The Android app is in beta, but you can access it via this link (courtesy of this other thread).
I'm primarily a bass guitar player, but I have started playing with synthesis and electronic music in the last year or so, mostly using PreSonus Studio One (on Windows), since it came with the Atom pad controller. Routing things through S1, I was able yesterday to make the Orba control my Behringer Model D hardware monosynth, which was pretty entertaining.
I'd originally ordered the Orba hoping to have it for a long field training exercise I was going to be doing with the Army in April. The same factors that delayed the Orba canceled the exercise, so it worked out okay in the end. For those times when it's either portable music or no music, I'm pretty happy to have this thing, but I think it will find a place in my studio workflow, too.
Hey! It's here! Arrived to the mailbox today. Some fancy logistics company got it to northern Calif. USPS center, and then my local post office.
It's up and running. I loaded the iOS app first. Then it told me that I needed to do a firmware app - and to find a windows or Mac computer! Ok... that's done. And maybe the firmware got updated. The application on Mac never finishes updating as far as it knows, and the lights keep going around on the Orba until the application times out. Changing USB ports (someone else mentioned it worked) didn't make the outcome different. Tried this many times. And what is the firmware version supposed to be when it's updated? No release notes can I find with googling. Version numbers of the app vs. firmware vs. info screen which went by in the app just once and never again are all in different sequences apparently. But no way to get back to a window which appraises the current situation as fine or not. And repeating FW updating still tries (with shift key pressed) and times out. Luckily I made a screenshot the first time through of the info screen. So now I can see that the fw did in fact get updated in the Orba. This could be quite frustrating, especially without that early fortunate screenshot.
Shouldn't the iOS app be able to update the firmware, OTA? That almost makes too much sense.
Marlon here. VERY excited about this. Had some initial problems with the firmware update and getting my password - but that is all in the past! Gonna dive into finger tapping and reading manual.
Really - so happy that it arrived and I can make some new music!
To delete all tracks of the current loop you can hold A+6(rec) for 3 seconds (lights will ring around twice, once orange, then red). You need to be paused to do this.
btw, pretty excited to finally have my Orba. Slightly bummed I can't really futz with the synth engines from the apps more, but hey, maybe it's coming. It just seems like there's not much room to make this sound unique and give it my own style. Pretty much can just pick from one of the presets for each instrument and...that's it! Sure there's some expressive range with all the gestures, but if you're going to give me an app let me shape the tone a bit, or layer effects or modulation or something! I do have hope something like this could be coming b/c I can duplicate the preset kits in app, I can only imagine I'll eventually be able to edit them??
I was surprised by the haptic feedback, it's a really nice touch. I'm starting to get the hang of looping and found a kit for each instrument I dig (for now). It seems the real power or way to expand beyond the presets could be using this as a MIDI controller, though I personally would love to see as much of the Orba's synth engines exposed as possible to give max creative flexibility while still being its own instrument and not just a MIDI controller requiring to be hooked up to a laptop while playing. I don't mind using an app to load up and dial in my kit/sound, there are even guitar pedals that do this, but I would love to maintain the ability to generally just pick Orba up, turn it on, and start jamming, while also having more customizability.
Adam McHeffey
Hi there and welcome to the new Orba forum!
Please introduce yourself, and let us know what you think. We’re eager to hear your thoughts.
If you come upon an issue, the fastest way to find a solution is by contacting [email protected]. Though we do our best to always respond, your post in this forum could get lost in the more high-volume threads.
You can also feel free to start a new forum thread if you have an interesting discussion point. It could be about anything – the sounds, the industrial design, the app as it continues to be developed, or anything else!
Rock and roll,
Adam from Artiphon
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