Orba 2 Review: Did they fix the drawbacks?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2024
- A demo, review, and tutorial of the Artiphon Orba 2, the new portable MPE synth, midi controller, and looper groovebox thingy.
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UPDATE: Song saving has been added!
Just discovered your channel and subscribed immediately. I find your videos are professional and the content is well-presented. I have a question. When you say that "song saving has been added", does that mean that now you have the capability to export your saved projects to the DAW of your choice for further development or are we just talking about now you can save the project into the Orba 2 device? For me, this is still just a toy until it provides the ability to export into more professional setup.
Do you know if a song could be exported to FL studio with this update?
send it back to the computer or app as well? cheers!
Wow your video convinced me to buy it. Very professional subscribed!
Android 13 Bluetooth not connected.
Thanks for going so in depth. I've had music in my head all my life but, do to disabilities, I have never been about to play any instruments. This type of device will give me that.
Do to disabilities? That isn't English 😂
@@-Tidgyactually it is English with a minor spelling mistake that your brain could have easily corrected ☺️
Just bought one of these and have no clue what to expect, but I can’t really resist such a versatile little synth that I can take anywhere. I’ve been a musician for about 20 years but don’t have a lot of time to play my guitar, bass, etc anymore so I’m hoping this will give me a little fun and creativity on the go. Thanks for the review!
Kudos to the dev team for making an interesting device and trying to make it more usable, but the gimmick-y nature of this product seems more like the selling point than it is a solution for portable music making. Great vid Gabe!
Thank you so much for this. The Artiphon products always look interesting to me but there's always a kicker that makes me wonder how useful they are. If your recommendations are applied to the product and it becomes a decent sketchpad, I'll buy one in a heartbeat.
I love mine
it is fun - I like the form factor and feel, my biggest complaint about it is that you need to connect it to an app/software in order to change sounds on it. I am hoping with chorda they can correct that as well as open up the synth engine like on the first orba
I bought the V1 and the device itself is very high quality. The material, the fit, etc. The software part (maybe because of cpu limitations) was the part that let it down. The v2 seems better but still way too limited. As it stands, the v1 gets used by my 8yo 10 minutes at a time when she has time to waste and I have no intention of getting the v2.
Just got my Orba 2 and like you said it’s a sketch pad for me while traveling etc. The nonexistant export feature is a head scratcher. Love your content btw.
So after playing around with the Orba 2 last night I have come to the conclusion that it is just that...a toy. I can't see myself spending much more time with it. I did however stumble across (I'm new at all this) the Ableton Note App and that looks VERY promising. Can you do a review on it?
Gabe you are a geezer! I first came across your channel when looking for circuit OG tutorials.. I'm still here. Appreciate you man
I think ppl should look at it as a cool little music toy to kill boredom for music nerds...everyone talks about it as if it's a professional frame instrument. It's just a fancy otamatone with a loop. I think it's great for boredom or just playing with ideas...it's not meant to be looked at like a piece of the band room lol
Been waiting for a proper review of this thing!!!! Thank you for reviewing it.
I enjoyed my Orba 1 but found it limiting. Hoping the Orba 2 is better.
Wish you did more with the sampling
You leave out the one aspect that I bought it for, it is a midi controller for a DAW. I have a small pack with the Orba 2, a battery pack, and an iPad. This is a full on portable studio. This takes up much less space than any other portable pads or keyboard. I use the standalone features to kill time and paly around.
How do you implement the Orba onto/with your iPad? I have a Pro and GarageBand and wish to use this as a MIDI controller as well. Any tips or links would be helpful and greatly appreciated! Cheers
@@mickredland6399 I am not great at explaining this stuff, so sorry about that. With mine it pairs with BT. Once paired I turn the volume on the Orba down to zero, that way I don't hear the internal synths. This is the configuration I use to control the synths in iOS. Make sure the orba is set to your project scale and choose the desired input type, bass, drums, chords, lead, to correspond with your track. It works flawlessly with GB and Logic for Ipad.
Small unknown gadgets like this are interesting and fun for making music....💯👍
It's nice to see companies trying something weird, even if it ends up being janky!
@@GabeMillerMusic/ you do love “the jank”. What is the jank/janky thingamajig, anyways Gabe?! Heheh. (Seriously: need a definition)
It misses the first note because that's when you come in on the new loop. Pedals work the same way
Thanks a lot, Gabe, for this video. First time I watch your channel, and now I'm your suscriber. I was about to buy this stuff and you really help me to think it twice and change my mind. I hope the manufacturer watch this video and follow your advice to improve the issues you did mention, like the option to save and transfer the samples. Thanks, buddy..!!
Fantastic in-depth review. Thank you. :)
They actually released an Orbasynth editor for PC where you can create your own synth sounds even for the V1. It has a nice interface with some wierd horizontal scrolling, but sadly it was too complicated for begginer like me. I still have the original. I it took on my trips until I discovered the PO KO for the same price which offers much more, altough it goes exactly opossite direction when it comes to design. The gripes I still have with it is the middle button. A, altough the playing buttons need to have that touch interface layer to be expressive, the middle button really needed to be more...tactile. It always take a bit of a fingle slide than press to activate. B there was always this weird glitch when switching instruments while playback that paused everything for a bit a synths needed to restart one round of a looper. Still love the concept, but I think the sampler capability is not enough to justify the successor. Lets see with what they come up next. Love music gizmos.
Wow! Thanks so much for the review! I'm totally unmusical, but it looks like something I could have fun with. Thanks again!
The fact that you desire to have “fun with” makes you musical !
I just heard that Artiphon updated it to where you can save your songs now! Yay! Ordered one as soon as I heard. That was my last reason for holding off.
Does saving also mean songs could be exported to say FL studio? Looking as a Christmas gift im not sure if its compatible
I think I'll get one as they're super cheap and will work like my Leap motion, only for MIDI gear.
As a gesture related device for MPE, this is pretty powerful.
I typically don't find myself using MPE stuff unless I go out of my way to use it, but it's definitely fun for adding interesting movement to sounds or adding interest in a live environment.
@@GabeMillerMusic You remember the Zoom ARC? That's what I would like to be able to do with MIDI.
Wow, I'm definitely gon' be buying this for on the go music production!
I appreciate this review.
Thanx for in depth review. You cover all the bases
Looks more fun than my other phone based setup: Roland Zenbeats app + Korg Nano Keys combo. The examples of bad sounds happen to all sound like a Yamaha PSS-680 FM synth I owed (full generally bad sounds!) Thanks for the video, it helped in deciding about the sampler.
Thank u for this in depth video. Never heard of this device but a friend shared it with me, the video on thier site sux and is soooo commercial and doesn't really give you a feel for the device. Yours popped up, I saw the length, glad I clicked. I may buy one based on this.
That shake to "undo" function is freaking cool.
Good Video. Thanks. I think I'm going to get it. Especially with the song saving feature added.
My problem is that I bought an Orba 1, but could never swap out my sounds cos it only updates firmware and connects to MacBooks and I don’t have one and they didn’t specify that in the literature before I bought it, so the Orba has been mostly useless ever since I bought it 3 years ago.
So now that there’s an Orba 2, I’m not likely to buy it cos the first one was crap for me.
I’d love to be able to trade my O1 in for an O2 and maybe even pay the difference but I’m not buying it outright cos the first one was indeed “janky” and was NOT worth the money I spent on it.
It’d be nice if Artiphon took THAT into account (customers who bought the first version and were immensely disappointed).
Great video. Thanks for the orientation. I am incorporating it into wind instruments.
The only drawback is that samples aren't recorded in their original form so it gives you tuned keys without the original instead of giving you the original sound then tuning off that on the buttons.
The biggest benefit I've found on this is the ability to use it with other apps. Using it with the sounds on board is okay, but VERY lack luster. I've really been using the apps with the sounds more than I've used the orba 2 because those apps are a lot simpler to mess with and not as limited with sounds.
I'd love it if they'd just give me a blank Orba with the ability to put any sounds on it myself in any specific key I'd like and the ability to assign individual sounds to each key. They could have completely omitted all of these presets and just opened up the software to allow more accessibility and interaction as this would be a great little substitution for some other devices when on the road.
While that does still work like stated somewhat, but extremely limited by the software.
Please tell me what apps did you use?
What apps do you know for orba + android?
Excellent review. I was excited by the original but never got around to getting one - sounds like waiting for "2.0" might have even been a better option. Thinking this could be an excellent educational tool, if the device & app are robust enough.
They burned me on the first one. Probably not going back to Artiphon until I see something released that is fully realized. I appreciate your review but I will say it just confirms what was already suspected. It's a pretty good idea that needs to be worked out.
Great review. I love little gadgets like this.
Will keep an eye out for updates, and consider it when they are released, and bugs worked out.
My MC-101 just arrived a few minutes ago, and will get most of my attention for a while.
Have a great day.
PS Subscribed.
I got one of these as a christmas present… and while it looks fun, I’ve found it pretty fiddly to actually do anything with. I also have a bunch of Roli Lightpad Blocks - which do a lot of the same things, but do almost all of them better. The lightpads do rely more heavily on the phone - and Roli has had some real financial troubles, but as an ultra-portable beat maker, the light pads are a far better device i think.
Great video explaining this thing! Very interesting device.
Is it a toy or is it a synth or is it a groovebox? Probably... Hardly... And are you kidding me? 🤣 Definitely making the pocket operators and novation circuits look pretty good.
Great video Gabe
I'm not completely writing it off as usable as a serious tool, especially if you use it as a midi controller, but yeah it's mostly a casual little doodle device.
Seems to be a solution in search of a problem. Thanks for this review! They have great Social Media Marketing which is probably driving sales by putting makeup on a pig even though the big is kinda neat in its own way.
I got an Orba 1 fully knowing the issues it has, that said I got it for the midi controller and bluetooth to iPad/Mac, wish it was better but I’m not mad.
Thanks for the review. I like the original just fine for what it is. Probably not going to upgrade to the new one. I have other portable gear that is way more robust. I think one of the overlooked features on the Orba is the MPE midi controller capabilities which you can use with a DAW to record some cool automation into a track.
Yes. The MIDI controller thing I wanted to use when I purchased it one year ago. But it won't function with the windows 10. Damn.
I also like those tiny electric midi controller sort if things.
But I think... I will try to take a microcontroller and a g-sensor and a few soft pots and try to program a midi controller.
Nah, talk to me when the device itself samples. The video is great as always!
Thanks for figuring this out
I've got one of these and the first thing I would say is good on them for actually trying something new and unique. It's good fun to play with however, there are some massive drawbacks for me such as:
1. The recording - I just get lost all the time. I don't know where the start is or what I'm doing, constantly switching to the wrong/next instrument when I press the middle button + record pad
2. Auditioning - I find this very tedious, after one instrument is recorded, jamming along with another but not recording isn't as easy as it needs to be which leads me to
3. Looping - I'm usually good at this, maschine, push2 etc but this thing has got me feeling and more importantly, sounding stupid. Given there is no way you're ever going to be able to switch to another instrument, immediately come up with a part and start playing it on the first cycle the default should be to loop but not record until you press it again. The quantising is also not going to be strong enough for most, you've really really got to be close to those 16th notes for it to work.
Like I said, great to see something truly different though and it wasn't expensive so I think it's ok
I was kind of curious as to using this as a MIDI controller for a dawless setup via BT MIDI but I'm guessing that's not really an intended use case based on the app.
I'm guessing it could be, and I imagine the typical use case will lean more midi controller, but there definitely seems to be an emphasis on using it standalone-ish.
@@GabeMillerMusic Awesome, and as always thanks for the lovely videos!
@@TheLexikitty hey, I'm also 90% thinking about this as a nice gadgety midi controller... did you look into it any further?
Good review. Im curious if you have any suggestions for unique and innovative devices that are similar? I always loved the kaossilator. I’m a fan of on the go music production.
great review Gabe! Wondering what you'd use instead? iPad?
Greate review, clear and nice presentation - thx a lot !
On PC at least, song mode can now export multichannel MIDI, or stereo audio.
For £150 were you expecting an MPC?
It's an MPE controller as well - !
For playing wit ideas away from your DAW< I'm really liking mine. Also the CIRCLE makes me think about music differently.
The fact you can load your own samples in to it (not sure about multi voice drums yet?), all be it via PC USB (as Bluetooth doesn't have the bandwidth) , is VERY liberating ;_0
YES it is a cross between a toy and an instrument, but for £150 IMHO that is kinda the point ;-)
What is it with devices in 2022 not being able to export? That is the main reason I'm almost certainly not going to buy a Polyend Play. At least with the Orba you have the excuse that it's not nearly $1,000 new...
Aah… an ideal Stocking filler for Xmas!🤗
Nice review🙌🙌🙌
Man, I was super excited about Orba since they released the first one. But it really sucks to see they insist on fucking up the sampling capability. Obviously we just want to freely sample any file from our phones build beats on the fly. Just look at the grassroots love the PO33 gets. It's frustrating how much they seem to be getting it, and then still manage to miss the mark by such a huge margin. Then no midi export? I'm definitely just going to stick with $3.99 koala sampler and be able to do way more creative stuff
Pretty cool thanks for the video! 😊
The frustrating thing for me is bpm. I’d like to be able to know what the value is. I contacted Artiphon and pointed out, that since they have 8 sections (8 leds) they could treat the LED’s like that represent the bits in a byte. Since there are 8 bits you could display BPM’s from 1 to 255. That covers a LOT of needs (I dare say most needs). Each led that is on represents… well. 1 is 1, 2 is 2, 3 is 4, 4 is 8, 5 is 16, 6 is 32, 7 is 64, 8 is 128. If you want a beat of 120 you would adjust BPM until the LED’s on 4,5,6,7 are lighted because 8+16+32+64 = 120.
Useful for people who know binary and can add those numbers up in their head, but useless for people who can't do those maths quickly. I like it though
I want one!
I have the Orba 1 and I'm surprised they can't update the firmware to enable quantization. It shouldn't be that hard.
How does this compare to something like the OP-1 by teenage engineering, based on ease of use/accessibility and how quickly you can create the song that’s in your head?
Was looking for something like this to do background TH-cam music. Is it worth it? Still relevant? Anything better to get for a beginner?
Thanks!
New subscriber, when you save what you've made is it just temporarily saved to the orba device until you've made a new song (which I'm sure this device doesn't make the memory capability to harbor both) or can you save that song onto the orba 2 app where it will be thereore permanently? Also when you download your own synths and drum kits onto to the orba from a source other than the orba app do those stay permanently? Are they on the app where you can go back and put them on again or is it only momentarily and you'll have to re put them on everytime you want to access those sounds?
Very tempting device.. is there another portable alternative that has less flaws?
how about an update video to showcase added features and saving?
It has a lot of bugs still
Is this useful for accompanying an acoustic guitar around a campfire?
Great review. Please let us know when they make it so you can save your work to the app. Do you think that it could be a firmware update if i buy one now?
Anyway, great review. Thanks.
They did update it. I believe it's just an update to the app itself.
Great , now do the artiphon chorda
Very helpful thank you👏
Does it have non electronic sounds like kalimbas, hand pans and tongue drums?
Best as Midi Controller
Does it replace standard midi controllers like keyboards, drum machines, etc.? I play a lot of piano and would like to compose music on FL studio. I have an acai and have issues with it's keyboard capabilities. Or is the orba just mainly for fun?
Can you use it as a midi controller for garabageband or similar on your phone. This would deal with the export thing maybe?
Yep, you can, which does sidestep the export thing.
Honestly my favorite groovebox will always be my iPhone - it’s such a shame that there isn’t much if a small portable midi interface for it - the light pad is probably the best I’ve found and yet it had terrible software support that made it useless half the time - and then again, it’s been discontinued…
To me, the biggest issue here is that for a portable device of this size, it is still never gonna fit in my pants’ pockets and if I’m bringing a dedicated bag I doubt that an Artiphon would ever cut it as “the controller I’m bringing with me”.
Too bad honestly, since for example now that Drambo has qwerty keyboard mapping, it has become a better grovebox than stuff that I paid hundreds of dollars for - just wish I could fit a decent QWERTY on my pants pockets hahaha but that has been even harder to find than a proper midi controller that is actually “this small”.
Its like a music etcha sketch 😂
I bought the 1st Orba and was seriously disappointed you couldn't do any sampling on it. My kids played with it - the novelty wore off extremely fast because, well, because nothing could really be saved off of it and you were extremely limited to which sounds you could use. When they announced the Orba 2 they were sure to send me an email immediately about it hoping I'd buy in. Yay - it looked like you could sample anything and use it in a song. They showed a sly marketing video of a guy running buy a kids' bike, plucking it's bell and adding it to the track, along with tons of other random sounds they heard going about.
No where in the hype video did they inform you that whatever you make is trapped on the device. I almost bit and went ahead and bought it. Your video saved me from shelling more money out again for something that would have been a huge disappointment again. Thank you for being honest. Now sub'd and checking your other videos out.
They have updated it now where you can save and export songs
I just bought one off FB, so I’m super relieved when the vid dude said the ‘Save’ feature was added. Much relief, as I hadn’t watched this vid before purchasing. Dodged a bullet there!
So I can theoretically put an idea on the Orba2 and then export it somewhere like Ableton? Will it save midi etc? Or will I more or less have the audio track to reference as I try to rebuild my idea in Ableton?
Is there a device like this, that is a better gift idea for a singer song writer? I don't need it to be small, just need to be able to export
Have you used a yamaha RS7000 Gabe? Love to see your take on it
Okay so I want to get something similar to this for my boyfriend for christmas. I need help. He has looked at things similar to this with youtube and stuff and is very interested in things like this. He was looking at the roki seaboard block originally but i thought we would start smaller and a lot less inexpensive. Someone in the comments said two weeks ago that this is capable of saving and exporting songs now, is that true?? SOMEONE PLS HELP hahaha Is this a good idea?!
Unfortunately, I bought the original about two weeks before they announced the Orba2 release. They should have at least given me the option to wait for the new model. Will never buy anything from them again!
how can you spin it - if the small jack is inserted ?
Do you guys know if i can pair my cordless earbuds (sony xm-300) to it ?
“They have no say over the content.” -Loopop
I’ve been considering getting this for my kids so they can get into playing around with making music quickly and easily. It’s hard to know with an 8 and 10 year old though if they’ll be really into it or if they’ll play with it for 5 minutes and then never play it again. Looks as though I’d have to help them use some parts of this which is fine. That part though about the whole unit crashing might’ve turned me away. Especially since we don’t really know how often it does that.
I'm also looking for s9methig like this for my son. Let me know what you decide on!
Gotta take a chance! Return it if any serious issues. Let you kids experiment with music as young as possible… worst case scenario, it can be a fun toy at parties! (For kids or adults)
I’m on the fence for myself, but have equipment sooo not sure if it’s worth adding to collection for fun.
I ended up getting mine an Arturia Midi 3 instead.
I wish I could connect this devices to my boss v-8 pedal for the loops
Is there an internal speaker or do you have to plug it in?
i did not know about the middle button shake erase
There are probably a thousand apps that do the exact same thing or more if you have an iPhone or iPad. This device seems like a sop to the fact that Android cannot provide real time audio touch instruments.
Orba 2 has all the promised functions of Orba one like they couldn’t add quantize 🤦♂️ to Orba one . I honestly just hate this company horrible customer service and shipping was a nightmare. I basically got a glorified Bluetooth midi controller that’s almost as bad as the noise machine Straight vibin addition. Also they never even added one sound pack besides the initial one’s at-least Orba one is lowfi this now is not with internal upgrades. Also the shape kinda sucks you end up twisting and uncomfortably holding it but I really wish the the one with the lowfi could sample idk man . And how do the syths actually sound worse on this version? orba one would have export soon lol.
Yeah the ergonomics at something I touched on in my video on the first one, you end up "movie driving", twisting it around if you use it handheld.
This! They kept promising,updates will be coming. Eventually we only got some bullshit updates nothing which was on the feature list. Without quantize it is impossible to make useful loops. To this date some backers never received there orbs v1. I learned something, do not buy stuff where the company tells you, some features will be added in a future update. In v2 they added samples, ‘cause the synthengine is garbage. I gave the orba to my kids, I would not care if they break it.
@@ruffark also Orba 2 app way better like wtf 🤬
You never showed the octave shift!!!! So helpful on some of those more "unlikeable" sounds!
Longtime analogue musician, just recently got into using loops with my guitars and vocals.
What is a more capable alternative to the Orba2 within the same price range? I would want to be able to merge my live guitar loops with the synth/drum/samples and save as a single mp3 or audio file or w/e.
Thanks!
I'm not sure that there's anything that does exactly that in that price range, but the BOSS looping pedals might be worth a look. I did a review of the RC-202 ages ago that might be helpful.
@@GabeMillerMusic Thank you!
Good concept but without direct sampling, it really missed a potential to be loved. I have the first one and I've been trying to sell it for a while.
How many sounds does it have?
About 50 that sound all the same
I guess for live performances this one is fine to use given the size
I think Taetro used it for exactly that, so it can be done!
Yeah for me portability wise its perfect for buskers or gigging musicians who wants like a portable battery powered sampler. It's damn small. 👌🏻
I used my Orba 1 live before, it’s pretty neat and easy to use.
Reminds me of the kaosillator V1
So.... it would be recognized by your DAW? I mean, that's the only way it would be useful at all. To clarify. It can be used as a controller, so you aren't married to its internal factory sounds? It's a cool little gadget. I'm considering it.
Correct, it works as a controller with any MPE enabled synth plugin in your DAW.
To be fair i got this as a gift. But the save and export sample issue makes this a toy rather than a useful gadget for a creator.
what is the best beat making machine that can accommodate to all kinds of genres including world beat, Jazz, R&B, Pop etc....
Probably something versatile and capable of mutisampling like one of the standalone MPCs
please do the medo by donner
You just made this So much more fun for me Thank You!!
Hi, Just to be clear - when you said the songs you create are “trapped”; does this mean Orba 2 doesn’t export midi like the original Orba did?
It currently can't export anything. Although it can *record* midi into your DAW.
@@GabeMillerMusic That's what I meant. Thanks. :)
What is the max steps per pattern??
Just got my 2nd replacement orba 2. It worked fine for one night. now its back to same crap. Loop is out of sync and wont even play back in the same time as recorded. It also wont stay connected to computer app ( winn 10 and newer laptop)all the time it just disconnects and can't use on my S22.. I want this to work so bad :) I have a recording studio and have been recording local bands for over 2 decades . I have worked with all kinds of loopers. I love that I might be able to take this out and about to tinker on....but it dose not work. I don't understand ??. I have emailed customer support but no reply from them. This is the only place ( TH-cam ) I ever received any acknowledgment. I don't no what to do and I am very FRUSTRATED.. Also .... the replacement Orba 2 sounds like the speaker is damaged :(