Artiphon Orba Handheld Music Device - SonicLAB Review

Orba by Artiphon is what they describe as “a musical instrument designed for your hands” and I would say that's a pretty accurate description. It certainly struck a chord (sorry!) on Kickstarter as it raised almost $1.5 mill at launch.

Orba is a small, dense plastic semi-sphere with 9 touch pads (8 segments and a central button), it has a built in speaker, on board sound engine with a 9 sound drum part and three melodic (bass, chords, lead)

There’s an on board looper and a number of gesture controls - pressure, radiate, spin move, tilt, shake slide, vibrato and bump.

00:00 Intro
3:44 App sounds
07:10 Recording
12:13 MIDI
16:43 MPE

#soniclab #artiphon #orba

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[RichardGroulx]

First thought, seems like a novelty toy. Then I heard the kids screaming upstairs and realized how much they would love that thing. This would be really good in music education to get kids interested.

[djpecchia]

it's already sitting next to the zooms arq in the "why?" department

[FlatG]

I got one a few weeks ago, best thing ever during boring video meetings! :)

[Starthief]

I bought one via the Kickstarter. It's a fun toy at first, but I wound up putting it in a drawer and forgetting about it. At least the firmware seems to have improved since the first version.

[darrenweight]

I think using it as a way to add more expression to a track - especially with the shake motion - makes it worth it. As opposed to a mod wheel or a knob. And will lead to more interesting results than drawing automation in. Plus I think after practicing with it you’d get the muscle memory to control it better. AND it’s a lot cheaper than a touché.
Thanks Nick!

[rockhead]

Seems like a lot of work to get what appears to be a very constrictive “song?”
But they couldn’t have asked for a better presentation. Well done.

[LavenderAudio]

I grabbed one of these last year, found it for a decent price. It's limited, but for fidgeting with and for specific studio applications I like it. Wish it wasn't so Apple focused, Windows bluetooth MIDI is still a disaster.

Also an addendum, you can make your own sounds, but it's not exactly intuitive. You edit the values with an XML editor, so it's a little bit Sysex-y.

Honestly this has a few features missing, quantize especially, that could come later, but as something to keep on my desk and fidget with when I'm feeling anxious or uninspired, it gets me away from the DAW and jamming along with project playback. Definitely not for everyone, but it's so inexpensive if you want one you'll get one.

[theOHP]

will use it as a midi controller in combination with my bluetooth midi dongle for my deluge & synths. Apart from that, the kids love it!

[WxkR]

Perhaps for controlling certain parameters could be interesting. It is rather lame as looper and as synth. The original little Kaossilator made you have a lot more fun with a lot less “tech.”

[supermonkeycollider]

I use ikaossilator, figure, and zen labs on my phone and the workflow really works for me. I looked at the numark orbit a few years back, and thought a micro version of that would be perfect... lo and behold this is kind of it. Glad too see it's capable of spitting out a pile of data - and as a trained percussionist it's kinda twice as attractive. Heck, I'd get it as just a shaker controller. Fingers crossed on the editor!

[midierror]

I love things like this, small and super expressive !

[rjones]

The patch editor has been released. Do you have any plans to do a follow-up review of the Orba or have you already covered the patch editor release in another video?

[alanwilton]

Does anyone know whether the firmware update can be done using an iPad? I have the Orba app on my iPad, but when I tried to download the Windows version on my PC the download was blocked by Microsoft as unsafe. That means I’m stuffed as far as updating the firmware goes. Apart from that I’m quite happy with it.

[GreyFortressVideos]

I received one as a gift. Would have preferred the cash.

[mCKENIC]

Nice! Seems like its about 75-80% there. Must watch out for this, cheers Nick!

[allanwright]

Hi - does it need to have an iOS software app in order to just play with it? Can it be operated “as is”, to build a song without using a phone?

[williampaivaoficial]

I wonder if this shake-for-modulation style could damage the cables in long-term use.

[jm]

Speaking about gesture / mpe (still a bit 'Beta' on this I think). Are there smaller and cheaper alternatives to the Seaboard Block? And what gadgets out there good for banging/shaking midi into a sequencer? Thanks

[sd]

Great demo, Nick! Have one, love it! It’s not there yet, but they’re constantly improving the firmware, apps, and sound packs. While you can do most of the things it can do with iOS apps, it also makes a great little handheld midi controller. Well worth the price, and it’s getting better.

[cresshead]

price is actually good, once it get s few update for levels etc
it will sit quite well next to korg volcas as cheap entry level music synth options