WORLD OF MUSIC ; PORTABLE KEYBOARD - Latest Portable Music Keyboards, Synthesizers and Music News

Teenage Engineering releases free Pocket Operator for Pixel – sample-based audio/video groovebox comes to Google phones

As we are all aware, Teenage Engineering OP-1 Field and TX-6 price are high. After making headlines with the high-priced OP-1 Field and TX-6 mini mixer, Teenage Engineering’s next move is to release a free music-making app for Google phones – Pocket Operator for Pixel.

Designed to bring the Pocket Operator experience to your Pixel device – Pixel 5 and later, that is – this uses Google’s TensorFlow machine learning technology to extrapolate samples from your videos, placing them on a 4×4 grid of buttons.

You can then sequence and mix these samples – recording either live or step by step – and add effects. There are drum and melodic modes, and you get four tracks and 16 patterns. Your videos are displayed at the top of the screen, and you can add filters to these, as well.

It’s all great fun and very responsive. Once you’ve finished a song, it can be exported with a single click.

However, it still remains to be seen whether this will lead to more collaborations between Teenage Engineering and Google, but Pocket Operator for Pixel is an impressive showcase for the two companies’ technology –  or whether additional features will be added to the app in due course.

Pocket Operator for Pixel is available now from the Google Play store. It forms part of the latest ‘feature drop’ for Pixel phones.

At the 2022 NAMM Show, Neve unveils the 88M USB audio interface, promising flagship console sound for your DAW. Neve is the latest high-end console manufacturer to get into the desktop audio interface game with the launch of the 88M.

Promising the same mic preamp as you’ll find in the classic 88RS console – as used in the likes of AIR, Abbey Road and Capitol Studios – this 10-in/10-out device also has transformer-coupled inputs, meaning that your vocals and instruments should all benefit from the classic Neve preamp sound.

In addition, there is a pair of TRS outputs for your studio monitors – controlled from a dedicated monitor pot – and a professional headphone amp, while both preamp channels feature a balanced insert send and return loop. Premium AD/DA conversion and latency-free monitoring are also on the table.

Although the 88M is much smaller than the 88RS console, the 88M promises a similarly high level of build quality. It can be bus-powered over USB 3.0.

The 88M looks set to cost £1,079/€1,249 and will be available soon.

Find out more on the AMS Neve website.

Artiphon announces Orba 2, an upgrade on its dinky synth/looper/controller.

At the 2022 NAMM Show, Artiphon, maker of the Orba has introduced its sequel the Orba 2, the second generation of their Orba synth, looper, and controller. Orba is a small, handheld music making device that almost defies description, and the Orba 2 piles on new features to make it even more indispensable and unusual.

At its heart the Orba is a synth with a simple control surface allowing the player to quickly and easily tap out musically correct sequences on its top surface with fingers or thumbs as you cup the device in your hands.

You can even tap the sides of the device for a percussive element and tilt and agitate it to change pitches or add modulation effect.

With a sense of scales and intervals it’s impossible for anything you play to not sound great and the built-in synth (feeding its built-in speaker) is capable of a huge range of tones from leads to bass, electronic tones to more traditional acoustic instrument textures.

A simple 8 bar sequencer lets you build parts using Drum, Bass, Chord, and Lead modes to create a track right there on one device. And Orba 2’s improved ceramic-like playing surface simultaneously reacts to nine musical gestures: Tap, Press, Radiate, Tilt, Shake, Spin, Vibrato, Move, and Bump.

The Orba 2’s biggest step up is the addition of digital audio playback, meaning that you can now sample sounds and use them as instruments in the Orba. It’s all done via the Orba app on your phone – record a sound and fire it into the Orba 2 for playback and manipulation.

And now the built-in sequencer/looper has an auto quantise feature so whatever you play and loop will always be in time plus extended playback time offers sequences of up to 128 bars in length, giving greater freedom to experiment and compose.

In addition, you can use Orba 2 to control your hardware and software instruments via USB-C or wirelessly via Bluetooth MIDI.

“We want people to express themselves musically in their everyday lives,” explains Artiphon CEO Mike Butera. “We’ve dreamed of allowing anyone to play any sound they can imagine, anywhere they go, without worrying about historical instrument skills or abstract music theory. Orba 2 finally makes that possible.”

New with the Orba 2:

• Play any sound – Artiphon redesigned Orba’s sound engine from the ground up so that it can play sampled pianos, guitars, found sounds, and more.
• Create your own instruments – With the Orba 2 app, you’ll be able to record any sound from the real world and transform it into a playable musical instrument.
• Loop songs in seconds – Orba 2 has an integrated looper that allows you to record loops right on the device itself. Using Drum, Bass, Chord, and Lead modes, you’ll be able to combine these sounds to create songs. Orba 2’s new quantize feature will keep everything in time. And since Orba 2 has more memory than its predecessor, you’ll be able to make songs up to 128 bars

Orba 2 is available for $149 and will sit alongside the original Orba for $99.

Find out more at Artiphon website.