Paris-based Playtronica shared this sneak preview of Orbita, a tangible music controller that’s like a cross between a turntable and a sequencer.
Orbita is designed to be an intuitive controller and innovative sound generator. It is a tangible music controller, and can connect to computers and mobile devices via USB-C. It’s also MIDI compatible, so it can be used with all types of music software.
By arranging magnets on a spinning disc, you can trigger synths and samples using four track ‘orbits’.
There is also a “scratch mode”, and timing can be adjusted with the spinning wheel, like a classic turntable pitch control.
Playtronica says that they set out to create “an elegant object that evokes creativity and wonder, by allowing people to see the world like a synesthete.”
Pricing and Availability
Playtronica plans to open pre-orders for the Orbita starting April 29th, priced at about 250 Euros. See the Playtronica site for details.
Brilliant
This looks really fun. It reminds me of a Fisherprice toy record player, remember those?
I do! I was fascinated by that thing as a kid. Your comment hit me right in the nostalgic feels.
Transforming colors into music.
The world we live in discourages touch and interaction, so we decided to emphasize it by turning human skin into a musical instrument.
Connect to fruits and play electronic music. This is an ideal first step into understanding electronics.
A magical, mind-expanding approach. Exploring tactility.
Now you can experience human touch and hearing like never before. Sometimes you want to “get jazzy” and write a solo for your next big hit!
Looks interesting but not a single demo in sight, even on their website, pity. All I found is a 20 second phone recording clip on their Facebook page which doesn’t show much. I’d at least have done a mini-teaser before announcing something like this.
There you go:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxBaGTkmnwA
Nice! It reminds me of the Gumball Sequencer: http://backin.de/gumball/
Reminds me of the strange and beguiling Drum Buddy by Mr. Quintron:
https://www.quintronandmisspussycat.com/drumbuddy.html
From a practical perspective, this seems like a fun way to attain and tweak “off-grid” timing but the resolution on the inner circles would be low compared to the outermost circle. Given how cheap servos, magnets and hall-effect sensors are the mechanical side of things should be pretty easy to DIY….
There was a very similar project not so long ago https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2019/10/23/chromatic-optical-color-sequencer/
Looks fun and artsy, just what I like 🙂