Orba by Artiphon + GarageBand – Tutorial

GarageBand is one of our favorite free programs to use with Orba. By setting it up as a MIDI controller, the possibilities are endless.

00:00:00 - Intro
00:00:23 - How to connect Orba by Artiphon to GarageBand iOS
00:00:39 - Turning off Orba's internal sounds
00:00:53- How to start playing sounds
00:01:00 - Orba and Alchemy synth
00:01:15 - Orba's gestures with GarageBand sounds
00:02:16 - Playing chords with Orba and GarageBand iOS
00:03:11 - GarageBand Remix Sessions and Orba (Dua Lipa solo)

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Transcript:
GarageBand for iOS is an unbelievable, free mobile DAW with tons of possibilities. Pairing its vast sound library with Orba’s gestures, Bluetooth capability, and portability gives you the perfect on-the-go studio. So grab your iPhone or iPad and let’s take a look at how these two powerful pieces of musical tech can help you create anywhere.

Connecting Orba to Garageband is easy. To do this you’ll want to:

Connecting
Open GarageBand and go to the settings menu
Go to “Advanced” and then choose “Bluetooth MIDI devices.”
Find your Orba and select “connect”. And that's it
You can also turn off Orba’s internal sounds in the Orba app so that you only hear audio from Garageband (Show this?)

If you’re having trouble with this connection, we’ll put some additional resources in the video description.

Now let’s get some sounds for you to play. To create a song, tap the “+” icon and select what kind of track you’d like to start with. I’m going to start with this Alchemy Synth.

Alchemy Synth:
Listen to some of these sounds.
Doesn’t it make you just want to hop in and play them?
Let’s start with Orba in lead mode.
And just noodle around a bit.

Analog mellow lead
You can use all of Orba’s gestures with Garageband sounds. For instance, if you load up this Analog Mellow Lead and tilt Orba, You’ll notice an envelope opens up and gives you a much brighter and louder tone.
Or you can radiate in and out from the center to affect vibrato.

Once you find the effects you like, you can combine them for a level of expression that’s hard to get on the touch screen alone.

Strings
These gestures will work with other sounds as well. And trying different instruments to see what happens is one of the many fun surprises that Orba and Garageband have in store.

For instance, These Strings go from a nice long legato to a short and sweet staccato when you Tilt.

Chords:
There are so many fun and beautiful sounds that Garageband has to offer, but sometimes it can be hard to play chords on the on-screen keyboard. (Show: ew....! ). This is just another way that Orba shines.
Go ahead and pull up a sound that will sound good with Chords.
And switch Orba to CHORD mode as well.

And voila, beautiful 3 note chords on each pad. By default, Orba plays simple, songwriter-ey triads, but in the Orba app, you can switch your chords to something like… these 7th chords (Switch to 7th chords in Orba app), and get more emotive, R&B sounding progressions.

Let’s record just a bit of this.

Dua Lipa remix
To find more sounds to experiment with, you can visit the Sound Library.
In there, you’ll see countless new free instruments, sounds, and loops.
New to the GarageBand iOS app are these “Remix “ sessions from Dua Lipa and Lady Gaga that you can download, edit, and play along to.
Just check to see what key the song is in and use the Orba app to set your Orba to that same key. This Dua Lipa song is in Eminor, so that’s what I’ll set Orba to.

Now you can play along to Dua Lipa’s song, take a solo, mute parts you don’t want to hear at the moment, and continue to turn her music into a creation of your own.

As we mentioned at the beginning of the video, the possibilities are vast when you combine Orba with Garageband, so be sure to explore, get creative, and most importantly have fun.

[ChadwickRider]

I use the Orba2 as my standalone portable instrument and idea creator/sampler... I now use my old Orba1 as nothing but an expressive controller, and it definitely has it's place in my permanent musical arsenal.

[milododds]

Great instructional video! So much you can do with GarageBand and the Orba combined. It’s inexpensive and doesn’t require a great deal of musical knowledge or instrument experience.

[RichardSmithrsmithing]

Pushing the boundaries of musical expression in a user-friendly way… This is awesome. I’m just afraid if I get one, I might never leave the house.😮

[Qrqyt]

Orba also works really well as a controller for the Slate drum machine in the Nanostudio app. Just change 8 of the pads (10 for bump and shake) to the corresponding MIDI notes.

[YosiOren]

thank you for this video. this is why I got Orba but it was sitting collecting dust until this video! I am going to enjoy this.

[jzno]

It’s really way more than it looks like, especially when I have just my iPhone on me on the go 👍👍👍

[davidharraway]

Thanks, just awesome. I work in Assistive Technology and have just ordered an Orba to explore with my clients with disabilties. Really interested to explore how the tilt function etc can work for them if accessing the touchpad is tricky. Music is a language tha transcends so many barriers.

[bombsnaxx]

Yessss!!! I was literally trying to set mine up now!!!😍😍

[cavemanlawyer]

This just changed everything for me thank you!!

[emulatorretro]

Now to get those tracks for garage band for MacBook Pro

[TrsRul]

great video!

I just stumbled upon this thing and it looks really interesting to use as a handheld midi controller for my Ipad music making apps. As I‘m not really interested in the standalone features, I was wondering if there are any improvements in MIDI capabilities in the orba 2 or if I might as well get a used Orba 1 for my intended use. thanks

[walterwanabe]

From the website. “You'll see an option to turn off Orba sounds in the top left of the menu. Note: this toggle will only work if you're connected via USB.” Need more guidance here please. This video doesn’t show Orba connected in any way other thsn Bluetooth.

[DJ-Lazy-Lodger]

like to need is to have or vice versa;-)

[ivalpiv]

Connected the orba via USB C to the iPad, however the sounds are coming from the Orba rather than the iPad.. why please explain?

[iasonpassaris]

Would this work with AUV3 plugins loaded into Garageband?

[daylate]

GarageBand sounds won’t play through the Orba. Turned off Orba Sounds in the app, but still no change. Anything I’m missing here?

[vanderleirsilva]

When connecting Orba to Garageband on the Ipad, the sound comes out of the Ipad instead of Orba. Is it possible for Garageband's sound to come out directly on Orba?

[PT-BR] Ao conectar Orba ao Garageband no Ipad, o som sai do Ipad ao invés do Orba. Tem como o som do Garageband sair direto do Orba?

[AnderWasTaken]

I can Bluetooth connect my Orba but when I go in to the supported apps like GarageBand and Orba, it doesn’t play anything. In the Orba app it even says it isn’t connected at the top!

[Lovenpain]

Well i got my ORBA 2 in yesterday and it wont power on but only twice and now is dead.

[DIGITALidYOUTUBE]

Ok but how can you import a track you’ve created and saved from your Orba?