Artiphon

A particular point that was lost previously is worth mentioning again, I feel.

Since Windows doesn't support MPE we are left with guess and hope when trying to set gestures in Preset Creator (it was the same in Orbasynth). You simply don't know whether your setting will work as wanted, or even at all, until a preset is deployed - too late.

This was broached briefly in the live presentation, but it was rather messy and drifted to other things leaving it rather incoherent (plus, I guess you were using a Mac computer)-  a better explanation of this could be welcome and valuable.

A couple of other things occur to me:

First markers of the midpoint of the gesture sliders in Preset Creator would be helpful.

Second, it would be useful to be able to make presets diatonic in Preset Creator- the obsession with pentatonic and the aversion to "bum" notes is not healthy. It's a very limited idea of creating music. The Orba and the Chorda will, of course, have their limitations but let's not make it even worse. Don't be scared of users making mistakes and hitting bum notes - they are the pathway to learning and understanding.

Third, wishful thinking I know, but it would be wonderful to be able to edit chords in presets in chord mode. Personally, modding chord presets has been a hugely rewarding avenue to persue for me. OK, it's not simple and easy, but the results are worth the effort, indeed probably the best thing about the Orba 2 for me.

It's the Orba app rather than the Preset Creator that determines whether your "presets" (i.e. the sound patches plus the associated mode-specific scales) are diatonic, pentatonic, or double Phrygian hexatonic, but I do agree that onboard diatonic presets would be a nice thing, particularly on Chorda with its actual twelve pads. I confess I'd completely missed the point about the diatonic one in Orba 2 being intended for MIDI control, despite that being what I actually use it for. 

(I don't know how permanent it is, but the name "Artiphon Preset Creator" is really confusing when the actual presets, as opposed to the sound patches, for Artiphon devices are created in the Orba or Chorda app. The Preset Creator is a synth, and shouldn't be ashamed of it, because it's a really nice one that does some very cool things for the price of literal nothing.)

Great video, though – the double-act of Adam's faux cluelessness with Maya's non-techy presentation of deep synth nerdery was a brilliant dynamic, and the joy of just twiddling virtual knobs and feeling what happens came beautifully. Looking forward to more.

@Nick Lowe

I disagree rather about that first point - the Creator always creates a pentatonic preset - to I would have to load the preset then go to the play page to play it diatonically. I want presets that will by default play in the scale I favour.

It's true that the Creator basically makes a synth patch but it embeds it in a format that defines the default scale, the implementation of gestures, and in the case of chords what those chords will be. (Probably some other things as well that I've missed.) Samples use is not defined in the synth patch, so In my view that whole object is therefor the preset, and it's that whole thing I get  when I click on a preset icon.

I agree that Artiphon should not be ashamed of the Preset Creator, it's a good thing. What I take exception to, not just with Artiphon, but other companies as well. It's that the philosophy of the way they are behaving is, to mind, detrimental to creativity whilst claiming to make it all easy.

Having said that, I still like the Orba and welcome the Preset Creator - if I didn't I wouldn't be here - I just think both can be much better and give users a better experience.

I think we're just talking about the same thing in different ways, but a pentatonic scale is only applied if you save it as a Lead preset and then load it on to the Orba. If you save the same preset as a Bass preset, it's diatonic. (And all presets can be played diatonically in the Preset Creator with a diatonic controller such as the Instrument 1.)

No Nick that's not the point - I want the choice when I create a preset, that's all. (Actually, I want more choices, but that won't happen, and I understand that. and If I wanted Bass presets that were pentatonic I could do that by modding or by setting it live on the play page.)

Bass presets are diatonic for a good logical reason. Using pentatonic on Leads is done because they want us not to be upset if we play a "bum" note and instead offer us something that is safe and very restrictive. I don't want to ve restricted. Well, I maintain that hitting bum notes and making mistakes is how you learn and understand music, and appreciate the skill and endeavour of creativity.

I saw the promotional video for the Chorda set in what looked like an educational location - the kids there were playing, not learning. They were not being challenged, encouraged to explore and experiment and to learn, as we all do, from our mistakes, and I find that sad, and rather troubling.