201 Pocket Piano // a minimalist synth that's infinitely tweakable // review & tutorial
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- čas přidán 12. 05. 2024
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TIMELINE:
0:00 Intro
1:25 Overview
3:40 Factory synths
5:50 Factory arps
7:10 Sequencer
8:00 Custom LFO?
8:30 Polyphony
8:55 Build & IO
10:25 vs Organelle
11:20 Patch swap
14:10 More macros?
14:30 Multisamples
14:55 More arps
15:15 Text arps
15:30 Pure data
16:10 Mother-in-law
17:45 Custom 201?
18:00 MIDI settings
18:15 Pros & cons
20:05 Outro walkthru
Submit review and video ideas here (sorry I don’t offer 1x1 sessions/setup/purchasing advice):
► Ziv (at) loopopmusic.com
NOTE: Occasionally I’ll try out affiliate marketing and include affiliate links. This means that I may earn a commission when you click on or make purchases via affiliate links to stores like Amazon, Sweetwater, Thomann and others. The content of this clip is entirely my opinion, and was not paid for or dictated in any way by the company creating the gear. Without addressing the particulars of products shown here as they might be under NDA, gear shown on this channel may be either sent by the manufacturer, on loan for review or bought at a discount.
Devs who flip their back panel text upside down have a special place in my heart.
You didn't mention it's biggest selling point - it SHOOTS YELLOW LAZERS OUT THE BACK.
FULL DISCLOSURE: All the synths on my channel shoot lasers, it's a feature of the channel not the synth
I didn’t understand the appeal of this until I bought a 201 from the initial kickstarter batch. You know how most musicians have an acoustic guitar within arms reach, despite playing electric? It’s because of the immediacy. To be able to reach out and grab an instrument when inspiration strikes or to play along with an interesting riff from your sound system. The 201 is much like that, but for synth heads. As you know you can customize it to your liking. And easily record a passage for playback even if it gets so complex it would be otherwise very difficult to stumble back into that beat space. And it’s relatively a tough little brick so you can toss it into a gear bag or back pack without hesitation. And it just looks retro cool without being out of place just sitting on a table. The only cons I’d throw at it, is that the rectangular speaker’s frequency response really rolls off in the lower octaves, and it doesn’t quite have enough volume to keep up when sitting in with acoustic musicians like the larger speaker of the Organelle M can. And the audio is mono single channel. While you can use an adapter to make it into “mono deluxe”, I find it distorts a little bit and it requires running the built in amp at full volume when using headphones. But overall I’ve become a fan, and even bought a second one during the Black Friday sale for a more integrated rig. Truly a well deserved evolution of the original.
Great perspective sharing! Much appreciated. I bet it would pair nicely with a guitar headphone amp to give you the signal boost and some basic FX. I have several of these and find them an excellent 'plus one' for all of my mini synth stuff. My favorite is the the Flamma FX10. But I also have several Vox headphones amps- the classic rock is my favorite. They only cost as much as a cup of coffee, so why not? It gives you some volume and gain and saturation when you want it and it doesn't hurt to also have chorus, reverb, delay and other FX, and when it fits nicely in your bag, it's like yep. No brainer. Grab that and a Zoom handy recorder and patch cable and you have a whole studio with you wherever you are.
I bought a PSS-f30 for that purpose … like a reface (same keybed), but with loads more sounds and way cheaper (so if it gets damaged, lost or stolen, its not as big a deal). I’d prefer to stick to the feel/mechanism of keys, even though that makes it less compact.
Loopop posts. I watch. His expertise and concise, structured explanation is the best online anywhere. 👏
I agree
I love the vibe you created in the outro 😮 thank you so much introducing this instrument to us 😊
I have the Organelle M.
It quickly and surprisingly became one of my favourite instruments.
It sits on my desk and is so immediate and fun that it is my go-to noodle machine.
I am tempted to get a 201 as well to streamline the process even further. It is so great to just grab something and play right away while still having the ability to dive deep into it.
I am primarily a Sitar player, guitar, bass etc... And the Organelle M (with the speaker of course) fits into the same niche as an acoustic instrument while still being a capable synth. It looks like the 201 is another great tool that fits into the same if not simpler niche.
Don't let the aesthetics fool you, in the right hands these are real instruments that are toy like in appearance only. I take my Organelle camping, bike touring, play gigs with it and chilling on the couch. As fun or as serious as you make it.
Happy Hanukkah, Ziv. I bid you peace during these times. Thanks for the great content you put out all year long.
201 Pocket Piano - $375.00
Arturia MicroFreak Hybrid Synthesizer $ 349 .00 + FREE Shipping
Yeah, the MicroFreak is my goto "Pick up and play" synth both in terms of needing an instrument to play/compose/improvise/work out ideas on, and in terms of when I feel like playing with sound design. I feel like the MF can be as deep as shallow as you need it to be and is just the perfect thing to have laying within arm's reach while also sounding like a monster.
They are insanely different instruments. I have both and like both equally for totally different reasons.
@@cougarman8 you already have a 201 pocket piano?
@@cresshead yes, they’ve been out for a while now
Difference to me: the 201 is a gadget - the MicroFreak an instrument -.-- My opinion anyway
I still have my original Pocket Piano Midi, I was super excited to see Critter and Guitari come back with this one! I missed the kickstarter by a day, but this is next on my wish list. Just a fun little device!
I love the simplicity of the aesthetics and the potential of creating an 8bit like soundscape. The usb C is a great step forward as I hope every manufacturer will follow suit from here on in. Great demo Loopop, thank you!
All the best to you , many thanks for all your content over the last year..Jim
My pleasure - have a great 2024!
I liked mine so much I bought a second one, just to have more sounds on hand (I wish they would allow more than 6 sounds at a time). Turns out that linking them with midi opens up amazing possibilities when arps and sequences are running. This device may look simple but it’s not. I don’t think people who haven’t played one should be posting criticisms. It’s a wonderful little thing!
I did the same. I have one with the arp after seq, and the other with seq after arp.
Great outro in this one!
Merry Xmas Loop, all the best for you and your family.
And to you and yours!
Price is reasonable for something assembled in Brooklyn. If I had no other synths this would have been a nice first synth.
Happy holidays loopop! It's been another fantastic year of watching your videos and being inspired 😊
Out of curiosity, have you looked into the Zynthian before?
Thanks very much! I'm curious about it but have not taken an in depth look yet
@@loopop Thank you for the reply!
I don't have one (yet) because I'm hoping they adapt it to the new Pi 5 in the V6, but I thought it worth asking under this video as a similar open source type device.
Keep being amazing mate, and again happy holidays!
Merry Xmas, Ziv!!
Likewise and happy holidays!
Wow that outro track sounds like a Jerry Goldsmith sci-fi movie we never got to see!
rad. sick intro too !
Great demo 👌🔥🤘Love the tactile hands on what you see is what you get approach instead of menu diving on too tiny screens. Might get one since I love the knobs on my Septavox. Wish they would have made a version without the speaker with a headphone socket instead. Those speakers are never great. Other than that it looks like a great little gem 😍
Order a Pink edition yesterday after viewing this. Seems good versatile and fun company. Have to try 🥳
Happy Christmas! :)
And to you too!
@loopop could you post your delay line modded patch to patchstorage? Also I have to say that you didn’t cover what I find the most unique feature, which is what happens when you play the drum/sample synths with the arpeggiators that do octave or tuning jumps. It makes such cool and unique drum patterns, because of the way the sounds are laid out across octaves outside the range of the wooden buttons. Really inspiring
Couldn’t agree more about the drums. Very unique and playable! Linking two of them…do you play them linked using one of their keyboards? Or play them together using an external MIDI controller? I’m intrigued!!
@@cougarman8 Just using them together, experimenting with which direction the midi flows. For example imagine having a drum groove in the sequencer, midi sent out to the other unit with a synthesizer, and varying the pattern modes. It’s going to take the original sequence and twist it around in all sorts of ways. Actually you can do that just internally with one, but linking two is more than just running two in parallel. I also have one of them with the alternate Mother loaded, which makes them more different too. Of course it’s not the best value for your dollars, but I find it really creative and expressive, so to each their own!
Hey - regarding the drum + arps: I agree 100%, that's what I play in the intro :)
Regarding sharing the delay line modded patch - honestly I'm not too proud of it, I hijack knob 2 and it still does what it originally does in parallel, there's no feedback protection, and the patch drives the main feed to much and drowns out the dry signal if you crank it up to much. I don't want to get sued for blowing out peoples' speakers with feedback... it was just a little experiment for fun. Anyway, not something I want to be known for on patchstorage ;) if you want to copy it all you need to do is add the five objects I point to in the video. If it's too much trouble just email me at the email in the description of this video and I'll mail it back to you
@@loopop cool! I’ve noticed that some of the new user patches are starting to have shift functions on the knobs, so that’s a way of adding extra features without using up the limited control options. The thing I dislike most about the whole device is how the Shift button breaks so many ongoing events. If you’re holding a chord down, you can’t start the arpeggiator by pressing Shift Pattern, because it stops the chord from playing. And you can’t switch from pattern to pattern without re-playing your notes, so you can’t do that while keeping time in a performance. If C&G could find a workaround for this, and also load more sounds and patterns, this thing would be really amazing.
Wow! Nice job. I sense you have a programming background.😊 Would you happen to know where this guys are out of? Is it Canada?
To jest dobre 😀👌
It's so cute 🥺
This is way cheaper than I expected at the start of the video, but my smooth brain can barely handle the clear labels and screen of my Microfreak. I might have to drop down to something simpler like the Volcas
Yes
C&G are niche developers. While I do understand why this can be appealing solution for many, I personally cannot be bothered with Pure Data and steep learning curve. Especially while dabbling with modular, I realized how much time I spend learning to get the most out of the module/synth/unit, instead of actually making music. I think that regardless of the user level of knowledge and experience with synths in general, people are striving towards simpler, plug and play kinda instruments more and more.
we need a review of virus synths pleaseee
I hope someone can make some sort of open source hack for the novation circuit/circuit tracks to do all this
Are there any patch packs you'd recommend that are as rich as these ? Ever since I got some analogue gear, my circuit sounds so thin... Makes me want a monostation cos I love the workflow
@@dyscotopia I make my own basses and then fill in with the retrofuturism packs. I find that for my style of music which is more hiphop and baltimore club, i can surprisingly get a lot out of the sound engine whem i make my own stuff. I also run my sounds through the sp 404 effects when tracking out
$375.00 No miniature Oled screen (in 2023/24).
For that price and in a miniature form factor the choices are endless. I just got the Pro VS Mini, JT-4000 and the Volca FM2 all with built in Oleds for a combined price which is less than the Pocket Piano.
While this but of gear isn't up my alley, not having a screen is a design and UI choice. Not everything needs a screen. People tend to interact differently with gear that has no screen. Imo on a well designed instrument, not having a screen encourages exploration.
One of my favorite pieces of gear is the circuit tracks. It's the brain for my entire setup. I love it because it's so immediate and you're not sitting there looking at a tiny screen. Compared to some like the mc101, where you spend 90% of your time staring at that tiny awful 90s looking screen
I have all those instruments and like the pocket piano more, it’s a very unique piece of gear. The fm2 is also amazing.
NTS-1. It let's you code your own everything with the LogueSDK
NTS-1 is fun, but more limited in terms of available memory for a synth/samples and harder to code (not that pure data is easy...)
The price is not that bad, it is quite powerful under the hood and open to comminity add-ons and PD patches, and it’s not assembled in China.
I wonder if the reaction would have been different if they called it the Organelle MK3
at 10:10 you mention "unofficially" using a TRS breakout or insert adaptor for input use in the output jack.. I'm curious why you say that or where your intel comes from ::)) From C&G a few months ago in response to a forum question about the possibility of a future stereo firmware update for the 201, "No - there is only one channel wired to the output jack."
While that doesn't specifically contradict the idea of what you say in the video, it seems very doubtful.
I plugged a 1/4 TRS to 1/8 adapter and noticed that it didn't turn off the speaker, which made me suspicious that something was going on (in a good way...) so I asked C&G and they confirmed the input, but they had no official patch to release at the time of the making of the video. I tried a test patch and breakout cable and there's definitely an ADC there passing audio into the 201, but levels weren't right and I didn't have time to explore it further
thanks for the background - that's some exciting future functionality!@@loopop
Would love to know what powers this and other instruments. Is it a generic microcontroller or Pi and some good programming, or are there some genuine good quality sound circuits? I love this kind of music making but wonder if I am just buying the same electronics packaged into a different box.
It's an ARM chip - the exact model is on their site
Wish they'd designed it so the 201 patches could be loaded onto the organelle.
🖖
What’s the ticket?
In the video is said that the system is open source. So am I able to build my own 201 kind of hardware with the right CPU and electronic parts?
Yes. But it's not open hardware. You should, however, be able to suss it out by looking at the sources!
Does anyone know the name of the looper(?) Used in the intro?
5 Moons, also by C&G - see outro
🍉❤️🍉❤️🍉❤️🍉
But how do ya feel about 5 moons 🌒?
I like it! It's not a regular looper for sure, but perfect for phasing textures like in the outro
@@loopop mini review of 5 moonz pretty plse?? Happy new year :)
i still want it but man if it could quantize and have infinite loops that would be sick! @@loopop
Could be an app
Could be a comment on any hardware synth
@@loopop I made the comment about this hardware synth.
It's about time loop Pacman for you to get Chris and get Tori stuff man I didn't think you was going to ever get that I take your reviews to ❤️ so I didn't think that Chris and get Tori was a good enough company because you had never reviewed it
Do you not understand the important role that punctuation plays in the English language?
you really should advise that you keep the gear you review - it does suggest good reviews are given to favourite manufacturers
yes I keep the gear most of the time. I'd like to think that I don't give good or bad reviews, but rather say what an instrument does on its own and how it compares to competitors so you can judge if it's good for you or not. You'll be the judge over time if you come back
You obviously have very large pockets x
whats with the hyroglyphs getting onto all of these portables these days...and for that price no thanks
Not really interested in this, seems kind of expensive for what you get.
i wouldn't go as far as to call this a useless nic nac but i sure can think of better ways to spend 375 bucks on instruments.
Not knocking your content which is seriously good but it would feel a whole lot better if you used the word 'gift' in your disclosures. Saying that they sent it over and no money exchanged hands seems to be a very long way of avoiding saying it was a gift.
Thanks for the kind words about my videos, and always open to feedback/criticism too. It's pretty clear you understand what's going on regardless, and that's what's important to me. I actually hadn't considered using the word gift so far, but now that I have I think it's still not appropriate because I did tell them I'd make a video. Saying it was just a gift would not be true.
@@loopop Instead of gift, would a mutual back-scratch be suitable? The influencer and developer need each other obviously and whilst I have no doubt the manufacturer does not directly influence the review, they have indirect control because, again obviously, if the influencer slams a product, the relationship ends. This puts a limit on how far criticism can go. Some gear influencers out there are nothing more than paid adverts dressed up as some cool guy gushing over a product he has just "discovered" (aka received in the post). In your case, I feel that criticism doesn't apply because you produce a balance of good and bad points with good insight. And it is because of your balance and content quality that I feel you can be fully open about whatever arrangements you have because it wont hurt your relationship and trust with your viewers - it might even enhance it by being so open. And the last point is the thought behind my initial posting - why obfuscate something when you've earned the right and reputation not to need to.
@@heimlichvonbladderburst8348 thanks again for the kind words. I don't feel I'm obfuscating anything, it's very clear to anyone watching that I got the synth from the company as I say so explicitly. Mutual scratchback isn't appropriate IMHO because I'm not scratching the company's back, my top priority is my viewers and I would feel horrible if I mislead them in any way just to scratch a company's back.
@@loopop I'm not really sure if there is anything more I can add as it is difficult to find the best words in this format of discussion. I hope my overall point was understood and that also it was understood that it was not a jab but a suggestion. Whether I had a valid point or not is for each person to decide but the end game I was visualising is one I will still hope for because I think it could put the pressure on the shill reviewers (not yourself) to improve their content because their shilling would become more obvious. And those will be my last words on this.
I have to say I'm not that impressed and, once I saw the price they were asking, I became less impressed.
It's been a sought after classic for years already
I have their first one which does far less and is still worth it!
Maybe your abilltys don‘t pay you one?
Ok boomer
I don't think you truly understand it, but that's ok since this is one generalized feature-set demo. It's also a boutique & very niche piece of kit, so it obviously isn't going to cost exactly & only the sum of its physical components.
And no, I don't own one just see the potential - although I do realize most are not enticed by open-source firmwares and custom programming/mods, so that may mean nothing to you.
Loop pop sorry about that your name Google text you that's how some of my words came out bad I text babe sorry about that loop pop😮
So, to be clear … C&G sent you a free Pocket Piano, on the understanding that you would do a review on it, and you get to keep it.
Why is the wording if these “disclosures” always so ambiguous (I mean, everyone’s tend to be) … ?! 🙄
That’s exactly what I said, and it seems like you got it right, so I don’t see how the wording is ambiguous
I can't tolerate watching your videos, because it's loaded with those annoying cultists.
which cultists?! BTW please let me know who's forcing you to watch my videos I'll have them reported to the police immediately
Whats the wooden box next to the Ghost pedal above the Pocket Piano?
5 Moons also by C&G - more about it in the outro