Mindflood Ltd., the company behind Patchblocks, has launched a Kickstarter project to fund the production of minijam studio – a new collection of portable electronic music gear.
minijam is based on the idea of boiling down a hardware studio or live performance setup to very compact and affordable products. The studio includes a drum machine, a wavetable synthesizer, an analog filter, a mixer and a speaker.
Here’s the official intro video:
Here’s an in-depth look at the drum machine module:
Here’s a closer look at the minijam tek.waves prototype:
This is a demonstration of how minijam machines play together with other gear such as Pocket Operators, Volcas, and of course Patchblocks:
Each device is powered by a rechargeable battery and can be used standalone or as part of the set. You don’t need any software or mobile phone. The mixer keeps all connected devices synchronised and also allows for the integration of other hardware using sync triggers on the second channel of the stereo connectors. (e.g. Pocket Operators, Volcas,etc.)
Product Details:
- tek.drum – Drum Machine:
- 8 Drum-Synthesis tracks with 4 parameters per track
- 8 Patterns with 16 steps
- automation and parameter locks of all 32 parameters
- pattern chaining up to 128 steps
- global delay send effect
- save patterns and automation to flash
- up to 12h battery life (rechargeable via Micro USB)
- Dimensions (l/w/h): 15.5 x 6.5 x 3.2 (cm), Weight: 100g
- Kickstarter price 45.00 GBP (MSRP 60.00GBP)
- tek.waves – Wavetable Synthesizer
- 16 fully automatable sound parameters divided into 4 pages
- 3 wave table banks (vowel, classic, harmonic)
- arpeggiator with hold, octave range and arp mode settings
- 4 patterns with up to 128 steps per pattern
- scale select, and 2 octave keyboard within selected scale
- global delay send effect
- save patterns and automation to flash
- up to 12h battery life (rechargeable via Micro USB)
- Dimensions (l/w/h): 15.5 x 6.5 x 3.2 (cm), Weight: 100g
- Kickstarter price 45.00 GBP (MSRP 60.00GBP)
- tek.filter – Analog Filter
- audio input and output
- 2 pole resonant low-pass / band-pass filter
- up to 40h battery life (rechargeable via Micro USB)
- Dimensions (l/w/h): 11.5 x 6.5 x 3.2 (cm), Weight: 65g
- Kickstarter price 40.00 GBP (MSRP 50.00GBP)
- .hub – 3 Channel Mixer
- 3 mono channel input with sync trigger output per channel (stereo cable)
- digital encoder and display to set tempo
- 44.1kHz 16bit .wav recording to micro SD card
- up to 8h battery life (rechargeable via Micro USB)
- Dimensions (l/w/h): 14.0 x 6.5 x 3.2 (cm), Weight: 95g
- Kickstarter price 45.00 GBP (MSRP 60.00GBP)
- .boom – Portable Speaker
- small, battery powered speaker
- integrated 3.5mm audio cable
- Dimensions (dia/h): 5.0/7.0 x 6.0(cm), Weight: 130g
- Just included in the set
Pricing and Availability
The minijam studio will be priced at 130.00 GBP (about US $163). Additional options are available at the Kickstarter project page. Shipping is expected to be in September 2017.
Better Volcas!!!
very very tempting at 130 bucks for all
Pretty cool! The price is right!
They’re about to make millions.
More tiny junk. The Volcas are at least useful and offer some playability. These just look like a shittier variant. I get that people want affordable but why not invest a little more into something better? There are fine instruments/tools out there, both new and used, that won’t break the bank. Also, I’m tired of seeing delays on drum machines. All these miniaturized piece of kit deserve a “neat” but that’s about it. People are so cheap that anything under $200 is met with a resounding “hoorah!”
I don’t think they’ve nailed the design on these at all. Volcas are, have character and are usable as legit instruments. These look kinda boring and uninspiring to play.
You can’t really judge the playability by just looking at it. Also, they’re meant as an intro to making beats with hardware, as opposed to apps and software. It might then inspire a few people to actually invest money into more expensive equipment instead of torrenting the latest version of their favourite DAW.
Fair enough. I just think, at a minimum, some more design effort could have been put into the aesthetics. Sad as it may be, it matters what instruments look like, and just as one example, I wonder if you would sell more if you used more attractive side panels. Maybe that’s just me though – I sincerely hope the venture goes well 🙂
The curved side panels actually make for a control pad type feel with two hands.
Was the world really waiting for this…? :-/
Price is good… and range of diff stuff is good too….
My patch locks cost 60$ and is far from being junk
The little wavetable synth sounds kinda neat, but I’m done with “kinda neat” mini synths, especially with no CV or MIDI control.
just dont get it, these people seem to be living in box, stick a eurorack cover on it, drop in a few CV’s and you got some great cheap little modules, why are people still making these toys, dont they want to make something useful for musicians? or is the just another beardy tat crew toy….
… and they’d sell a few hundred eurorack modules. Much as we’d like to think that euro is a massive movement, the reality is that we’re an extremely geeky musical niche.
hate to say this, but have sen before, I believe it was called ijam
Elaborate on this.
Another day, another Kickstarter for a product the company should be funding themselves. After a while, I grow weary of buying into these medium sized KS campaigns. This company should be putting it’s own money into these ideas instead. Patchblocks is a fun idea for wealthy neon dis, that in 3 years will join all the early 00’s audio interfaces in a landfill once the software is no longer updated. Designers need to think a little more before they dump cash grab Radio Shack projects onto Kickstarter.
I can see how for a mid sized indie company it makes sense though – it is a way to dip the toe in the water and see if they can mass produce something because you have the ability to take a concept product, do a low run and if it gets funded use the profits to mass produce – it’s not like company investors are running around throwing money at synth companies like they are at software companies so I give a little slack to these guys.
You miss the point. These guys are a little too big to use KS anymore. When you run a campaign for funding then ask for more it starts to look like beard kid cash grab. KS is great for new ideas and creators with no capital or distribution. Not so great when it’s rehashing roland and Korgs ideas and pretending Rolls and Korg don’t already do this better at the same price.
There is more bang for your buck with these machines when compared to the Roland and Korg types that it is in line with. You’re saying that no one else is allowed to move into this territory which is just ridiculous. You just sound like someone throwing their rattle out of their pram. Kickstarter is a money generating platform that works well for the public, as well. Pure and simple. Whatever works to get a good product out there.
it isn’t the same price – for the price of 1 volca you get all of the modules –
but it is more of a matter of the fact that production of something like this can sink a smaller company if it fails. When it comes down to it you can probably more predictably make money producing a mid sized synth since you can return more on it and production costs can be smaller. From what I can find, mindflood only has 3 investors and operating capitol of a few hundred thousand dollars which is really a mom and pop operation.
The mixer sounded interesting, until I saw it only has three inputs…
Some people have no imagination. Buying music gear isn’t just about spending a fortune, some people might just be young and just getting into music. The first thing that popped into my head is wow a tiny cheap filter, imagine bringing that to a practice space with a crappy kids organ and a few guitar pedals.
Some serious amount of gurns on here that are completely missing the point on here. Entry level, handiness, affordability… We don’t all think we are Jean Michel Jarre.
yeah the other thing that is really cool about this is that it is self contained but you can add on if you have things like POs or volcas and make a tiny self contained battery operated kit – I have actually been wanting to do this with my different pieces so for fun I can walk into a place and open a little case and start playing…
Prizing is very interesting, but if they do the same crappy job like with patchblocks in don´t see a chance ….
Many people are happy with Patchblocks. These are a completely different product, though.
This kind of thing has been working for the Korg Volcas and the Pocket Operators. I see no reason why a 3rd and more mom and pop manufacturer couldn’t get in on the action. I’d say the budget, pocket sized, battery synth market has been well proven. Makes perfect sense to me.
What doesn’t make sense to me is why people bitch about it
“Oh no, I hate that little product that I am in no way required or even encouraged to buy but I hate it anyway and I want everyone to know about that because I think it is ‘toy’ and inferior to X product that I think is better, which I could just go buy that instead and be happy but first I want everyone to know that I think the budget thing is crap first. I think that’s a real good use of my energies. I love getting angry at small, inanimate objects.”
Really freaking tired of that attitude in synth communities.
Yeah, god forbid people voice their opinions on synthesizers on a site about synthesizers. Nobody’s angry or claiming there isn’t a market for these. Some just aren’t as in love with every tiny machine that comes out.
Have any of these people used them yet?
That’s a lot of drum machine for 50 bucks.
yeah it actually looks better than the PO-16 for close to the same price
HOW DARE THEY RELEASE THESE THINGS I DON’T HAVE TO BUY!
Yeah I am kind of a sucker for musical toys… probably because they’re fun! They also make cool gifts and stocking stuffers.
That little mixing box is something that is still missing (I think?) from the Volcas!! I’d like stereo and a couple more channels, but it’s such an obviously useful thing that I’m really surprised by its omission.
They look like they were designed by Alienware in the year 2000.
Never bough the Volcas because IMHO there RRP is about 200% of there value. These at least in price are more of a logical buy.
Minijam Studio is one of the best sounding, best buys I have had the pleasure of working with. It provides amazing service and I’m satisfied. It’s a powerful, low-cost package that covers all the bases in a portable.
I my fave about the Minijam Studio is its portability (with tremendous sound). That filter is way nice and I really enjoy how well this sounds – and it fits in my backpack!