1010music expands its tiny nanobox lineup with the razzmatazz, a new groovebox with FM synthesis and sampling.
Last January, US-based company 1010music unveiled the new Nanobox lineup. Portable electronic music instruments with lots of functionality. The first was the Lemondrop granular synth and the Fireball wavetable synth.
Today, the Nanobox series gets offspring in the form of the razzmatazz drum machine/groovebox.
1010music nanobox razzmatazz
The razzmatazz is the third Nanobox and a groovebox that combines FM synthesis and sampling. 1010music promises it’s the world’s juiciest groovebox. Let’s see if that was true or just a marketing phrase.
It has 8 drum and percussion performing pads that can be played using MIDI pads or the touch-screen. The engine allows you to design your own percussion sounds by combining FM synthesis and .wav samples.
For the latter, the razzmatazz has a line input for sampling. You can either record via line input to the pads with samples up to 30 seconds or import them using the micro-SD card slot. On the synthesis side, it offers two FM oscillators, two filters, two envelopes, a resonator cool addition, a snap generator, and three additional effects, including four unique types of distortion. You can use the engines separately or in combination to generate even deeper sounds.
Then, you get a built-in sequencer with up to 64 steps with step sizes from 1/64 to 8 bars. It also features a new super stepper visual sequencer where you can tap and swipe to create rhythms. The razzmatazz ships with 120 preset kits and sequencers to make beats right out of the box.
According to 1010music, you can also quickly and easily map MIDI controls to macro parameters and mixing settings. That’s handy.
- Quickly and easily map MIDI controls to macro parameters and mixer settings
Backside
On the backside, you can find a USB-C connector for power, mini TRS connections for MIDI in and out, clock in, line in, and line out. I’m not a fan of mini TRS MIDI but in this case there’s no other way.
The interface is super simple: you get a 2″ touch screen, 2 knobs and 4 buttons. Just like the Lemondrop granular synth and Fireball wavetable synth.
At first glance a cute little groovebox. I find the possibility of combining FM synthesis with sampling very good. Above all, the fact that you can also sample correctly in addition to sample import is to be seen as positive. The color of the device is certainly bold but fits into the colorful Nanobox series.
1010music nanobox razzmatazz is available now for 459€ incl. VAT.
More information here: 1010music
Available at my partner
Sounds kind of cool. Their bitbox micro has really great sampling quality. It does however feel like this company is more focused on releasing new products, rather than maintaining existing ones.