ArtiphonOrba Portable Synthesizer Looper Midi Controller for Travel (8 Sensitive Touchpads, Motion and Position Sensors, Onboard Looper with 4 Tracks, Bluetooth LE Midi, Includes Orba App) - Black

Orba is the definition of music creativity on the go, or working with a DAW. Love it. The most important thing is that you always discover new ways of making music. Highly recommended!! Great price!!!

Still practicing but wow what a learning curve great product.

This is a great little gadget. You can carry it in a coat pocket and take it out anywhere. You can use it as a standalone beat box or a MIDI controller. Powerful gesture controls make this a very intuitive, highly musical device. You can literally pick it up and play. Build quality is high.The downside: Bluetooth connectivity is sporadic so I recommend a USB connection if you want to use it as a controller. There is at present no way to save beats composed on the device. The range of sounds available from the built-in synthesiser is very limited and the synth is undocumented making it almost impossible to experiment with your own sounds.The firmware and the smartphone app are still being actively developed, so this is a gadget that is being slowly but steadily improved.Be aware that while you can use the smartphone app most of the time, a PC of some kind of needed for updates.

I absolutely regretted buying this midi controllerIt was extremely crappy to useThe loop function was non functional straight out the boxThe connection to check the battery was confusing say it's dead but then at 90% dropping and rising, the sound quality was terrible. Would not recommend for that price wouldn't even buy. Got a refund on the day of it delivered

Utterly rubbish experience so far. Worked out the box well but now it won’t charge.

This is a great little portable player for synth patches. The patches can be downloaded from the Orba App which is available on Google Play and the App store. There are four types of sound - drum, bass, chgords and lead and there are a number of presets that you can mix together. The little unit is also responsive to shaking, is touch szensitive ( vibrato on some notes if you hold on etc) and you can record loops at ypur chosen speed abd octave. However, Artiphon have just produced an orbacam app to make vids for tiktok etc and it is not available for android ( although it may be at some unspecified time) It also has an extra set of presets which are called Action Strings. I understand them wanting to make something that works with apple but if there is another preset surely it could be developed for Android too? Otherwise to get the full experience of Orba you need apple iOS

I purchased this, with some enthusiasm, after seeing a review on YouTube from someone I trust.I wish I had done more research.First of all the Bluetooth does not sync with the 3 phones and one tablet I have tried with it with. My laptop does recognise it on USB, so I can update the firmware and experiment with the limited number of voices provided, which was satisfying and fun while I had my laptop with me but ultimately pointless if I cannot save the loops and beats I have made.The length of the loops is skirted in all descriptions I have come across, but I think it gives 8 bars, which considering only the top layer can be modified or removed is very limiting.Although the array of sounds included is adequate as a starting point, as is the separation of mono and polyphonic between modes, there are only 8 tone generator keys.As we all know there are 12 steps in an octave which means only major and minor scales are possible or supported in the software, which will made the device very limited as a music writing aid, although there is the possibility of scales been added in a future software update, we will have to wait and see and hope.There is merit, as many professional reviews will demonstrate, with the aid of several thousand pounds worth of equipment and software, in the use of this as a simple midi trigger. But I cannot imagine the benefits over the kit you would have from building your rig in the first place.The novelty and fun factor of the Orba is quite delightful, and as a portable drum machine or metronome useful, but not worth the price and does not do what it says on the tin.

love it!