Artiphon

This Topic is discuss the Orba Utilities created by myself. New discoveries can be discussed here but should also be posted to the Orba Hacking Knowledge Base

Orba Utilities are located here: https://github.com/subskybox/Orba

I'm not a Github guru. But after connecting and powering up the Orba, what I did was go to the homepage here:

https://github.com/subskybox/Orba

Click on "Code" and "Download Zip", then unzip it in a suitable folder. You can then right-click on "OrbaDeployDaemon.ps1" and choose "Run with Powershell". Ignore any messages in that window; just minimise it and forget about it.

After that, you can open the "html" sub-folder, right-click on the two HTML pages ("OrbaChordFiddler" and "OrbaVirtualPiano") and choose "Open with...Google Chrome". (They might work with other browsers, I haven't tried, bt the instructions mention Chrome.)

Try playing a chord on the Orba and see if you can get it to show up in OrbaVirtualPiano. (I had a message asking for permissions for something or other when I opened it, which I accepted.)

Once you've got that far, try incrementing the first "Root Note Offset" by a couple, to shift the lower note of the first chord up a tone. Then choose "Copy to Clipboard", wait a few seconds, and click "Deploy".

At this point, the Orba App should open after a few seconds. Select "Browse"..."Presets"..."Chord", and you should see a new preset called "Disentangle". Click on that to load it, check that your Orba is in Major mode, press Pad 1, and you should hear that the first chord has been "fiddled" to raise the root. 

Let us know how far you get...:-)
 

I've pushed up the Orba Editor Alpha and updated the README. I deleted the Editor branch and moved everything to the Master branch since I won't be maintaining the Fiddler versions. Older Daemons and Fiddlers have been moved to the archived folder. I need to record a new Demo video which I hope to do soon. 

@BJG145, @Steve, @GJ van Mulbregt

Very much looking forward to your Feedback before I announce this to the Orba Hacking Knowledge Base

I admit I haven't done a lot of testing with the Browse button (I prefer drag & drop). It was working well at one point. Also I haven't tested in Edge w/ Chrome either since my PC died about 5 days ago. The motherboard was 10 years old so I guess I did okay. I'll take a look at the Browse button when I get my new PC built. Thanks for pointing that out.

Just fixed it. I forgot one line of code (or accidentally deleted it)

Agree. Similar to Octave Up/Down, but KEY Up/Down would make the Orba much more useful for jamming with other people. The less you need the app for the better.

Loading new modal presets into the lead mode seems to result in a monophonic instrument. Is that the idea?

It's been a while since I looked at this. @Subskybox previously noted that: "any Preset dropped in the Bass folder becomes monophonic and adding chords also makes it monophonic"

As far as I recall, the preset you start with, and the folder you load it from, can both make a difference. Maybe make sure that you start with a Lead preset, and load the edited version from the Lead folder...?

This doesn't seem to work on the Orba 2 anymore. 

It's a great toolbox. Unfortunately I trashed my Orba-2, which turned out not to be so robust for hacking as Orba-1. I've just picked up a 3rd Orba-1 on eBay though;always wondered if I could make some kind of chromatic instrument out of three of them in a case shaped like a pool triangle...!

...right, yes...turning octave up/down into semitone up/down would be a huge improvement.

Does this tool support orba2?

Incidentally I'd previously wondered about the "direct communication" with the App when changing key or Maj/Min, but I guess that could simply be an XML snippet being sent behind the scenes when you make a new selection, in the same way as a preset send. (I can't remember if we already know if/how you can change between keys or Major/Minor from the XML.)

@Subskybox I've only just realised that you can get a 9th note out of Lead mode by tapping the side. It would be cool to be able to tune that one as well. It generally seems to be a low note in the same voice.