In his latest loopop video, host Ziv Eliraz takes an in-depth look at the new 1010music Bento, a portable sampling production lab that lets you sample, sequence, and perform with expressive control.
Watch the video and share your thoughts on the Bento in the comments!
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In recent years, LA-based instrument brand 1010music has made a name for itself with its Nanobox range – an assortment of ultra-compact digital instruments that includes the Razzamatazz drum machine, Lemondrop granular synth and Tangerine sampler.
Its latest release, Bento, is something altogether more substantial. Described as a ‘flagship music production lab’ Bento is a self-contained sampling instrument that aims to replace your DAW and become the focal point of your music making setup.
At Superbooth 2025, being held May 8-10 at the FEZ-Berlin, 1010music today introduced Bento, a portable sampling production lab that lets you sample, sequence, and perform with expressive control.
“Bento is everything our users have been asking for in a flagship sampler – more power, more control, and more performance tools, all in a portable package,” says 1010music founder Aaron Higgins. “It’s designed to replace your laptop and become the brain of your setup.”
The device itself is focused around a 7-inch color touchscreen, which comes accompanied by 16 velocity and pressure sensitive pads and eight endless rotary controllers.
Bento can create fully-fledged compositions using a scene-based workflow, capable of real time recording, step sequencing, piano roll input and equipped probability tools. It can sequence eight tracks, each with four sequences, allowing users to build full sequences or launch clips for DAWless jam sessions.
Bento offers a range of sample playback modes, capable of hosting chromatic multi-sampled instruments, pad-based drums, one-shots and loops. It also features beat slicing and granular capabilities inherited from 1010’s Lemondrop.
The instrument is also designed to play nicely with your other bits of studio hardware. There are three stereo inputs, three stereo outputs, dual TRS MIDI I/O and USB-C host/device ports. The instrument has an effects engine with per-track delay, reverb, chorus, flanger, and phaser with automation, as well as an internal mixer that allows the user to process external sounds.
Features:
7” diagonal color touchscreen
16 velocity and pressure-sensitive pads plus 8 endless encoders
8 flexible tracks for sampled instruments, slicer, loops, granular or external MIDI
Scene-based sequencing with real time, step, piano roll and probability tools
Over 5 GB of samples and 165 patches of fresh new sounds including deeply multi-sampled instruments from pianos to classic synths by Samples from Mars, Soundtrack Loops and Drew Neumann
FX engine with per-track delay, reverb, chorus, flanger, and phaser with automation
Extensive modulation system with LFOs, envelopes, and step sequencers
Internal 24-bit resampling, sample streaming from microSD
Compact and battery-powered for up to 3 hours of portable creativity
1010music Bento Walkthrough Video:
Bento will ship with 5GB+ of sample content, including multi-sampled synths and instruments created by Samples from Mars, Soundtrack Loops and Drew Neumann. It also offers Internal 24-bit resampling and sample streaming from its microSD.
Bento is completely standalone thanks to its onboard battery, which 1010 tells us offers 3 hours of wireless use.
Bento is available to order now priced at $899, shipping in mid May 2025. Visit the 1010music website for more.
Now Ableton has launched a new firmware update for Move, which looks to be its most significant update yet. Ableton Move v1.5 Major Update Adds Sample Slicing, Auto-Filter Device & Enhances MIDI I/O.
When Move launched, one of the most common complaints from potential users was its lack of automatic sample slicing. Although Move allows users to sample using its audio input, onboard mic or internal routing – and lets users manually spread a recording across different pads – at launch it lacked the ability to automatically slice a loop to be triggered across different Drum Rack pads, in the way Live allows.
With the 1.5 update, Move now offers that option to slice a sample into equal regions, with the amount of slices set by the user. Users can then adjust the individual slice points in order to fine tune the process.
Move 1.5 also significantly enhances the device’s MIDI capabilities. Move can now simultaneously send and receive MIDI across its four tracks, which can each be configured with its own MIDI in and out settings. Move can also now receive MIDI clock settings from external devices.
It’s worth noting that Move uses its USB port for MIDI I/O, and doesn’t have conventional MIDI input and output ports.
Live’s newly overhauled Auto-Filter device also comes to Move 1.5, along with a range of presets. The update also adds some refinements to how Move functions when controlling Live, along with a variety of bug fixes.
These new updates join several other enhancements to the Move workflow that have been added since launch. These include the ability to sample using the device’s USB port, as well as improvements to the arpeggitor and quantize modes.
The 1.5 firmware is currently in public beta, head to the Ableton beta program site to find out how to join.
