A short Artiphon Orba 2 hacking guide: How to create your own synth sounds, chords and drum kits

[@mr_floydst]

One thing I propably should have mentioned: The drum synth accepts number ranging from 0 to 255.

[@43audio89]

sounds like enough velocity for MPE

[@donaldferguson7777]

thank you for your honest feed back on the orba. having recently purchased one myself i have found the same sort of issues, odly mine has never done the power on refusal. just un functional overall when the software is involved with the workflow at all. your videos are nice, thank you for making them!

[@mr_floydst]

The Orba could be so much more if it's ecosystem was looked after a bit better. In it's given state, it's a pretty good drum machine and a so-so notepad for musical ideas.

[@donaldferguson7777]

@@mr_floydst i agree, it is for this value i have not abandoned it. the way the notes reverse around allow for new note patterns that seem to be only found naturally on this "note pad". perftec way to describe it. note pad. ps i very much appreciate your insight on the Lmn3 for i am seeking an op1 field or something comperable. your insight was of value there for sure so i dont waste time and money. the final u did build was very clean and the demos were nice. i hope u are able to spend more time and really streach the legs to the limit on that platform. thanx again dude!

[@roncordell]

I just picked up the Orba 2 and wouldn't you know -- you created a video for it!! I haven't had a chance to dig into it especially to this depth so I'll have a lot to look forward to especially since you've whetted my appetite for a little gentle hacking. Thanks as always Herr Steinberg! OTOH - I just got the email to order from the next batch of Micromonsta2's -- which I ordered -- so my Artiphone exploits may get interrupted when it arrives...

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching! There's so much stuff we need to try in our lifetime. :-)

[@darwiniandude]

Wild stuff! I moved my Orba to someone else when I bought Orba 2 but having an OP-1f I've not really used the Orba 2 much at all, so I haven't delved into the community at all to see what people have been up to. But thanks so much for bringing this to my attention - so great that it's all just editable XML files behind the scenes and multisamples are possible. As a BLE device, a solid editor with multisample abilities is deffinitely likely to appear in the future from someone. Very handy stuff. Definitely filing this away in my head for later :)

[@darwiniandude]

Oh, I was going to say - my favourite thing is editing the chords. That's excellent. Found that aspect quite limiting otherwise.

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching! I'm really puzzled, they built a great, fun device and limit it's possibilites by software design. One could think 2 years should be plenty of time to create an app to take full control of the hardware's possibilities, but no. :-)

[@Eleni_Be]

as usual: nice video, sweet sounds. it's a pretty quirky "instrument" and I'm glad you did, so i don't have to ;) thx for always amazing me.

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching, once again! This instruments most useful feature is it's drum synth and sequencer. It's a bit underrepresented on Social Media in that role, as it's the fastest way I know to come up with some beats.

[@Eleni_Be]

@@mr_floydst ah. interesting approach. sounds like I might have to try it, too...

[@AudioCheck12]

Thank you. I knew all this was possible was just waiting for someone as smart as your self to crack this open. With the code being open this is a very very powerful synth/controller. I wonder what the limitations of the code is? For exaple could I write code the presets for external buttons and faders like arduino>

[@mr_floydst]

The things I show here only explain the internal file formats - mainly XML stuff. To move the real time controllers to external controllers, you'd need to exchange the firmware, which is beyond my current abilities. ;-)

[@francisdiaz2405]

Esta edicion , sirve solo para Orba 2, NO Orba 1?

[@mr_floydst]

The synth stuff will work on Orba 1 as well.

[@diecouch8175]

Hey Mr.Floyd 🙋 love your videos

[@mr_floydst]

Glad you like them! :)

[@martinausdeutschland]

Hi Floyd. Can the scale of the lead be altered to be not pentatonic?

[@mr_floydst]

I'd love to test that, but (as I said in the video) - I had to send my Orba back because it would only turn on after dancing my name. There's a forum that could provide answers: artiphon.freshdesk.com/support/discussions/topics/44001013185

[@SeanLawrenceMusic]

Did you find out anything about this? This is my biggest disappointment with the Orba and don't see why we can't customize the scales and tunings. Even considering returning it because of this limitation

[@jasonthomashorn4794]

Drum and cord editor yes please 😊

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks! I'll eventually do it, but at the moment, I have no Orba with me (the one I had was broken, as explained in the video)

[@chrisliddiard725]

Can anything be down with the original Orba? Used once, never used again. ;(

[@mr_floydst]

The sound editor will work with the original Orba, and there are open source editors for chords out there.

[@linkjankens8935]

Just got an Orba 2 in today and discovered all the nonsense involved in playing it first hand.....I'd honestly love a nice programmed editor if you have the time to do so like you mentioned!

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks for watching! I'll monitor the demand... ;-)

[@donaldferguson7777]

@@mr_floydst i have an orba and want more sound access

[@mcgritty8842]

“Discovered the nonsense in playing it”? Did you not watch any videos before buying?? 😂 I mean, this video was available before you bought it

[@arcanics1971]

Cool.

[@mr_floydst]

Thanks!

[@elementaltones380]

If they make an easier way to add chords I will buy one!

[@mr_floydst]

An updated editor would be a nice thing to have.

[@spellerlittlewing]

Wow that’s of work

[@mr_floydst]

It is. Making editors for this shouldn't be too hard, though - most of the data is readable (which is an advancement compared to the Orba 1, which used base64-encoded strings to make the XML harder to read).

[@dolvaran]

Think I'll stick with my Zynthian!

[@mr_floydst]

That's good, but I wasn't trying to convince you to stop using it :-)