Superbooth 25: In recent years, LA-based instrument brand 1010music has made a name for itself with its Nanobox range – an assortment of ultra-compact digital instruments that includes the Razzamatazz drum machine, Lemondrop granular synth and Tangerine sampler.
Its latest release, Bento, is something altogether more substantial. Described as a “flagship music production lab” Bento is a self-contained sampling instrument that aims to replace your DAW and become the focal point of your music making setup.
“Bento is everything our users have been asking for in a flagship sampler – more power, more control, and more performance tools, all in a portable package,” says 1010music founder Aaron Higgins. “It’s designed to replace your laptop and become the brain of your setup.”
The device itself is focused around a 7-inch colour touchscreen, which comes accompanied by 16 velocity and pressure sensitive pads and eight endless rotary controllers.
Bento can create fully-fledged compositions using a scene-based workflow, capable of real time recording, step sequencing, piano roll input and equipped probability tools. It can sequence eight tracks, each with four sequences, allowing users to build full sequences or launch clips for DAWless jam sessions.
Bento offers a range of sample playback modes, capable of hosting chromatic multi-sampled instruments, pad-based drums, one-shots and loops. It also features beat slicing and granular capabilities inherited from 1010’s Lemondrop.
The instrument is also designed to play nicely with your other bits of studio hardware. There are three stereo inputs, three stereo outputs, dual TRS MIDI I/O and USB-C host/device ports. The instrument has an effects engine with per-track delay, reverb, chorus, flanger, and phaser with automation, as well as an internal mixer that allows the user to process external sounds.
Bento will ship with 5GB+ of sample content, including multi-sampled synths and instruments created by Samples from Mars, Soundtrack Loops and Drew Neumann. It also offers Internal 24-bit resampling and sample streaming from its microSD.
Bento is completely standalone thanks to its onboard battery, which 1010 tells us offers 3 hours of wireless use.
Bento is available to order now priced at $899. Head to the 1010music website for more.
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