Kickstart Orbish

Orbish Manual

Although Orbish is quite easy to handle some of the functionalities need some further explanation.

What’s Orbish

Orbish is a looping software that comes as a plugin for digital audio workstations (DAW) like Ableton Live, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, etc. Future versions will be in standalone for PC and mobile.

Functionalities

Record audio in sync with the beat or measure of the host application. Once recording ends Orbish loops the recorded audio. Each subsequent recording results in a new layer of audio on top of the first one.

Orbish3D

The recordings are organized in 3 dimensions:

Loops: Is the container of a recording that has a certain length and is repeatedly played. Loops within a track are played consecutively instead of at the same time. This allows for switching song parts.
Tracks: A track is a container for one or more loops. Tracks can be played simultaneously but sync and parameters are controlled separately.
Layers: Are stacked on the same loop. Are always in absolute sync and have the same parameters (volume, etc.) Layers can be dynamically added (activated) and removed from the track.

Summary of Controls

Transport control per track

Start/Stop recording on the active track
Play/Pause the recorded material on the active track or group
Stop playing on the active track or group
Clear the active track
Mute the active track or group
Play exclusively the active track or group
Listen to input audio when this track is active
Reverse the audio on the active track
Undo latest overdub recording
Redo latest overdub recording
Flatten all overdub layers to one
Start recording when input signal exceeds the predefined threshold

Global transport control

Select the recording mode (Overdub, Punch in, etc)
Select the sync mode (to beat, bar, …)
Mute all tracks
Pause all tracks
Clear all tracks
Stop playing on all tracks
Start playing on all tracks
Toggles between horizontal and vertical layout of the tracks
Remove the active track from the selected group
Add the active track to the selected group

Track & Loop Control

Go to previous loop on active track or group
Go to next loop on active track or group
Create new loop on active track
Remove latest loop from active track
Go to previous track
Go to next track
Create new track
Remove latest track

Track region

Shows the progress of the loop
Shows the level of input signal
Adjust the level of the input signal for the active track
Adjust the level of the output signal for the active track
Adjust the level of the general output signal
Shows the level of output signal

Info region

Current time signature
Current tempo (beats per minute)
Shows the progress of the loop in bars/beats/subdivision
Select a group, then add or remove tracks. All tracks in the same group will act simultaneously for certain commands
Witness lamp – shows if track is currently recording (red), playing (green), muted (blue) or soloing (orange)