Hi, my Orba arrived today, I've been having some fun using it for Midi input with Reason software.
One question I can't seem to find an answer for.
Is there a limit to the length of the loops when using it as a stand alone music maker?
My Orba arrived today along with the hard shell case. No T-Shirt or Bag or whatever it was they were promising.
Well built and adorable.
Mike
With a product like Orba there isn't just one target user. There are many different buyer personas, age groups, skill levels, use cases and musical interests. Might be good for Artiphon to do a survey of their users: age, musical experience, how you expect to use it, what other apps, DAWs or instruments you use, type of music you like etc.
Personally, I'm most interested in using Orba as an alternative to Logic Pro to experiment with musical ideas. My interests are in classic rock, blues. I've played 3 chord rock guitar and bass for many years and have written and recorded songs using Logic Pro including a free rock opera. I occasionally dabble with synths / midi controller, but not too much. I have a Novation Circuit that's gathering dust as I can't find a good way to integrate it into my regular workflow. But I picked up a cheap Launchpad X and that's more promising. (It also has a "scale mode" for which I'm grateful.
I'll try the Orba as a controller in Logic Pro also, but that's probably secondary to an "untethered" experience. I'm not looking for the Orba App to become a DAW but if I have to use an App to change sounds and keys, you may as well give me a bit more functionality.
I am curious if there's anyone else coming at it from a similar experience or interest. Or did I walk into the wrong kind of music venue by mistake ;-)
Having an incredible hard time connecting my iphone to the orba via bluetooth by itself. The orba will connect to the orba app if I connect the orba to another 3rd party app (garage band), then the orba app will see the connection, but what if I don't want to connect to a 3rd party app first? Can someone assist?
@Ricardo: Normally you'd connect in the Orba app via the Orba icon at upper right next to the Artiphon icon, and then the connection will be available to GB. Is there a reason for doing it in a different order? (This is probably a conversation for a different thread if we need to continue it!)
Ben. I can relate. I was hoping I could at least store one preset of my choosing and noodle around on the porch when inspired or plug in earbuds when out somewhere where people might be around. Thats what Artiphon told me and a big reason why I bought.They said I could load in my own preset sounds..As it turns out my solution for that is Roland Zenbeats. It works perfectly fine on my android phone and 2 touch screen chromebooks...and windows..you can bang out a melody on your back porch and continue developing it in your windows machine. It also has some 'normal' sounds. Why Orba didnt include at least one normal soundset for drums and lead escapes me...how about a regular drum kit and regular acoustic piano? As it is, I;ll use Zenbeats..it works perfectly fine and you can loop and do more with looping than with Orba and it is self contained and you have a larger notes range. It works well w. touchscreens. Fighting Orba to work with android stuff isnt worth the effort..it wont work....their android app is useless. I found a new Roli Lightpad block for 50 bucks and that does all kinds of stuff. It''s first gen however so it doesnt make the best pad to play on. I hope they are able to improve Orba Gen1 to the point where it wont require us to buy a Orba Gen2 for things to work right.
Steven I suggest the plane ride was likely the problem. Incredible the damage baggage handlers can cause. Mine seems heavy and well built. No way I would pay 200 bucks for something like that, prob not even 100, but was passing this along because for 50 bucks that may be the best 50 bucks you can spend on music. It does so much, I;m sure the new one is better as you have to hit the pads harder on the one I have. For me, this was the good part of waiting for Orba...I got tired of waiting, found this deal and glad I did. As it turned out Orba and Lightpad turned up here on consecutive days..I;ve had the shootout..and the winner is...................ha
gotcha Steven. no worries. i dont plan on using it to play notes or as a drumpad, but in a DAW it does a lot of things as a controller and the lights are cool :). and for those who are using Roli Studio in a DAW it has several modes that are auto assigned. and i;m sure you can midi assign it to do most anything.
re Orba...anyone else thinks the lettering on Pads 1, 2, and 3 are backwards/upsidedown? a minour detail that should be fixed..i noticed when i looked at the pic i posted. maybe an Artiphon person will see this or they already are aware
It's not that the lettering on the pads is the wrong way up, but that the A on the centre button is only one way up when of course it should be all ways up at once…
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 support@artiphon.com. 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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