Artiphon Orba is an intuitive handheld music making orb
Artiphon Orba is a compact synthesizer, looper and midi controller in an incredibly unique form factor.
In essence, Artiphon Orba was designed to inspire musicians and enthusiasts with a fun, new ways of playing music.
The shape seems rather odd at first, almost like a miniature hang-drum, although when you understand some of the unique features it has, it will all make sense.
The playing surface allows you to tap in drums or notes, it’s pressure-sensitive allowing for expressive longer notes and it features vibrato and the ability to radiate your touch outward to control another modulation.
The Orba also detects gyroscopic movement allowing you to twist it, move it through the air, tilt or shake it to control a variety of different parameters.
Just as a MIDI controller, this already seems like a fantastic concept, however, there is an onboard synthesizer and looper as well! The looper allows you to sequence four tracks, and the internal synth actually sounds decent for its size and price.
How does it work?
The Artiphon Orba features MIDI over Bluetooth and an internal battery that they claim should last a full day, making a pretty cool controller for mobile iPad musicians. It features a USB-C port so you can plug it directly into a host. It’s got a built-in speaker and a hardware output to record the audio.
There’s also an Orba app for creating patches, configuring your device and transferring sounds, the app allows you to bounce MIDI files out to further edit in your DAW.
The Artiphon Orba is not out yet although it is coming soon, and they’ve announced it to retail at USD $99 (Around R1500 excl. duties), not bad at all.
For more information or to reserve your Orba, check out their website here.
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