I can’t help with a cheaper option I’m afraid, but the official case is really good, very high quality and sturdy
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Yes, as said above, the official case is simple and very good.
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Me neither. It completely overtook the Elektron Sequencer. I am sequencing Digitone + AR mk1 with it and never looked back. The touring machines on CC tracks made the p-locking on Elektron Sequencer outdated. Now I can random generate a p-locking sequence with different rates on the flight which is great to mangle samples on the AR, overcoming the one LFO limitation and going crazy on modulation on the Digitone. Only downside, I cannot seem to make the slewing of the random sequence work properly. But the stepped modulation works a charme. Great for IDM where, you want a different hit each time for drums and glitchy stuff. Also great for techno, when you want a crazy groovy looping sequence.
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Unfortunately, I can only confirm that the original case is very good. I’ve been looking for an alternative for a while but haven’t found anything. I bought mine from a local retailer, so no shipping costs.
Yea, I suppose ST can be divisive. The simplicity of it is both its strength and weakness.
I’m not super into sound design (wasn’t much into the DN for this reason) but at the same time I still like to dial in my sound. Scrolling thru samples sucks and reusing the same samples over and over is also tiring. So for me ST really amazing. It’s kind of like a huge preset box, but instead of scrolling thru presets you have these 8 knobs to twist on the main SYN page. And if you still esnt to go deeper into editing you have the LFOs amd FX block. I love it!
My point is it is very immediate and immediacy seems to be what the T-1 also aims for so I think they’d work well.
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Just to put on a perspective. IMHO.
Maybe complaining that T-1 doesn’t have a screen it’s like complaining that the piano doesn’t have a screen.
Not having a screen on the T-1 doesn’t mean you don’t have visual feedback (just like the piano).
I use it with a visual feedback all the time, you just need to press the button twice or keep the button pressed actually.
It’s an instrument. You learn to play it by developing ear and muscle memory. I have had mine for almost 12 months now and I am just starting to really PLAY it and I am still learning new tricks/functions/skills.
I understand that, if you don’t have the time to put in, it’s better to focus on something else because this could be frustrating in terms of remembering combos and hidden functions.
But, if you do put your time in, it’s really rewarding on the long run.
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I have been using the T-1 for over a year now and can confirm that it has a steep learning curve. However, a display would not help in any way. The only thing I would like to see is labelling that is also legible in the dark and perhaps 2-4 more buttons to minimise the number of button combinations. You get visual feedback on the values you enter via the coloured buttons.
On the actual topic, I have plenty of GAS.
I was about to buy a Tasty Chips GR-1.
I hope that the granular possibilities of the S-4 come close to those of the GR-1.
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this is well understandable, it’s an instrument. just like with many of those with screens. and time awards the player.
but it’s not necessarily comparable to the piano, which in its proto-forms emerged aeons before the screens, sequencers or even knobs. its principles, expressed in various derivatives stood the test of time for many reasons, and still live in ‘piano rolls’, midi mappings, etc etc (for good or… for bad). we can presume it happened because of the way it fit the music theory and practice of the time. and a similar fate is hardly imaginable for the Torso
the T1 might be a fine instrument without screen, it might’ve been no worse with one, and not too different regarding the proficiency time rewards its players with.
screens bring legibility (light regardless), telling where you are (in space/mode or in time), what’s going on and what to anticipate, all in one fixed place, while providing better accessibility too.
re: gas I’ve been waiting for the GR-Mega, it seems much more than the original in all possible ways. I don’t think granular engines are all that different (or those differences interesting enough) to justify the GR-1, but the other algos and features they promise for the Mega make it something more. the S4 looks immediately more interesting than the GR1 imho, and it’s gonna be cheaper than the Mega
I wonder if the tone of the reply comparing the T-1 to the piano is as sour and condescending as I imagined?
Look, it’s just an opinion on the experience of using a piece of music tech. In my opinion, a screen would have made it more enjoyable and lowered the learning curve considerably. Is it more aesthetically pleasing without one, though? Heck yeah.
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We’re kinda hijacking this topic with the T-1 having a steep learning curve, but it makes for an okay pastime, so long as we’re being respectful to one another:
T-1 for me was not a steep learning curve. I’ve always had dimensions to explore. Where I’ve had more resistance involves configurations that came out in firmware 2.0. The dimensions that opened up are both ambitious and daunting. I’ve had trouble formulating experiments that can pass a track through a midi effect (send tracks), for example, or take keyboard for functional note input. If you started with the end in mind, stating “I was on the market for a hardware arpeggiator” I think you’d feel pleasantly welcome. But ending there, my brain has had to go through summersaults.
As for screen, I absolutely do not see the point. The abstractions are really not that abstract. There’s a very direct relation to listening and keeping a concept or “compass” as a general sense to whether you are headed in the right direction. You hear something. Seek out a next move, and it’s right there under your fingertips. For more facsimile sequencing, Torso recently put out a video on how to construct conventional lane sequences.
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Now that we’ve been ushered into the correct topic… haha.
I think you do see the point of a screen, but are saying it’s just not necessary for the T-1 and way it’s intended to work, right?
Here’s my experience with the T-1: I kept getting stuck trying to develop interesting sequences. Mutes, movement, changes, any other function. When the T-1 didn’t respond the way I anticipated, I was instantly lost. I wasn’t sure where I went wrong. There wasn’t a way to easily reorient to the interface. Like a home button, start over… and I felt like I couldn’t speak the same language as the T-1. I followed videos and the manual and even wondered if maybe the unit was faulty, but I had no real way of knowing. For me, a screen would be really helpful as a shortcut and a guide. Maybe I just needed a buddy to help me figure it out. To have better communication with it…
Probably is contingent on the type of music you are making @appa and how malleable you need your decisions to be in order to make that sound. I wanted something that worked with Link, I work in polyrhythms and polymeter, and I can get things to gel after some chaos.
That said, the banks button always steps you back out to the main track view. There’s no real “trail of breadcrumbs” necessary to take a step back. And the clear button can clear a parameter or a track or an entire pattern, just depends on what you are targeting.
(There’s even a creative/performance application with this: don’t like the velocity or probability sequence? Clear it and try a new one. Or shift it a step. Or have random work on a melody range as random-once or dial an evolving sequence only after it plays the melody that you want to keep)
But you are being true to yourself, and that’s really all that matters.
I’ll reassert my no-screen necessary. The lights and moving sequence are literally the same information I’d need to see on a screen. I’ve never had to reTap a knob just to remember what parameter I was in; they all do rather different tasks.
Now I must confess to you that I was in a great deal of dialog with the developers and challenged them on every questionable use of the terms and the knobs. For example, even understanding that the Random is a step modulation sequence was something ironed out in the terminology, and I had 100’s of “?”'s From why a parameter was a subset of another, or why random or probability was a bipolar adjustment for some things, the list was exhaustive. But in each of these tests, I could effectively generate the seed for a new project and I got better at this performance, stage-ready device, so I thought that learning was ultimately worthwhile.
But if you didn’t like the music you were making, then no further justification is necessary!
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Did the same, received it yesterday. Great happy accident machine 
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@cyclyk @paraphonic Thanks so much for the feedback. I’ll keep looking for a State side distributor. $65 for a case is just too much for me right now. The show as out of stock @ B&H…
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B and H has been out since torso has been out. when they get them back in stock, its gonna be the new pricing.
I’ll take some pics of my case this evening. Its just a basic case you can get from amazon. they just have a (shit) custom molded insert like most cases nowadays.
you can just pull the insert out and just be left with a generic case. its not even glued in.
when you get it, you,ll see the size. you;re gonna be metter off at just looking at mechanical keyboard sleeves.
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I got a decent deal on a used black one with a case. I figured that was a better risk since I love the idea and hate button combos. So far I’ve run it into a multi sample for polyphony and then plugged the CV outputs into my Majella Implexus. Delightful. I will be bothering you all with questions.
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Well I definetely hope it didn’t sound as you imagined. I was just trying to make a comparison to convey my idea as the T-1 being a musical instrument.
Sorry if it did though.
Just wanted to encourage new users to embark on the journey and keep on trying, not being intimidated by the “no screen” part.
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It might have just been me. All good. I think comparing the T-1 to a piano is probably a little problematic, though 
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“It’s like a player piano on acid.”
I just got my new T1. Omg. It’s amazing. I’ve been playing with it all day using ableton for sound. I love it but also need some standalone player. Something that has enough channels with drums…thinking the SH-4D as it’s not too expensive…just need to find out how the effects are as I have no external pedals right now. Will use it also with my Eurorack but want a small standalone also. Off to learn more…so happy.
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