Mine arrived today, and I’ve been playing with it for a few hours. It’s wild!
It’s strength is definitely the sequencer. There’s a lot of power accessible quite quickly. Sixteen tracks, each with different length and clock divisions. The Step Components are especially interesting: per-step rules like probability, random note selection, note slides, even jumping around within the sequence on that track specifically. For instance, I can have track two play a stable 8-note pattern, but have track four playing six notes before jumping to a random step on only track four. There are ten projects, with sixteen patterns per project. Project changes are instantaneous.
By default, each track is already set up to output MIDI on separate channels (track 1 to channel 1… track 16 to channel 16). This means that I was able to plug it into my Hermod and start sequencing my modular with no additional setup.
The sound “plugs” (generators) remind me more of the Pocket Operators or Braids. Each generator only really has two parameters, but then there are two filter controls (cutoff + res), four envelope controls (ADSR), four LFO controls (rate, depth, destination, shape), and four mix controls (two effect sends, pan, and level). For samples, the only sound manipulation control is pitch. While Braids proved that you could do a lot with two knobs, I’m hoping they throw in some weirder synth and effect engines in a future update.
One odd complaint is that the case is kind of sharp and pointy. Hopefully someone will make a rubber bumper case for it.
The app is very cool. I definitely needed it for training. There are a few things that you can only do with the app (assign MIDI out CC values to each knob), but their all setup related. After an hour or two, I became much more comfortable using the device without the app, although I definitely prefer using the app to visualize the Step Component relations.
