instrument 1

Latest

  • Orba is a tiny, fun and surprisingly expressive instrument

    by 
    Terrence O'Brien
    Terrence O'Brien
    12.19.2019

    I am simultaneously deeply fascinated by and deeply skeptical of strange niche instruments. As fun as a classic Stylophone is, for instance, it's pretty tricky to make decent-sounding music with. Even quirky controllers like Roli Blocks have a hard time finding a foothold in my life. But I still can't resist their allure. So of course when I heard about Orba, the new instrument from Artiphon, I had to check it out.

  • Artiphon

    Orba is a tiny instrument that you shake, tap and twist

    by 
    Terrence O'Brien
    Terrence O'Brien
    11.25.2019

    Artiphon first made a splash back in 2013 when it started showing off a rather rough prototype of a device that would eventually become the Instrument 1. By the time it hit Kickstarter in 2015 it had undergone a serious facelift. In its final version it was sleek and futuristic, with an almost minimal design. Now that company is back with it's second product, the Orba, and it takes many of the core concepts of the Instrument 1 to their logical extremes.