Artiphon

 This is functionality that should have been an 'out of the box' feature, not a "We'll add it in the coming month.." which is the reply I got from support.

To be honest, If I don't get a response soon about WHEN this ESSENTIAL USABILITY FEATURE will be available - at the moment it's barley above a glorified toy and NOT worth the money or my wait time - I will want my money back...soon...

Why would I want to compose / write / take the time on this if I can't save it?

EXCEEDINGLY disappointed....

Thank you for the response.

Is there an approximate timeline for when this "feature" is supposed to happen?

If it's a couple weeks from now, while still a egregious over-site of ACTUAL functionality that should have been included from DAY ONE, I can set it aside and wait..a bit...

If it's months from now, I will definitely want my money back...

So I guess my question to YOU is, how long CAN I hold on to it waiting for a software update BEFORE I CAN get my money back?

So, that's answered the first half of the question.

How long can I hold on to the unit before I CAN get my money back...?

I REALLY don't want to wait to get basic functionality for what could possibly be months and then find out I cannot get that money back.

That's reasonable, right?

Received my Orba, today (had two Orba Mk I, already). Been hoping that Artiphon issues had been ironed out, at this point. (Quality hardware plagued by software inadequacies.)

So I started playing with the device itself. It’s more fun than the original one in a few ways… a point which is completely moot if we can’t save what we create.

So, basically, the product wasn’t ready for launch. And that's more than disappointing. It’s deeply concerning.

I still hold hope that the premature launch (emphasizing self-promotion more than what people can do with the device) isn’t a sign of systemic issues with Artiphon. And we’ll get the Minimum Viable Product in a timeframe which isn’t that completely unreasonable and unconscionable.

Others would (and will) laugh at me. I still prefer to hold hope. 

Evan’s answers don’t fill me with hope, though.

Maybe useful to know…

The original Orba app does support saving (obviously!). And it sounds like it works with Orba 2.

So, unless I’m mistaken, there’s a cumbersome workaround for Orba 2 owners who want to use the product as intended: load that old Orba app and save the patterns there. Far from ideal and it really heightens the absurdity of the situation (the QA process is strict enough to delay software features yet disconnected enough from product development that people have the hardware in their hands before the most basic features are ready).

I have had mine for about a week now and notice that the mk2 crashes about as much as the mk1, and getting a 5 minute loop going is never going to happen.  I've tried it with several apps (ios and android) and it loses connectivity often. The orba 2 app is quite buggy as well.  I was going to take some video but the whole thing seems wonky, so I can't even find a starting point.  The sounds are vast improvement but it was not ready to ship yet imo. I hope they can  improve the midi connectivity, and the frequent crashes, but for 150 bucks its fun and I can accept the limitations, but it is no studio in the palm of your hand yet.

Christian, "We don’t want to make any promises that we can’t keep" is Artiphon's euphemism for "We're not going to do this and hope everyone will eventually give up or forget about it". It was their standard response for quantization in the Orba 1 and for updates to the Orba 1 app. Now they're just applying the same approach to Orba 2.

Don't get me wrong, I like the Orba. But if any features it doesn't have right now are deal-breakers for you, I would recommend returning it while you can and maybe buying again if the update ever comes.

While you’re right that it’s a euphemism (and quite “tonedeaf” given the unkept promises which got us in this situation in the first place), I sure hope they don’t abandon this basic feature. Your quantization example (a promise they didn’t keep) is solid. Saving our work is more fundamental. Especially since a form of it existed in the Orba 1. (And I’m quite sure saving was mentioned in the original marketing campaign for Orba 2.)

Having said that, you’re right about current dealbreakers. Users should only keep their Orba 2 if the current state of things is acceptable. We can’t assume that the company will fulfill its promises.

Although it does appear that you can save songs in the Orba 1 App. You cannot load them back in. I think we are stuck without being able to save songs. :(

Orba 2: A toy, a fun toy, but still just a toy.