agreed, it’s turning into quite the box. i had intended it to just be used as a simple sample player using older kontakts libraries i have.
hopefully they’ll be able to source the 128gb memory modules soon. 
for a Aug/Sept release.
Will be great compagnon for little portable set.
Seems to be really full of goodies 
It is coming soon…
1 Like
Not really as it’s not got any BPM time stretching or granular features, even though they’ve been requested by (multiple) backers over the past couple of years.
I’ve asked a couple of times on the Kickstarter page and got a fairly uninspiring response…
My last question:
Would appreciate an update on the request mentioned a couple of years ago about time-stretching / BPM based samples.
Playing back loops locked to BPM is an absolute core feature of any modern sampler, so given that Pipes is pitched to ‘out perform any sample player’ so it’s pretty reasonable to assume that such a basic feature is going to be a no-brainer for pipes, right?
Their response:
There isn’t anything technical about operations such as time-stretching, granular synthesis, etc. that can’t be implemented in the Pipes platform.
As the early adopter Backers become familiar and comfortable with the device we will assess the most requested wishlist additions and include them in Wi-Fi updates, along with the most requested adjustments, and of course bug fixes. There are many development directions Pipes could take, and the plan is to decide with input from across the full spectrum.
I’m mostly just interested in having a large collection of samples online and easily available, so I’m likely to create some large sets of one-shots mapped across the keyboard which I can sequence via midi so it’ll so fine for that, but won’t be much help for loops/breakbeats etc.
1 Like
Can anyone clue me in to what they mean by “instrument” ? This looks to me like its ‘just’ sample playback, multisample playback ? Or does it have algorithms for subtractive/FM/physical modelling or something ?
The audio side is essentially just a standard sampler setup, with an instrument being a regular multisample map, with all the usual velocity switching etc and also audio effects.
But then, the part they’re pitching as the USP, in addition there’s another layer which sits on top of that which allows for midi processing and generative stuff based on puredata patches.
There are four ‘pipes’ which can run in parallel each having it’s own multisampled instrument plus the puredata ‘tweakers’ and effects, plus a master effects section too.
2 Likes
A cursory look over the comments section on KS will show just how much of a car crash this is turning into…
1 Like
Dam lol I check in on the pipes every now and than out of curiosity and always wonder why it seems like it was forgotten and never released… Those comments make a lot of sense. that sucks since it was a cool idea.
That’s a shame, although it seems to be mostly the same 3 or 4 people spamming the comments again and again.
Yeah… it’s bad I backed at the founders level despite misgivings about the pitch since I want/wanted a computer-less rig with many sounds.
Their recent updates have been bad and I hoped it was just a misstep because of fatigue or whatever. Essentially “we are sending 10 units to people who didn’t complain” but… why not just send units to the founders level like you promised?
Anyway… who knows what happens from here.
1 Like
Yikes this turned messy. And a timely reminder that I need to delete Kickstarter and close the account as this sort of mess is just all too regular.
I was actually down as an early bird Kickstarter on Pipes but whimped out before the end. Dodged a bullet there!
3 Likes
I’m still in … still interested to see how much of a puredata/sample library/fx box it is to sit beside DT/OT/DN.
Wasn’t really in it for a super fast stage multi sample player, though I think many backers expected that - I’m more interested in a sound design, midi playable abstract noisemaker.
All the better if it is user manageable through puredata - which I hope it is.
Don’t mind if the gui is clunky. That’s puredata ‘aesthetics’
1 Like
They are withholding rewards from people who complained ???
1 Like
It’s not really what people were expecting though, especially when they pitched right from the start that:
Our goal is to use the time between our Kickstarter launch and the first shipping dates to refine our User Interface and User Experience.
Yet the only part of the UI with any degree of polish is the basic audio layer, whereas their whole USP that they’ve been banging on about all this time is the ‘Tweakers’, which are all based on the Puredata layer, which pops up with the native Linux interface on top of the main UI…
Then, in addition…
Pipes’ user interface will be browser-based and can be operated from anything that runs a browser and has WiFi, so you can set up Pipes without even touching it or being in the same room
Again, not true… only the basic audio layer works this way, you can’t access the Puredata/Tweakers remotely, only on the device itself so yet again another key feature simply doesn’t work as advertised.
From memory, I had the impression there was a working beta that basically did most/everything they claimed and it just needed productionised. But reading through that Kickstarter it seems like it was all a fantasy and they have been playing catch up via other people’s money!
Hopefully it comes good in the end…
Well, basically what happened was…
Total radio silence for nearly 3 months, and then when they finally start shipping, rather than do the decent thing and ship to backers in line with when they actually backed the project, they made a point of saying they’d shipped the first ten to people who’d shown ‘exceptional support’ in the hope their enthusiasm would spread to everyone else over the next 40 days…
That was three weeks ago, so by their reckoning they should be half way through shipping by now. I was backer #50 (of 350-ish) and I’ve not had a shipping notice yet, so either they are shipping less than 3 units a day, or they’re not shipping them in order…
2 Likes
word
reviews are trickling in and a number of them don’t seem too thrilled with what they’ve gotten. feeling like this may be my last kickstarter.
1 Like
When there’s an obvious niche in the market that makes you think, ‘why haven’t any of the big manufacturers done that?’, there’s probably a reason why.
Have just received a MannKitchen Pepper Cannon from Kickstarter, which is outstandingly good (as you’d hope when you buy a £100/$150 pepper grinder). And I occasionally (and successfully) use it to buy board games. But long long gone are the days when I would risk any money on technology products on the platform. Way too many disappointments vs success stories.
1 Like
i backed the theoryboard which has been pretty good albeit slow on firmware updates and i also did another one for a tiny cell phone…i think the biggest issue is that often it’s a year, or in the case of pipes, multiple years before you get your hands on it. i’m often in a different place in terms of what i’m doing, so it’s like why not just wait until it’s actually available before throwing money at it. sure, i might save a few bucks but i’ll also know what i’m getting myself into.
2 Likes