Is the Woovebox the Ultimate Budget Groovebox? 

Thank you @FreeBeat for this thorough and honest review, but also for the encouragement and sanity-checking the final product. As a solo dev, no matter how passionate you are, the human interaction factor is real, and doubt can set in for no reason at all. Having someone knowledgeable in the space telling you that you are on the right track, can make all the difference. Thank you!

If the dev is watching, wow! Im sold. Take my money. Massive fan of small devs who do big things at a price point that we all can have fun. Bigger companies need to pay attention.

Just ordered one. Was thinking about the Polyend Tracker Mini just to have something I can use when sitting in the living room, but this is 1/3 the price and appears to do more. You can see the love and genius that has gone into it. Can't wait to get it. Thanks for the video and thanks for the WooveBox.

It seems that this man is creating on his own the evolution of the pocket operators that Teenage Engineering should have made instead of just focusing on creating luxury gadgets for the wealthy or lager beer. Congratulations! This device is already on my list of upcoming purchases.

Thank you @freebeat for making this comprehensive first look video for the Woovebox. What a fantastic overview! And thank you @woovebox for making such an approachable, small groovebox device that can do so much. I've ordered one and I look forward to all it has to offer. I've listened to all the demo songs on your website and they sound incredible! Thanks for all your hard work and effort. I wish you much success!

Alright, so my Woovebox came in today and I can speak on a couple points. Much like Free Beat said, despite how the UI looks initially, it is a rather streamlined workflow. On most pages, if the button is lit up, that means there's a function there you can interact with, so the bulk of the common features you will use are a button away on whatever page you're on. Paired with the fact that the pages are (mostly) consistent between tracks, you build muscle memory pretty quickly. The workflow is surprisingly fast. Probably the most convoluted page is the chord page, but a quick skim of the chord page in the manual got me squared away. I've seen multiple people say you have to use the web interface to navigate around it. No, you don't. The only things that I can think of that you absolutely need it for is specifically for data transfer. Sending samples to it from your computer, exporting song stems, stuff like that. I'll try testing saving a cached copy of the page to see if you can run it completely offline to remove the reliance on internet. @Woovebox - might be beneficial to create native apps to help there. The buttons are pretty much what you would expect. I'm personally not a fan, but they don't get in the way and I can work with them. If you've worked with a Pocket Operator, you'll know if it's a deal breaker for you or not. The sound engine is awesome. Much like all the other features, typically a parameter is one button away. The big thing here is because there are multiple parts of the synth engines, you will generally have multiple pages, but these make sense. One page == one piece of the synth engine, and much like I said about pages between tracks before, they're all consistent across tracks. One workflow, easy muscle memory. The screen is very visible, but the segmented display can be a little difficult to parse at times. Not too often, but sometimes I have to look up what it's saying to understand it. I imagine with use this will become second nature. And some people are scoffing at the price vs the size, vs the materials, etc. Here's my $0.02 on the matter. You can buy one Pocket Operator, and it will get you maybe two tracks of audio (arguable depending on how you want to label a drum kit), generally with limited sound editing capabilities. Each track on this is SUBSTANTIALLY more capable than a track on a Pocket Operator, and there are 16. To get a setup that would be even remotely comparable in terms of Pocket Operators, you would need 8 if you are going solely by track count. One Pocket Operator is ~$100, so that comparable setup is ~$800, plus in a much more cumbersome package. Even comparing this to the OP-Z, which has 8 audio tracks and an overall even more esoteric workflow would still put this at a much greater value overall. The OP-Z does net you some benefits, such as longer overall patterns and some interesting synth engines, but overall I would say this still offers more bang for your buck by a long shot. I can't really compare to the other piece of gear being mentioned most often, that being the Nunomo Qun MK2, as I am not particularly familiar with it. Seems like it could be pretty sweet, but I don't even think the two are even competing with each other. Based off what I see though, the Woovebox seems to be much more effective as a 100% standalone (as in no other gear needed) groovebox, while the Qun seems to be more geared as a multitimbral synth with basic sequencer capabilities. Again - admittedly I had never heard of it until I had googled it like 10 minutes ago, so I very well could be wrong. That said, if we could get proper TRS MIDI out from the Woovebox, I would LOVE to see them used together. Anyway, all that to say I am very much enjoying mine and I'd love to see others play with it too. This seems like an excellent entry point into making music on a budget, or even just to be able to make music while out and about. When inspiration strikes, the best tool to use is the one you have with you already.

reminds me of a photoshop I made shrinking the deluge to a 4x4 grid with 1 knob and the display, very nice groovebox

Totally blown away by the features, ultimate kudos to the Dev, and yes, ordered within hours yesterday on this review upload. I have a feeling this could be rather popular on many levels.. 🙂

I'm blown away by this. I want it.

Reminds me a lot of the qun mk2. Which packs a lot of power into a tiny box at a cheap price from a solo friendly attentive Dev who knocks out firmware updates at a rapid pace. Features are eerily similar too. The polyphony and synth engine seem like a big step up from the qun's already impressive abilities... The i/o seems considerably more limited on this guy. Not sure how some of those features would work. Apart from its groovebox like features it can be used as a midi synced looper and granular effect for external signals. I highly encourage supporting both passionate Devs..Would love to see a head to head.

Be sure to check out the Woovebox website! www.woovebox.com/

Just incredible! Congratulations @woovebox for this miraculous machine that will most likely have the success it deserves. And thanks to @FreeBeat for the discovery and pretty solid covering of the features.

This is an absolute powerhouse! I would love to get my hands on one and see how far I can push it!! I love that it’s similar to the PO and OP-Z workflow!

At the start of this video video, I was like why would I buy this you can spend 50 more bucks and get a KO-2. by the end, I decided this is going to be my next purchase and I’m upset that I recently bought the KO -2

Although it may superficially resemble a TE product, the Woovebox can easily be set apart, by noting that the MSRP is below $3000.

That’s a pretty cool groovebox, er, woovebox. :). I’m not a big groovebox sort of musician (I tend to do ambient) but this thing has features I wish more devices had, like the chord follow. The Roland JD-Xi has something similar where the sequences can transpose to chords played on the keyboard, handy when I only have 2 hands and can’t play all the parts at once. I guess if I had a wish list for things to add to the Woovebox, it would be (1) a better display, like a OLED, (2) a small speaker, (3) a mic for sampling. This thing would make a great portable field sampler if it had a mic.

Super cool product

Shouldn't it have some (wired) midi-in possibility thoug?

The feeling you described wirh your first PO33, i had with the Korg Kaossilator 2. It was my first electronic music device and although it hadn't that much features, i never feeled this overwhelming joy again with any device afterwards.❤

After watching this I was sold! Placed my order minutes after watching this. Much Thanks!

I did not want to know about this device! Great channel. Keep it up!

Dude, I think this is the sketchpad I was looking for. Synths, samples, songs AND stem export 🎉

After watching your videos I had to order one. Put my name on list and got the email to order one 4 days later. Excited to get it. Thank you for the videos.

This is close enough to what I was looking for

I love these sort of passion projects. I'm in! Polyend Play can wait a bit :D

Weeell, I know what my next gear purchase is gonna be.

I'd love to see the sampling and slicing workflow on this thing, if I understand correctly that it can do that stuff. If it can do what the PO-33 does but with more precision on top of everything else, this might have to be a no brainer purchase.

What about the DIY Microdexed Touch Groovebox? It has similar size and you can build it for around 100€. It is a very impressive and powerful little machine very worth to try.

Looks like a game changer for those of us who can RTFM.

Wow! The sound is incredible! This is really going to give the Dirtywave M8 a run for its money (which I still can't afford). At $249 that's a complete bargain.The only thing I worry about is how quickly these will sell out, unless they are mass-produced. I like thousands of others, are still patiently waiting for a Plinky from Thonk. It's been over two years now. :(

Just the thumbnail of this video sent me to the website, and within the first half of the 6-ish minute introduction video I had placed my order. I've never been sold this fast on anything in my life. WHY'S THE PACKAGE NOT HERE YET?!

WARNING! Super awesome device that is impossible to understand stoned! ;) All jokes aside, the capabilities are quite amazing. The sounds are much much better quality than you would expect at a glance. Its... hard to nail down. Studio in a box maybe. Would love to see what it could do connected to some budget hardware synths and DAWs. Man, would love to see MORE!!! Very Impressive.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaand...sold! Literally. Can't wait to play with it. Seems so cool!

I wish the woovebox had a Midi in. it would make it super cool to connect it to a simple midi controller, to control the sequencer easyer, or to live jam with your pattern. i love eerything about this groophebox but the 16buttons as a note interface is kind of sad not to see.

Dope little groove box

I have to confess that 5:15 into watching this. I stopped watching, headed to the website spent 2 minutes there and I’m now excitedly waiting for my Woovebox delivery. Massive respect to the developer for creating this. I can’t wait to see what it can do. Now back to watching the FreeBeat video😂

I had been thinking of getting the Arturia Microfreak as my first synth for a few weeks now, but decided to go for the Woovebox first instead (I just ordered one a couple of hours ago), and later get the Microfreak, and a PO 33; I believe those 3 pieces of gear should work quite well together. Great video, man! Thanks a lot for sharing, and keep up the great work.

Such an insane product of love and knowledge, thank you for showcasing it FB. The developer is very smart and takes care of the actual user. I am getting too old to operate such a small device so the same feature set in a 4 times larger box would be great, but I understand this choice and wish him loads of luck chasing his dream project.

Woovebox MKII dream: (1) a better display, like a OLED (2) a small speaker (3) a mic for sampling (4) SD card for recording

I can see how you’re knowledge of actual theory and time signatures would be a huge asset to a beginning developer! I’m writing this pretty early in video, so I’m hoping you say it has MIDI! Other than the POs I’ve pretty much given away anything that doesn’t have MIDI. I don’t need another percussion machine, or synth for that matter! I’m getting ready to pull the trigger on an Osmose, and you know what it’s greatest feature is to me? 12 lbs! So this interests me because of that! My DR 880 is best drum machine ever made (IMHO) but it’s big and a hybrid, so full analog with digital samples as well. Peace! Yes MIDI! This will go great with my Behringer JT-4000, two pockets and a Bose speaker! I love this thing! I’m great job on the video! I just went out to check the mail and my Function Junction was there! Woohoo! This little fella is next! It will make a great complement to the modular set up!

(btw - you'd get the similar feeling from Deluge! a more maximal sized machine with similar "do everything" ideas that keep getting expanded!)

Add $250 worth of wired midi in a real screen a hard shell with buttons sd card reader and I am in! Love the feature set but need some improvement in usability. It’s powerful enough but would be so much more with with more I/O would gladly pay $500 with a few upgrades to this box

This thing is awesome. One thing that needs to be done is an app for IOS and Android that reflects user interface, just like an OP-Z, so you can connect your phone via Bluetooth and see UI on the screen. For sure it will cost a lot of effort, but taking into consideration all the skills of the creator of this amazing box, I think this will boost the interest to this awesome little machine, seriously...

Soooo, this is the God of Pocket Operators...like all of them at once...plus more. Well this is amazing. I am very glad you shared this with us! Definitely will be ordering one. So glad to see you getting excited for the instruments that are the heart of this channel!

Pikocore syncs with pocket operator and pretty dope for fx’s and samples like a super pocket operator but around 80 bucks this looks sick but 250 price i'd hope for a better build not a fan of the pocket operator buttons wear out fast and internal batteries but idk it's defiantly capable and interesting love the chord mode screen could be better . Also the Nunomo Qun mk2 has a similar feature set maybe more features at around 175 super powerful the granular and synth where built from scratch on it, and has tons of updates all 3 are cool glad to see a small groove-box market happening . guess the fm nano went away and now there is a new one coming .

It does a lot, but it's not for me. That display for a product at this price was the first hurdle. No SD card storage? No hardware MIDI input? No data over USB-C? But it does have data over Bluetooth, but an Internet connection is required for that basic feature??? I'm not sure which one is the deal breaker, but (again) I think it isn't for me. I applaud the dev, and hope you all enjoy it a lot. I hope it's a big enough success to warrant a MKII version, and I would love to see it with the above features - and velocity sensitivity would be great to have too, if it doesn't do that already. It does look pretty cool, and I couldn't even approach the level of quality it shows. So, I hope my criticisms taken in the spirit in which they were intended.

I really like it, but although minimalism is welcomed the lack of an actual dot matrix screen to navigate all the fatures sucks. $250 is not affordable

On the mailing list, patiently wait for the restock. Yes… patiently 😬😅

The buttons are such a turnoff

Comments turned off on all their (two) RU-vid videos, voice-over done by a robot voice, no contact details on their website ... I wouldn’t touch the Woovebox with a ten foot pole.

Was just about to order as looking for a synth to complement M8. Realised that this device doesn’t have physical midi in which is a shame. Otherwise it is perfect for what I want. So gutted this crucial functionality is missing. Oh well. Probably I need to wait for another 10 years until maybe mk2 with midi in… 😞

genius

Another component that many are missing is who and what is behind this. One person providing an experience. Vs many people just putting out incremental drips to make a profit with little to no passion. We have BIG companies in this space that will never reply to your question. Go years between firmware updates. The focus on what something looks like or form factor, while a natural reaction, is often followed by the comparison game. No, not every small company gets it. Many never make it out of Eureka park (CES reference) Yet they all have one thing in common. Passion. We hear RU-vidrs, excuse me, Synth Tubers talk about passion, experience, fun. Then when a device hits us in the face, we revert to our two year old ways. This device will be a learning curve for me. If I am honest, when I heard $249, I was like, huh? Because I was conditioned with the PO. Then, instead of clicking away, I thought, nope. Let's ride this out. I chose well. The choice is yours.

Can you stack the conditionals on a step? i.e. how insecure should my OP-Z be feeling?

The only thing that isn’t woo-vy is the web-based interface. It would be great to not have to rely on the site to perform all of those operations.

You know what TE stuff has that this doesn’t and why I won’t buy this? Limitations. You mentioned at the beginning that it made your music more creative. This has too much going on and lacks simplicity. Same reasons I don’t like stuff like the Disting and why I stay out of the DAW. I want to make music and enjoy myself, not get paralyzed by options. Also the name is terrible

The wierd thing is, I must have the whole set! Even though I have megaman and the sampler one(the name escapes 😮me right now) , I still want the Acade, Robot, tonic and 33! I want ALL of the Behringer minis, all the Korg minis and the Roland Arias, one more to go, the J6, do I need them? No! Getting them anyway! My very nest one will be the Behringer mono,poly then the VS! I will get the woovebox soon, and the pico-33, I have a small Yamaha not pro arranger, but I’m going to go ahead and get aCS! The POs add up to $400, I will just my eye out! For now.

Do samples imported via Bluetooth retain their stereo nature? Like, I think the line-in is mono-only, but if I transferred a binaural stereo (with hrtf) file onto this, to then sequence it, would it still retain its HRTF binaural phenomenon or does Woovebox force it to mono (or somehow keep it stereo but destroy the HRTF phenomenon)?

Ordered a few days ago! - If this is as good as this demo - this will be a game changer - The developer @woovebox will need to hire a lot of employees to keep up with the demand :)

Nice, that looks like a lot of fun.

I had an impact on the Nunomo Qun mk2. This is definitely fuller featured than the Qun mk2

Incredible device! I'd like to see an update or option where the page changing animation is omitted. That's the only thing that was buged me instant whe I saw it. Also the LED screen is not my favorite, i think a simple four wire OLED screen would be better and wouldn't hurt the essence of the device, just easier to read. Also i'd like to see a "poer mode" if it's makes sense, I read about DSP limitations, and maybe it isn't a big deal for most times, it would be good to have a 'pover mode' when the device is plugged in to a power source. :)

Most intriguing device I've seen in a long time. It seems like the Song Mode fragments (if there are up to 100) would help overcome the pattern chaining limitation that annoys me with the OP-Z. I can chain up to 128 patterns for playback on the second and third gen POs, but I can only chain up to 32 patterns for playback on the OP-Z. It looks like the Woovebox offers far more flexibility for longer song chains....?

Want

Is it possible to connect this guy to teenage engineering gear like PO-33/32 or OP-Z? Is the sampling stereo or mono? How much does it cost? Thanks for answering!

How can i buy one of these little beautiful machines??

Love the channel. You started with OG PO33 but didn’t get the KO2?? I’ve had no trouble with mine and it is So much fun

Man, I might have to get this before the Tracker mini finally arrives from backorder. :( I really want something small to just walk around with every day. Also, Check out the Roland S-1 tweak synth if you haven't already.

Can't wait for a cover of the DOOM theme 😂😂. I know someone gonna do it.

10sec in and I'm almost sold! I'll watch the rest..

Thanks for the great review -ordered straight away ! Having owned many grooveboxes for over 25 years, I’m hoping this could finally be the one that I’ve been looking for ?

It isn't affordable though.

Have you guys seen the Qun MK2, another tiny groovebox ?

Okay great gear. Im on the fence here. Im pretty fluent with the PO-33. Do you have any fx command like the POs ? I really like to create a sequence and after nuke it live with all 15 effects. Like many here I gravitate around portable stuff. The tracker mini is next on the list after the myriad of fun discovery with the Volca, Arturia, TE, Sonicware, Bastl gears but this one seem a good addition. Or am I in a MOFO loop ?

Checked the website, sold out until October. I'll order one then.

I never did get into Pocket Operators but this “woovebox” sent me over the tipping point. Ordered today 😊 hope i got in time for first batch 😮

It's brilliant for what it does, but I can't get past the seven-segment display. If those were words I could read easily then I would be so on board for the remaining learning curve. I watched the video on their site and it's extremely impressive. But multiply truncated words by characters that are seven-segment and my brain turns to jelly just trying to read what it's saying. I have to say, I have never seen a device that made me feel more mentally limited. When I look at a basketball rim, I simply say "yeah, I can't jump that high", but I am not used to that thought from a device due to its user interface. It's not the device's fault. My dyslexia probably. But in general, my brain just can't process it. I'm sure I would EVENTUALLY learn it, but it just multiplies the learning curve enough that it might as well be in Mandarin. It's an impressive accomplishment. But it's not for me. Or more, I'm not for it because it's my fault. And I hate that. Because I love the simplicity.

Will the production version have that random behavior when turning the knob @woovebox

First

When can i buy it? Sigh, everytime i wanna buy something, it's never available,nor i couldn't find a price for it on the website.

Have your checked out the Qun mk2? It is mental what the creator does with it.

Too bad its like almost as costly as a 404mk2 , not surprised though

Very interested, but what about firmware updates ? What about "what you have in the box" (cables, adapters or..., unboxing would have been cool). Very pleasent demo anymay... I'm currently trying to hide my card... A coupon code maybe ;)

Looks so good, but I'm having Deluge PTSD. 😬

Since you are an existing big time fan of the PO33 and OP-Z, what would you choose if you were starting now and the money did not matter? Even if something other than these three options!

I would buy it if I wouldn’t have enough gear already.

Okay I'm wowed. I can clearly see a lot of love went into this. I hope it will be easily accessible to European stores (more specifically France) as international shipping and customs can be costly D: Can it send a sync signal along with a mono output from the line out ? That would be terrific as a PO and midi brain device ! Cheers and really looking forward to more videos about it! Also maybe a interview with the creator get a bit of their insight and thought process?

Cool device. The sampling is point to pretty low-fi having effectively 12 but dynamic resolution, though it has a good sampling rate.

Dude i SLAY with pocket ops, im gonna crush this

Dam dude, I would have ordered that on the spot but looks like they aren't shipping to Australia at this time :/

Impressive small device. I have only one small problem with it - it is the sam unreadable screen as in my Deluge. I am on a waiting list for retrofit of the screen in Deluge because in a current form it is unusable for me.. .simple I don't know what it shows :( BTW: they can't ship Woovebox to Australia so anyway it is out of my reach :/

Man that sounds great. Do you think a blind user could make beats with this? If so, I'm sold.

I would buy a machine like this, the size of a phone but thicker, that fits in pants pockets, with a calculator-like screen that doesn’t hurt your eyes, with velocity sensitive pads/buttons and with one or two xlr/instrument combo inputs. That would be my ideal portable instrument.

This is 95% similar to MC-101. And the fact that it’s made by 1 person is mind blowing.

Can this sample via mic or line in ? Please let me know .

Would love to see a sound design video on this

*Free,* I wasn’t able to catch on to the PO-33. In your *honest* opinion, would this be easier or not difficult to learn for a complete newbie?

Deep review, cool af gadget, tx

Now i got GAS, i hate you! 🙂

Woah I’m definitely getting one of these! They look amazing WTH! Only gripe (for me) is the knob - it’s too protruded from the rest of the kit (for such a beautiful size it’s kind of a shame you can’t simply put it in your pocket since you might just ruin the encoder by doing so). I’d prefer a very short encoder instead, so it doesn’t go above the screen’s extrusion height - tbh.