Artiphon Avis 265

App doesn't work with older devices listed as supposed

I love my Orba 2. I have enjoyed making music in ways I never would have imagined. It is like all the tones in my head are in this thing. My friends are amazed at the abilities of this magical instrument. With all the touch sensitivity, gestures and swiping, this team of developers have truly created a special musical device.

Build quality seems nice. Software can be finicky, and not allowing USB connection to iOS at this stage is real poor form. Being forced to connect to a laptop kind of limits the portability.

I cannot figure out how to get my input not to slave to the set BPM, so I'll tap out a beat, but it is always different in playback.

I love the Orba. Your customer service is decent-ish but unable to help me with all the bugs I’ve had with the device. Many more bugs than expected and the app crashes every time I use it!

Love it , Truly a Work of ART

I had a project in November ’22 that I thought would be perfect to try out the Artiphon Instrument 1. Unfortunately, due to supply chain issues there were none in stock in Europe so I bought on Ebay, from a 100% seller. It worked fine, but I noticed over the month of the project that the battery charge was reducing, and 2 months later, it will only function when connected to the mains. For an instrument designed to be worn (at times) this is annoying. I searched the Artiphon forums and found several comments about failing batteries and even a reference to Artiphon having had a battery replacement program some years back. It appears the battery was a known issue.

Having purchased through Ebay, I knew I had no warranty, so I was prepared to take full responsibility for purchasing a replacement battery myself, but I needed to know the battery type, and the procedure for changing it - at my own risk, of course. I contacted Artiphon and exchanged a few emails with Britt. It concluded, “Unfortunately, that's as far as I can go for this instance. I don't have access to any other spec info.”. I was disappointed. How can a company not have access to its own spec info? The result of this is that I, and others in my circle, are unlikely to risk buying other Artiphon products. Interestingly, at the same time, I had a similar exchange with Nektar - who also sell music tech products. The response could not have been more helpful. Beyond the call of duty.

This really made me aware that - in the social media age - an advertising and marketing budget is seriously compromised unless the customer service is 100%. It is the customer service response that “gets around”. If a company has created a good product, why would it not do everything in its power to support someone who is using it and therefore promoting it - regardless of it being first, second or third hand?!

UPDATE!

Unfortunately, following my review, Artiphon got in touch and made the situation even worse. Their Community Manager emailed to say, "I'd love to offer you something for your troubles. Are you based in the US? If so, I'd love to send you an Orba 2 for free... Please let me know if you'd be interested in this, and I'll get one over to you immediately." A generous offer on the surface, but I am NOT based in the US - as they could have learnt by simply looking at my original complaint to them, which had my full address.
After ten days, I prompted him for a reply and he said sorry they couldn't send the Orba after all. I was offered an item of Artiphon promotional clothing - which is hardly appropriate when Artiphon is clearly NOT a company I want to promote!
Deeply disappointed, and all my original thoughts about their customer service confirmed.

Would have been better for younger kids and some with limited teaing making music. My 18 and 16 year olds were way above this. Would think maybe 12 and under depending on their training.

I was having trouble updating until I saw the latest app and firmware releases. Now it’s working great! Good support.

Let me start by saying I love making music with this little device. It’s exactly what I’ve always been looking for to travel with. I even bought a special USB adapter for my phone to support it. The new stem song presets are super cool and I can’t wait to see more of them.

The software has some debilitating bugs that make it impossible to work on or share my song from one device to another without crashing the app. Basically it’s all on my home computer or it’s all on my phone.

But the main reason I’m leaving this comment is that I would like to see better investment and transparency into the customer community around the product development. Maybe a moderated customer community forum from the support team?
This could also be a great way to promote all of the new samples and stem songs plus get valuable customer feedback.

This gift was SO appreciated!!! My son was able to play sounds making music right away. I was impressed by the quality of the sound. More is for sure to be discovered in the near future. Wonderful gift to give. A1

The device will not power up,worked great for an hour,but after i shut it down,it refused to power back up.

I did not buy this for myself , My husband wanted it and he hasn't stopped playing with it yet. He has not downloaded the app yet because he is not that good technically but eventually he will get there maybe.

i love it,. so cool, and better than the first version,. (which is still a great piece of engineering) thanks you will love the creativity and in the moment inspiration., #sa8die

The Orba 2 is absolute freedom for the creative looking for a musical outlet. I’m a musically untrained adult with a good ear. I have no other e-music equipment or programs. The Orba 2 is intuitive to play and there is a great range of presets on the app to play on the Orba, record, playback and switch out with other presets and then save your song to share and playback.

This is just the beginning… Artiphon has lots more for me to explore and grow.

Great product arrived on time

Thank you for handling the issue so well! I received the resent unit...and I love it!! My boys love it and are jamming already. I am so thrilled with the product and your service I will order several more units for some of the musicians on our team at work for Christmas presents.

OLD Review -
you sent it to the wrong address after I asked you to correct within one minute of ordering, I can't get it as it is in a different city. You basically stole my cash and gave nothing in return.

The adds live up to expectations. My son hasn’t put it down since he got it for his birthday.

Took a while but the wait was worth it, exceptional product and will be loads of fun looking ahead

I am having major issues with your desktop app (windows). It makes me not use the device because I can't update it or use the desktop app to alter and add sounds etc. I like the device, but the functionality is hindered by the app issue

I was shipped a defective unit. Now in the long wait period again to get a hopeful good unit