Torso Electronics S-4 (sculpting sampler)

The Lounge Other Gear
#648

Who knows? At least they mention prototypes in their discord.
Anyway, I also think their pr-skills are lacking, but then again, they are a super small team of developers, not a marketing agency…
Maybe they just prefer to take their time with the videos to get it right this time?
I’ll admit, it feels strange to open preorders and then have nothing to really show for interested buyers, triggering impatience and speculation. Not the smartest move, public perception-wise, but then again nobody forces anyone to spent money in advance if one is (rightfully so) sceptical about the product…

From their discord:

mads | torso electronics — 04.12.2023 15:35

It went very well. We’re so happy about the reception from all of you and others out there. It’s a suuuuuuuuuper weird feeling working on an idea for years, having intense discussions about it, making countless prototypes and writing gazillion lines of code and then finally revealing the idea to the world and then to have it received so well. It’s given us all even more energy for the last (and most intense) phase of the development

1 Like
#649

Somehow I trust Torso to make a good and well thought out product. And while their marketing for the S-4 is admittingly not the best, I like what they’ve shown us so far. If this has the elegance I suspect it will, it will be an instabuy for me upon release.

1 Like
#650

If the S-4 will be as thought out and innovative as the T-1 it will surely be a great product. I will still hold out for demos to decide if it suits my needs, setup and workflow though.

#651

I think the key term in here is idea …

1 Like
#652

Yeah, exactly this — from all my interactions with the team, I have no doubt that they’re going to ship something really special, modulo any of the usual supply chain hiccups. I don’t know if it’s going to be for me, but I can’t imagine it not shipping.

Re: renders, getting physical enclosures made is basically the last step in the prototyping process. They’re pretty careful with the images they present, and I can totally see them having a bunch of ugly working prototypes and final enclosure cad, and not wanting to show hardware photos until they have a working prototype in the near-final enclosure — certainly, that matches the T1 (and what most other companies do). However, they’re also a tiny firm with only one other product, and enclosures is one of the places where your start spending real money on production tooling. Having capital come in right when you’re ready to commit to that tooling is often a requirement, and we see this happen a lot with kickstarters. Given the way they delivered the previous product, I don’t personal have concerns they won’t ship this one, but the economics for the company aren’t that different.

10 Likes
#653

Stranger things have happened, one needs a good imagination. But the S-4 is overwhelming likely to ship at sometime, even perhaps on time.

I think what you say about not having a polished prototype is likely, and they have a working system, not done-done, but well on the way, where you can see the end. Perhaps they could release a set of audio files with it, like on Soundcloud as others have often done in a similar situation. Much easier to produce.

I remember how Expressive E made the rounds to SonicState etc, with a mock-up of the Osmose, a partially completed keyboard with the synth part in a separate hidden away box.

Tasty Chips with the GR-MEGA, has also been quietly working very hard on that development. They released a very recent update with some sound example videos, but it is definitely not a flashy finished product video yet. ( my post )

The S-4 looks great, and is going to be an excellent and innovative product someday. I am only imagining here. I would be mostly comfortable to preorder it myself.

5 Likes
#654

Yeah, if I was sure I needed it, I’d definitely have pre-ordered. As it is, I need to see a bit more about the workflow first.

2 Likes
#655

I just have to say this has a bit of the scent of something that could be catastrophic for torso… one reason I could think of them launching preorders in this fashion is to gain capital to push them through the final stages. Yes they have done a box before, but it’s way less complicated than this device. If enough goes wrong on the final stages if they actually did need this extra capital, it could be it… but in all likelihood not everything goes wrong.

I’ve been a part of a preorder disaster in the past and well it started not unlike this… that said this will almost definitely come out.

2 Likes
#656

I’d say hopefully the worst thing to happen is that shipping gets delayed. I wish the torso team all the best, and that they have a realistic time schedule for the last steps of development and actual production.

#657

It’s already listed (Backorder) as New Release at my local store?

IMG_6427
IMG_6427493×1245 107 KB

3 Likes
#658

I wish they’d share some actual demos. I’d caution anyone preordering without demos. It could completely not accomplish anything you are expecting it will.

3 Likes
#659

I’m not trying to make anybody change their mind, but it felt so stupid to give a company $900 for a really good idea. I cancelled my order. I await to hear how y’all like it!

8 Likes
#661
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#662

images (37)

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#663

no way

#664

Finally! :stuck_out_tongue:

I liked the bit when it switched (0:23) into the granular mode or whatever it and it got that little ‘rotary’ looping thing happening, not sure if that was some LFO modulation or what. Reminded me a touch of some of Burial’s low/mid frequency bits in some of his tunes.

Keen on hearing more.

2 Likes
#665

Looks perfect!!!

1 Like
#666

Now seriously, I haven’t been so interested in a gear for a long time as I am now.

1 Like
#667

Like I said, it will be alright :rocket:

4 Likes
#668

Parameter spotting in the display:

Material-Section:
PITCH
STRETCH
START
LENGTH
FLUTTER
GAIN
SOS
WET

Granular-Section:
PITCH
RATE
SIZE
CONTOUR
WARP
SPRAY
MOSAIC
WET

Reverb/Delay-Section:
DEL AMOUNT
TIME
SIZE
DRY WET
FEEDBACK
DIMENSION
VERBMOVE
DAMP

9 Likes