Midicake ARP Review - Powerful Hardware MIDI Arpeggiator & Sequencer

www.midicake.com/
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[@StephenMcLeod]

Ten points if you spot the typo.

[@Stevensonnnnnn]

Similarillyilly ;-) Great review. Might need to check this out.

[@StephenMcLeod]

@@Stevensonnnnnn I cannae say that word but it's not the one!!

[@mikevanderheiden]

I can't read😢

[@StephenMcLeod]

@@mikevanderheiden I cannae spell, so we're even.

[@yongamusic]

Roland D-11

[@oscillated139]

The Midicake is being constantly updated which keeps the creative juices flowing

[@StephenMcLeod]

Yeah that's one of the great things about it!

[@viennabonaparte]

Sounds like it likes the M8 also! I do like a lovely arp, this has got me very interested!

[@StephenMcLeod]

It works soooo well with the M8. All cyclically and cool.

[@Farold_Haltermeyer]

This one had missed me by in my hunt for a sequencing/arp assistant, thanks for the heads up

[@StephenMcLeod]

It's well worth a look!

[@jondellar]

Nice one! I do like your take on the whole music theory thing - and humour 😊

[@StephenMcLeod]

Thanks for watching!!

[@andypark9233]

Great video. And probably resulting in me buying one as I hadn't come across it. I note you, (and others in the comments), mention the NDLR - I think there are similarities (obviously) but agree that the NDLR is more complicated - probably because of the 2 "Motif" or mono voices. There is also the Torso Electronics T1 which is sort of similar but has 16 channels and can do both drums and notes. And is really easy to use as well as also being a beautiful piece of design. Although it is possible more generative and less easy to directly control but even without a screen it is easy to see what is going on. And with an Op-Z makes a really interesting setup you can almost carry in your pocket...

[@StephenMcLeod]

Torso T1 is an interesting one! I haven't tried that out myself. I'll need to do some digging.

[@ChurBoBaggins]

seems like it has some similarities with how the torso T1 does melody sequencing (basically a very flexible arp you can nudge in different ways)

[@StephenMcLeod]

Seems like I need to get myself a Torso!

[@budgetkeyboardist]

Neat piece of gear to play with. And I agree with your take on music theory. Someone without an understanding of music theory knows that a melody sounds good. Someone with an understanding of music theory knows WHY a melody sounds good. But the "rules" of composition go extremely deep, and not everyone needs a doctorate level understanding of composition, any more than you need to be a world class chef to make a tasty dinner. I understand what's happening in most jazz music, but having an understanding doesn't make me like it. I'd prefer a good strong melody over someone playing "outside" of a song.

[@StephenMcLeod]

Thanks for taking the time to reply! Jazz is something I've started to get into and appreciate lately - though that was probably brought on by mind enhancing substances. I'd love to learn more about it/be able to play it, but I am no good. As I've got older I've made more of an effort to understand theory, and it's been rewarding - but my brain just does not work that way unfortunately.

[@remka2000]

Would love to see how you would setup and play something like you mentioned, from scratch : external sequencer/synth and Arp. Maybe a Deluge or a Play, or even a Circuit (with 2 external sound modules) - or recommend a good video on the topic.

[@StephenMcLeod]

I haven't come across a specific from scratch video like that but it should be fairly straightforward to do. That's what I was doing with the M8 effectively. It was sending the notes out to the ARP to shift the sequence.

[@jeddyiii]

The MidiCake sounds great in this video. Arpeggios are not easy to play and not hard if you understand how to play chords on keys. But if an ARP generator can do that for you so beautifully with one touch why learn any skills when buttons can be pressed when writing 'non-live' performance? I really like the look and sound of this device and the potential to hook it up to other hardware.

[@StephenMcLeod]

Thanks for commenting! It's really nicely put together.

[@jeddyiii]

That dirty wave M8 went hard.

[@StephenMcLeod]

Hey thanks!

[@audiolego]

There's a midi generator called the T1 that works like this . In fact, there a a few of them that I'm fascinated by like T1 , Hapax. This midi cake looks soo cool. Wowww

[@StephenMcLeod]

I have a Hapax! It's not quite to the level of the midicake for arps though. It is an awesome sequencer but.

[@audiolego]

@@StephenMcLeod I think for creative ideas, Midicake is going to be my friend. I'm so used to step sequencing on Renoise and or MPCX to get those 16ths basslines. It's really trial and error . Midicake, it's pre order now. I want one.

[@luisbarrera5740]

My question here is. Can it play polyrhythms? And if so, will the polyrhythm work with the toraiz sp16? If so that would be a game changer for the sp16

[@StephenMcLeod]

Hmm when you mean work with the Toraiz SP16... whatdya mean?

[@docjoesweeney]

From my reading of the manual, yes. And I think you can use modulation on the polyrhyms. It is why I decided to pull out my credit card. However, I am waiting for my unit to arrive so will confirm how that works.

[@xarisal]

Uhm, 12:05, the Deepmind is not multi-timbral... How many points do I get for that?

[@StephenMcLeod]

Ah pish. Slip of the tongue. You win the extra bonus prize!!!! FAAAKK

[@xarisal]

@@StephenMcLeod You were probably thinking of the Blofeld?

[@StephenMcLeod]

Let's go with that

[@kisho2679]

someone knows how it compares/differs with the "NDLR" or the "Kordbot"?

[@StephenMcLeod]

Ooh I've never seen the Kordbot before...

[@dankeplace]

I have a NDLR and it's rubbish for UI as you have a tiny screen, this looks a ton more fun.

[@StephenMcLeod]

The screen definitely helps to understand wtf is going on!

[@dankeplace]

@@StephenMcLeod I had a good read, this seems right up my alley and I am familiar with how these bits work, and it's not too expensive so I may in the future get one. Just need to see if they're available locally 1st. Much appreciated for the vid, I would never have know it existed.

[@StephenMcLeod]

It definitely deserves some more attention!

[@remka2000]

I still need to take time to understand mine. Their (Midicake) channel has a bunch of tutorials but I am still missing something showing an actual jam-ish setup from start to finish (which the ndlr kinda had).

[@docjoesweeney]

I have the NDLR and find the opposite. The screen UX is pretty dang quick to navigate for me. However, I've spent a million hours in it! I also built a set of cherry audio voltage modular modules so every parameter can be controlled via the graphically via your desktop... because why not. 😊 I am very excited to combine the NDLR and Arp.

[@RemotelyHuman666]

Why cant I find one for sale anywhere?

[@StephenMcLeod]

www.midicake.com/product-page/midicake-arp

[@allanroney]

Pretty cool bit of kit. New colour palette for your videos?

[@StephenMcLeod]

Started shooting in SLOG for better details and nonsense, so using conversion LUTs... but they are very dependent on the ambient light/white balance, so I'm experimenting a bit!

[@RabRabNZ]

It's the ASM hydrasynth scheme 👌

[@LabRatWarfare]

I imagine I'd be using this MIDICAKE with a Gameboy/MGB combo!! 🤯AND I hope this typo you speak of is when you put "one" instead of "other"?!?! Otherwise, I'm stumped!! 🤣🐀

[@StephenMcLeod]

WHAT. WHEN IS ONE VERSUS OTHER

[@kenniferlopez1]

Rad Sir!

[@wiggesobk]

Cool piece of gear. 👍

[@StephenMcLeod]

I love weirdo dedicated boxes like this!!

[@electrosonicnebula]

Of course actually learning theory can be 90% discovering relationships yourself and 10% being told what to do. There certainly isn't a need to be a dull conformist to become an actual musician.

[@StephenMcLeod]

I always enjoyed learning theory more when I was doing it on my own. I've found it very hard to get it to stick though - at least in terms of scales and chords and what notes go where and what numbers mean in relation to what.

[@electrosonicnebula]

@@StephenMcLeod Have you tried playing along to your favorite records with no particular ambition except for it to sound close enough? That'll show you many many things that will help you compose. I also put up reminders on the wall, for example when I tried to get into the circle of fifths and how to use it I would get it in the moment but then forget pretty soon. It really helped to put one up on the wall with all the right useful annotations on it and then inevitably see it every day even though I wasn't necessarily playing on that day. I also put up some chord diagrams and some info about modes that exited one ear as soon as they entered the other. I only put up the select stuff that actually made sense and that I found exciting/useful but required memorization and practice.

[@StephenMcLeod]

@@electrosonicnebula Occasionally, but not a lot, as it's not something that especially excites me. I've never enjoyed playing covers or anything like that, and I quickly get bored. I got the circle of fifths watch a while back when I really got into all of that, but like you said... totally forgot. It's something I should go back and look at again, as I have come to appreciate the value of theory as I got older.

[@electrosonicnebula]

@@StephenMcLeod Well nice use of Mixolydian on I Bought the Moon anyway :-)

[@electrosonicnebula]

and Dorian over that Eb I guess lol. I'm generally confused

[@ichiban8558]

pound shop NDLR

[@StephenMcLeod]

I actually prefer this over the NDLR from what I've seen. What strengths do you think NDLR has over ARP?

[@emilbergdahl3063]

No sorry bro. Music is math. If you do not understand the math you can still have fun but noone will listen to dissonance. Learn it. It is very rewarding and fairly easy.

[@StephenMcLeod]

The premise of your statement is that if you don't learn theory then you won't produce anything other than dissonance, which is demonstrably not the case. :)

[@emilbergdahl3063]

@@StephenMcLeod of course not but there will be an ill note every now and again which will lower the pleasure listening to that music. There will then be a sea of alternatives that do not feature these bummers. Not one hit has been produced that features capital harmonic mistakes. Ppl hear this and dislike it consciously or not.

[@StephenMcLeod]

@emilbergdahl3063 you can identify these issues without having to grasp the theoretical side of music though. Learning theory isn't required to avoid dissonance.

[@emilbergdahl3063]

@@StephenMcLeod if you are able to identify these things you, per definition, know music theory brother.

[@StephenMcLeod]

@emilbergdahl3063 that doesn't mean I can create scales or sroeggiations by choosing note values. That's what I was speaking about.

[@sturdyblock]

Blokas Midi Hub...

[@StephenMcLeod]

Arturia Microfreak...