One of the nicest things about Orba is that playing it simply feels good-spinning a finger around the eight keys can create mesmerizing spirals of notes, and there’s a surprising amount of control baked in. A central button allows you to toggle through four different sound settings (typically drums, bass, chords, and lead) while the eight pads around the circumference of the instrument’s dial-like surface allow you to play notes or drum hits with the onboard sequencer, you can record simple loops and layer them together into a four-part jam. The Artiphon Orba looks a little like a paperweight and fits in the palm of a hand, but it’s remarkably versatile.
Features like filter, waveform, and envelope shape-the basic building blocks of synthesis-remain unlabeled this is a machine you learn by touch, not by reading the manual. The makers have intentionally left the machine’s functions cryptic. Diagrammed arrows sketch out certain possibilities lurking within the signal chain, but they might as well be the dotted lines on a pirate’s map: Tap this, yoink on that, and see what happens.
#SONY ACID PRO 4.0 MIDI TUTORIAL SERIES#
The source of the sound is an onboard synth paired with a sequencer (that is, a device that plays back patterns of notes, in this case a constantly shifting series of pre-programmed ones) you manipulate the sound via a bevy of colorful knobs and levers that positively beg to be turned, twisted, pushed, and pulled, while drum settings let you add kick, snare, or beatbox patterns. It’s essentially a kind of groovebox, yet you might just as well call it an infinity machine, because music pours out of it ceaselessly. The Blipblox is a curious, entrancing, and unique device. Some they can figure out on their own, some will require parental supervision, and some are so cool that even non-parents might end up wanting one for themselves. I don’t recommend them.) In recent years, we’ve graduated to electronic instruments, in part because I’ve been playing with synthesizers since I was 16 and I want my kid to have everything that I did, and then some.įortunately, there’s been a recent explosion of synthesizers and other musical gadgets aimed expressly at kids. (A word to the wise: They’re noisy, take up space in your closet, and your kid will get bored quickly-which is good, since they’re so damn noisy. And since she’s been old enough to bang on things, my wife and I have filled the house with toys and instruments, everything from the typical shakers and slide whistle to one of those musical playmats that you play with your feet, which she encountered at a party and absolutely had to have. When she was just a year and a half old, we started doing Music Together classes, which I rate as one of the highlights of her first couple of years. A big part of my daughter’s musical education has also involved making music.
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