn:

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New update !

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/superlative/sb01-analog-synthesizer-of-the-future/posts/3589623

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info below was an update from their website/somewhere (i cant remember)

Hi all, things are moving quicker again.

The SB01 has proven complex to bring to production, but since last month we’ve had a fantastic new electrical engineering collaborator, Don, who will help us get the SB01 across the finish line.

In July we successfully built the feature-complete new module board revision (pictured below) with our reflow oven. The boards worked on the first power-up, and now the module has arrived with our firmware collaborator in Norway, where we will continue with firmware development next week. As mentioned earlier, the module board houses the microcontroller and digital functionality that will interface with and control the main analog board, of which a new revision is arriving for assembly next month.

On these final revisions we are focused on a plan for testing and calibration to ensure uniform performance that scales to hundreds of units, helping us deal with any variances due to component tolerance and the analog nature of the design.

Right now we are aiming to have this production prototype ready to show at the New England Synth Fest at the end of October, which will fully integrate our refined mechanical design as well.

In addition, we have been actively exploring partnerships for manufacturing in order to see if there is any opportunity to make things move faster. The previous leads were not yet a good fit, and we are still preparing for in-house assembly in parallel.

Finally, we will be returning to monthly updates as things pick up again on the path to production early next year.

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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/superlative/sb01-analog-synthesizer-of-the-future/posts/3652355

UPDATE! :stuck_out_tongue:

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…i´ve lost faith in it…

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Dec update: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/superlative/sb01-analog-synthesizer-of-the-future/posts/3652355

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