On Sleeper (El Dormilón), the humans of the future dreamed of by Woody Allen made love in machines, had robotic slaves and enjoyed a kind of lysergic ball that they rubbed passionately. The Nashville company Artiphon has also come up with a particular electronic ball, but this one for musical purposes. It is also an addictive ball. It is sweeping the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform.
The creature, named Orba, is about the size of a grapefruit and on a mission to create music wherever we go just by touching it. To do this, it has eight touch-sensitive pads illuminated by Leds that respond to the user’s gestures and transform them into music and sound through its small integrated speaker.
In this way, Orba can be hit or shaken to emulate a drum kit, slide the fingers as if it were a harp or pinch its sensors as if we were playing a cello or an electric bass in a kind of virtual pizzicato. And it is that this magic ball can be tilted, caressed, scratched or pressed at will while creating musical loops and song fragments. With it, music acquires more than ever a tactile dimension where melodies arise from gestures and handling.
A charm for musicians and a welcome toy for laymen, who can now write songs by tickling this portable device. Of course, Orba is born with the desire to expand its melodies beyond its small plastic shell and automatically syncs with the smartphone via Bluetooth MIDI to communicate with the main music software platforms, such as Ableton Live, Logic or Pro Tools. Digital music palpable and manipulable in a small almighty ball.