If it's only worth the money to you if Artiphon develop it properly, I should return it, because they're not going to.
(I say this as someone with three Orba 1s, and I enjoy messing with them, but I know what Artiphon are like. They're just not interested in software support, never have been, never will be.)
Here are some numbers for you to think about.
Currently, there are no updates for the last 98 days for both the firmware and software. And as you already noticed - that's not because there is nothing left to improve, to say it mildly
User who had asked one month ago quite a vital question - how to reset orba2 to it's original state - did not get an answer for a month, topic is still there.
Actually, seems like the last time somebody from Artiphon had commented anything was about 2 months ago. I could not find any comments later than that.
Only signs of Artiphon being alive during this quarter are youtube ad shorts videos, a couple of stems forcefully pushed to device, and a discounted sale of orba2 on their site, that's it.
I have no idea what is happening on their side, but from these numbers it feels like they had fired the last programmer they had, but some marketing guy is still trying to sell the rest of the stock.
It might be that they just do not feel like users deserve communication, and still doing something in secrecy, but apart from hopes - there is no single evidence that editing software is being actually developed.
As one of that users who was reverse engineering Orba presets and creating my own, I would say that:
1) it is not user friendly process, at least you need some xml knowledge. Better have some IT tech backround to dive into that.
2) There is a possibility to brick device irreversibly with an incorrectly created preset/stem. You have to be fine with that. Like, it actually had happened once, it is not a theoretical warning.
3) There is no official documentation on the format, Artiphon had not provided any help for our experiments.
4) Not all parts of the xmls had been reversed, we are still guessing. Some parts of the format are cryptic, some seem obvious but do not work as intended, probably not implemented yet
Basically, you can try, but only if you are willing to enjoy the reverse engineering journey itself. I would not recommend taking this route just for the result.
P.S. If Artiphon could share format documentation, community could already create some preset editor months ago.
It's worth noting that creating an "empty" song ie: one that will load a set of presets but doesn't contain any performance data (notes played) can be a useful tool. For example, it's helpful to create some for presets you like to put together, and in keys you find useful - a good way to switch into a minor key and then later back to a major or pentatonic. Once a song is loaded you can switch presets retaining the key, tempo etc. for recording. (I use that a lot to check chord presets which need to be tested in both minor and major keys.)
These can be made fairly easily on the Orba itself - trying to make/edit them in the txt/xml file requires the sort risks Ignis32 warns of.
Stems are very different being only a collection of audio clips (albeit extensive) which can be played over each other - a sort of musical collage. Personally I find that rather lacking in creativity in use, and very limited except perhaps for a brief spell of amusement. I can't be bothered with them.
There seems to be no way of making them officially. Again, it would be possible to create them - though how well they might work and whether they would load properly I don't know - I'm not inclined to try myself.
Madarász Gergely
Hi! I was disappointed to notice that the Orba 2 does not offer nearly the possibilities that were announced in the advertisements. Many functions don't work as shown, but the most annoying thing is that you can't edit and import drum sounds, and you can't create and import your own stems to the device either. I understand that it is a small device with limits, but for so much money? This is very unfair to me. I would consider a song, a drum and stem editor and import capabilities to be essential, because for such a price it gives very little. These drums and stems were also written with some programs, could they not be made available? My problem is that I don't know if there will ever be an improvement for these problems? Because I have 30 days to return the device and then the price will be refunded. But if these are solved, it will be a great little tool... what should I do?