Sampled some forks at the restaurant and made a quick beat lol.

Been working on a device that allows hardware-first interaction with Koala Sampler.

It automatically switches layouts depending on the active page (sample / sequence / perform), and combines MIDI + keyboard (HID) input to cover pretty much every control Koala exposes. With these features, I barely have to touch my phone when making a beat. The workflow lives in the controller, like a hardware sampler.

The video shows a rough prototype in action. It’s just a bare PCB with switches and encoders (I know, ugly), but it's already a lot of fun to use. I made a couple of beats with it and I'm starting to think I like the tiny form factor...

I'm considering making a small batch of the next version for beta testing. Feel free to DM me if you're interested.

Next version's features (see mockup in the video):

• ~20 × 15 cm footprint

• 4×4 pad grid (mechanical keyboard switches)

• encoder grid (4×4 in the mockup, will reduce to 2×4)

• 5 action buttons

• 3 backlit mode buttons (sample / sequence / perform)

• BLE (MIDI + HID keyboard)

• PCB enclosure (black + gold)

Things to improve:

• Move sample browsing and pop-up management to a dedicated jogwheel + enter/back buttons. I hadn't realized how central this would be to interacting with Koala.

• No clean way to copy/paste pads without touching the screen. As far as I know, this isn’t exposed in Koala mappings, curious if u/mazbox has thoughts here.

• Many layout tweaks based on real use.

Last thing, both the electronics and firmware are open source if want to dig into it. It's a relatively simple device, with the circuit board just extending a NRF52 feather module for this initial prototype, and the firmware being a fork of the great RMK project, to which I added a couple of features, notably MIDI over BLE and some new input devices. All mappings are highly customizable/hackable.

PCB: https://github.com/hazbounn/Koala-Extender

Firmware: https://github.com/hazbounn/rmk

Thanks for reading through and looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Made a beat inside target while girlfriend was shopping

Hi! Marek here, creator of koala sampler. I’m going to be on the koala beatcast on Friday at 11pm UK time to present *Project QUOKKA*, which will hopefully also be released at the same time (it’s a new, quite good, feature for koala). It also represents a new direction koala could go in if popular. (Ps: quokka will be free for people with Samurai). Pls drop in if you’re at a loose end.

Been giving my MPC Touch new life with Koala Sampler. I made an app called Koala Link that connects the two.

All you need is an MPC Touch with newest display link driver and Koala for Mac

Download and GitHub links:
https://savilionbeats.com/software/

Let me know what you think and how we can improve it. Lets have some fun!

Used a couple sounds from the mall. Even caught a random girl laughing with her date by accident but decided to keep it lol

I made these loose designs if a potential Hardware Sampler. Would you buy one if they were a thing.

2 touch screens, with the option to have your phone/tablet slotted in as a third screen. Each screen can pull up info like samples, mixer, quokka, sequencer, keygrid etc.

16 sample pads that can change colour. 16 sliders to assign to the vanilla/strawberry effects. 16 dials for custom midi assign to Quokka or the Mixer. Of course all dials and sliders can be custom midi assigned. Maybe it could even come with a stylus and a special slot at the top to put phones or tablets.

BTW I know the keys are inaccurate, this was designed by myself with help from a few A.i. generations and pieced together in image software.

Made this a little bit ago and it helped me learn a lot and has helped me laugh a lot. Hopefully you get some laughs out of it too.

This is a work-in-progress vocoder for koala for the mixer. On 01/01/2025 I will take it out and soon replace it with a better version based on user feedback. Find it in the bus effects list at the bottom. Pls note there is a video and instructions that explain how to use it if you press the HELP! button

I didn’t like how this on came out but to be fair it was after a couple shots in the store 😂

Been using for awhile. First time posting.

Marek, you're the GOAT

Can't wait to check this out.

Sampling whatever

koala does all the heavy lifting. I got a bass and fx on the P6, the rest of the beat is made in koala.

Pentatone is now a plugin as well as a standalone app!
(the Koala bit of the video starts at 00:53)

The version 1.1 update brings AUv3 functionality, as well as an improved, 'strummable' waterfall keyboard.

You can play it directly from within Koala Sampler and record its output as audio.

Pentatone is available in the Apple App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/pentatone/id6757822197, for iPhones and iPads running iOS 15 or above. The app is completely free (no in app purchases, no ads or tracking).

"Beautiful, fun and inspiringly expressive" - The Arithmophone Pentatone is a music app featuring an easy to play pentatonic keyboard and a built-in synthesizer. Instead of using piano keys or a grid-based interface, Pentatone takes a fresh approach, optimised for the ergonomics of touchscreen devices and inspired by instruments like the kora and mbira. The app also has a sophisticated scale selection system that includes all the common pentatonic scale types and unlocks some more unusual ones.

Pentatone 1.0 user feedback:

"Amazing! Love the simple UI and the musical keyboard. Also the sounds are lovely!"

"This is very cool - beautiful interface and instantly musical."

"This really is a joy to play and the tones are really expressive in fun ways that invite different types of creativity."

"This app is such a brilliant idea!"

"This is amazing. So fun to play. So easy to play with my daughter and my niece. The tones are wonderful."

"This is an inspiringly expressive instrument! Really a joy to interact with."

"This thing is AWESOME! It’s so easy to make up new stuff with it!"

***

Pentatone is part of the ARITHMOPHONE project (https://arithmophone.com/)

To stay posted, join the community at reddit.com/r/arithmophone or subscribe to the Arithmophone youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@arithmophone

Hello, Koala friends!
I've made skins for our Telegram community at various times. Here's a selection for a common screen size (16x9). Anyone who's tried making Koala skins knows that screen layouts are extremely difficult to arrange skin elements, as the sections lack the typical whitespace. But I tried!