I’ve preordered a Dirtywave M8 which seems like an awesome piece of gear and it’s got me really excited at the prospect of using interesting dedicated hardware machines that I can take to the park or mess with on the sofa.
The obvious ones I’ve come across so far are:
- Korg Volca range
- Roland mini synths and aira compact ranges
- Teenage Engineering OP and POs
But these all seem a little uninteresting to me and just rehashed tiny versions of older gear and/or aimed at lo-fi producers.
Some less obvious ones that have my attention are:
- Monome Norns
- 1010music lemondrop, fireball & razzmatazz (not battery powered but easily powered by a USB powerbank)
- Bastl microgranny and kastl
- Korg NTS-1
- Korg Monotrons
- Audiothingies Micromonsta 2 (again not battery powered but can be via powerbank)
Are there any you know of that fit the bill?
Modal Skulpt is my go to mobile synth. Battery powered and comes from the factory with a lid to protect it. I’ve beaten the crap out of mine over the last few years and it never misses a beat. Even took it to 12,000 ft on a backpacking trip.
It’s the only piece of gear I own that I don’t worry about how I handle it. I’ll jump in the front seat of the car and toss it in the back seat over my shoulder. It was designed to be mobile rather than just a synth that’s small enough to be mobile.
I love that you put into words the difference between designed to be mobile, vs just small!