This topic will host an irregular newsletter that can be subscribed for from the website. Latest news about product progress, availability, events, etc. should be found here.
Welcome to riban modular newsletter #1.
We had a great time at Synthfest UK 2023 where we met lots of lovely, interested and interesting people. We demonstrated the prototype modular which was very well received.
Many people were impressed with the concept, finding the patching (routing) intuitive and innovative. Patching is achieved by pressing and releasing an output (source) button then pressing and releasing an input (destination) button. (This can also be done in the opposite order, i.e. destination then source.) Disconnecting patches is done the same way.
The promise of lower cost than traditional modular systems was attractive both to novices and existing modular enthusiasts which was a surprise. We had anticipated owners of analogue CV/gate systems to be disinterested but apparently there may be room in their life for both.
Having a self contained, portable system with instant recall of patches was popular. People saw the benefit in replacing their VCV Rack / Cardinal with a hardware device for live performance.
The physical control was also popular. People just got it! There were some who liked the idea of a hardware remote for VCV Rack / Cardinal but this is not currently planned and would require buy-in from those projects.
Communication
We have set up some ways to communicate our ideas and build and engage with the community.
- A website acts as the anchor for describing the product and project. You can find the website at: https://riban.square.site
- A Discourse forum is available to get involved, finding out latest news and information and discussing the project. You can find the forum at: https://riban.discourse.group
- An irregular newsletter (which you are reading the first issue) providing the latest news. You can be subscribe to be emailed the newsletter at the website and see all previous newsletters at the forum
Next Steps
We plan to run a crowdfunding campaign to gauge interest and raise funds for further development. The outcome of this will influence the future of riban modular so please consider getting involved. We will let you know more about it soon.
There are some software and hardware issues yet to resolve. We will be working hard on these to move the prototype forward. There may be an opportunity for some beta testers to get involved with hands-on testing.
When we feel confident that the product is ready for wider testing we will open the source code and hardware design to the community. We are avoiding the burden of community questions at this stage to allow us to focus on core development.
We need a short rest after the hard work preparing for Synthfest but will be back in the lab in the next few days.