Artiphon

@ Peter - It looks like you did start a new thread. 

 Hi,

Got my Orba yesterday. Can't wait to learn it proper. My first try with it was a bit underwhelming, but first tries often are :) I got it to control my DAWs - i.e. drawing automation curves with motion gestures. My music theory is just about non-existent - which is the other reason I got the Orba :D

Am I safe to assume the scale is set to pentatonic in both major and minor options? It's of course meditative to just jam around with pentatonic when nobody's watching, but is there a planned update to have a full major/minor?

This is all assuming that it is, in fact a pentatonic scale :D If it's not, ignore me. Anyways, glad to be on board and I see a lot of potential for Orba in the future :P

Thank you for the fast response :) So, "no" on the whole changing a mode thing? Because when I saw the videos , I instantly thought about making harp runs in - say mixolydian mode. I'm sure Orba will continue at getting better, though :)

Yes, it's on their roadmap, but the app doesn't yet implement full editing of scales. The eight-note restriction is always going to limit the Orba as a melodic controller; where it really shines as a MIDI controller is in the gestural manipulation of expressive MPE dimensions for more textural kinds of playing, though it's also a very good drum controller.

Tutorials? It's in the manual? 

@Gary You mean this?

Hello everybody! Yesterday I finally became the owner of this magic box, played and played all night. I would like to say thank you guys for the development - a great idea! I installed the application so far on android - I fiddled with bluetooth a little, but everything works. There is a slight delay in the response of the orb through the application, I think this is the norm for the android bluetooth. I also installed it on Win7 - but there is no driver for the device. And I could not find it. The general impression is good, but of course I want more. I really want to have more presets in ethnic style - such instruments as sitar, tabla or for example kamancha, it would be great in the future to load them into the application from the library folder or with a patch. And I also didn't figure out how to stop or remove the loop of each instrument on the Orba itself. Of course, I understand that this is not a full-fledged groovebox - but still ... in the application you can only erase, but stop separately LEAD for example? There are still questions about mixing - a separate adjustment of banks, but this is probably a separate topic.

 I just got myself an Orba and am looking for some indepth video tutorials to learn how to use Orba.  Can you help?

Hi all, 

I am new to the forum and also new to any musical instruments, having read via the forum and found some guys are able to make presets themselves by the editor program. I would like to make preset with sound like basic wooden guitar chord, can anyone throw some light to me?  Sorry if the question is too dumb.

met wanneer kunnen weer geluiden opslaan in de orba zelf zoals mij beloofd is alweer enige maanden geleden lk moet helaas zeggen dat ik ook de Orba geen geweldig muziekinstrument vind. als je kan investeren in de dure software zal het waarschijnlijk interessanter zijn maar de soms wat standaard "Chinees" geluidjes gaan snel vervelen. Een correcte uitleg van Orba met Win10 kan samenwerken is er niet. Als ik een Mac had zou alles waarschijnlijk zijn maar nu is het een warboel om verder te komen. Het blijft wat pingelen op de Orba. En als je toevallig een leuk loopje kan ik het nergens opslaan. Ik hoop op een wereld van dus al met al vind ik het apparaat toevoegen aan mijn persoonlijke ervaring.

Robert Walker: "Hi all Just ordered My Orba. i am looking forward to playing it. got a question are there hang or tongue drum sounds for the Orba already?"

@Robert Walker - The Orba uses synthesis rather than sampling to make its sounds. There are four places that you can put new sounds which Artiphon refer to as "presets" - DRUM, BASS, CHORD, and LEAD. The place where you would most likely put a hang or tongue drum sound would be in the LEAD. None of the current official lead presets sound much like a hang or steel tongue drum. The closest might be the Ambient lead preset, but that's more bell-like than tank-like. Some people in the community are working on Orba preset editors and easier ways to add presets to the app, but we're all really hoping for better support for third-party presets or user preset editing from Artiphon.

The real trick with hang (tank, hand pan, steel tongue drum) sounds on the Orba will be support for non-standard scales. Currently you can select from 12 major scales and 12 natural minor keys for all presets and songs. Then, only one lead preset, Orba Diatonic, gives you a diatonic scale for playing lead. All of the others give you pentatonic scales - either major or minor depending on your key selection. Lots of steel tongue drums play a major or minor pentatonic scale, but most of the more advanced ones play more unique meditative scales like "Integrated", "Mystic", "Akibono", etc. A steel tongue drum lead preset should give you the ability to play these scales that are popular on those instruments.

For now, we're all in wait mode.

Zack: "My only bigger issue is that the A button doesn't seem to hit well, hopefully improvable with software."

@Zach: Yes, the A button does seem a bit dicey at first. I've figured out that it's not really activated by a "tap." Rather, it's activated by a short "press." This is better because it allow you to "glide" over it without activating it so that you can do very quick "trills" between notes that are across from each other not just right next to each other.

Hi there, 

Just received my Orba and its great. 

Are there plans to provide Bluetooth support for the Windows app?

Windows 10 supports MIDI-LE via the MIDIberry app https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/midiberry/9n39720h2m05?activetab=pivot:overviewtab

Best regards,

Peter