Then don’t buy directly from Torso. Buy from a UK store and it’ll cost you about £10 more than somebody buying it in the EU and you’ll also help a UK store and save yourself £140.
Juno won’t charge you import tax, nor will any other UK store selling these slightly more than Juno are selling them for.
Bit late for that
Ah, you’re an early adopter! Then you’ve helped the project, put more money directly into the company and can feel proud of yourself, if you love it. Maybe they’ll give you a bit of loyalty back on their next project.
I guess unless they promised you a landed cost upfront, then it could have been predicted, although I know Polyend and a few others show the landed price, but I did check with them beforehand when I bought a Play after they offered me a discount as a Tracker user. A loyalty reward so to speak.
Sorry it’s left you a bit raw though.
I’m in the same boat honestly. When I get to really develop something, there are some really cool textures and sounds, but I’ve gotten to the point where I’m saving stuff repeatedly to try and keep it, and inevitably I come back after powering down and my project won’t load.
It’s happened a number of times now, and it’s to the point where I don’t bother turning it on because I’m just going to lose what I do. It’s really frustrating.
I guess I’m waiting for a patch? I don’t know… it has a lot of potential, but there are still so many issues and I just don’t have time to fuss around with something that’s not going to work.
Without knowing the ins and outs of their business I’m not going to criticise but I would think EU companies are able to zero-rate VAT for export (so they don’t have to collect and remit anything on those sales basically - it’s a net zero for the company) so that sounds a bit rough. And in Denmark that’s 25%! Maybe they have to factor other things in or there are accounting reasons.
Yes. I´m ok with features not being ready, knew this going in and there is a lot to like! But what’s not ok is basic operation not working… So bad. Even bought a power bank/chord to be able to take it with me on vacation and make some material on the fly because I really like it. Now it just sits there.
knock on wood, but i’ve been lucky so far. I got a floor demo unit from perfect circuit and it’s worked totally fine so far. I think it crashed a couple times when i first got it and was overloading the cpu or something doing a bunch of shit at once, but after i updated to the current version, i have had zero issues loading/saving/etc. Definitely looking forward to the next (overdue) firmware update.
I agree. there are so many issues and it doesn’t feel right to pay full price to do essentially unpaid beta tester work. They should have sold it to the early adopters at a reduced price point and with an overall more clear communication what and what not to expect, but the way they did this product launch… I’m overall disappointed and plan on selling mine.
Also, the build in mic is one of the worst i’ve ever encountered in any recording device. Every halfway decent smartphone sounds better.
Detroit Modular has these in stock today (Saturday 8/10)
Shhh. Don’t tell everyone!
Oh I only mentioned it after I ordered one 
I have been having a lot of fun with the S4. After reading a lot of critique the device was not ready or could even be considered a beta version it made me appreciate the features that were available even more. It made me focus on whats possible with it somewhat limited capabilities. Even with one track there is so much to discover, new features would distract me from that. Don’t get me wrong I’d download the next firmware today if it came available. I wanted to share this cause the incompleteness of this device actually helped me appreciate again the creativity that can emerge from constraints.
PS: I’m mainly using the S4 to create dub chord atmospheres and I absolutely love them. Rhythmically and sonically there is so much to discover even within one sample.
The fact that there’s still no sync has slowly turned me from a serious defender to someone who is feeling pretty disenchanted with this device. I’m glad you’re enjoying it, but the fact that promised features haven’t shown up is definitely not making me like it even more.
Their devlog on Discord indicates midi sync is the focus of their next update.
This! No MIDI sync no S-4 for me!
Detroit Modular has them in stock at the moment, I went back and revisited videos but at the current level of development it’s hard to see the hardware advantage of this for $900 vs. getting a USB interface/mixer for the iPad.
What iOs apps do you find similar to the S4 approach?
I got my very first iPad just a couple of days ahead of the S4, and although I can see the infinite possibilities of the iPad I struggle with it when I need to tweak more than one app on screen (using AUM)
On the other hand the S4 offers a tactile experience that’s one of the best I ever tried. I just find awkward some left/right choices in the menus, like reading a sentence in reverse so to speak, and the main encoder behavior it is also particularly annoying, with its skipping values nature, and the fact that I always inadvertently touch it midsession, changing tempo value. But I guess these will be addressed along the way.
Apart from that annoyances it is a really beautiful machine to use, and no matter the source it always end up with its unique sound palette applied to it, for better or worse, but I’ve used it really superficially so far, so that could be easily me going always on the same path.
I struggle a bit with the granular engine, or at least using it sparingly.
If I go all in with it I can create really cool stuff, but I can’t really add just some light touch of it to anything without sounding disconnected. Maybe midi sync could be beneficial in this scenario.
Last critiscm is about the delay, as it doesn’t “stand out” for itself like I’m used to with conventional delays. Everytime you add even a touch of reverb to the sound, the delay will get lost in it, like it is useful only for ambience, but with just so little “headroom” before getting muddy that I find quite difficult to balance.
Having said all that I can easily see this machine becoming a masterpiece, once the major annoyances will be addressed, and if Torso will add secondary functions to the sound engines, that would be absolutely stellar in the long run, and we didn’t see the performance features yet.
I even have to try the polyphonic sample playback, too.
Would love to hear some examples!
I agree, as Torso have said ‘The interest in S-4 has exceeded our wildest expectations, and we are doing everything possible to meet the demand. However, we have faced several production and sourcing-related issues, introducing delays in all batches.’ … I interpret this as a good sign. Had it been a sales flop there is a danger the S-4 doesn’t realise its potential. We’ll just have to be patient for them to catch up with themselves.
I still see it as within the realms of possibility that it does eventually become the 4-tracks-of-(chase)bliss we expect …
In a way it’s a shame that they’ve been vindicated. Now they’ve confirmed that you can be successful even while releasing an unfinished product, probably other companies will follow suit.
I think most of the early adopters current trust in Torso (to fulfill all feature promises) stems from the positive T1 experience.
If this would have been their first device the forks and torches mob would probably lay siege to their headquarters.