Musical Beings Tembo is a new family-friendly drum machine with real-time sampling capabilities, programmed with magnets.
In recent years, there has been an increasing number of electronic instruments designed not just for us technically gifted people but for the whole family. They have very hands-on concepts and can be used by kids, parents, or even your grandparents.
These have opened up a new field in electronic music instruments. Examples include the Dato DUO synth, the new Dato Drum, the entry-level Stylophone gadgets, or the Blipblox series. The newest product in this category is the Tembo, a playful drum machine from the new company Musical Beings.
Musical Beings Tembo
Tembo is a playful drum machine and sampler designed for the whole family. It lets you jam and create groovy loops in just a few minutes.
Musical Beings has taken many of the things we love about drum machines and created an original, very immediate, and childlike instrument in Tembo. No, it doesn’t try to compete with a traditional drum computer from our nerd universe.
Instead of focusing solely on tech enthusiasts, the goal was to create an instrument that lowers the barrier to entry and inspires even those with no experience with drum machines.
This is evident in various aspects of the design, starting with the interface. Programming here is done without a cumbersome menu system or tiny display. The pattern generator is here, immediate and tangible.
Playful, Tangible Programming
Round magnet dots are used, arranged on a 5×8 grid. Wherever a magnet is placed on the sequencer, a sound is triggered. To trigger sounds with subdivisions, several magnets are stacked on top of each other. There is also a swing function and mute per channel.
Additionally, the interface provides real-time visual feedback of the sequencer. With 8 steps, the patterns are quite small; after all, you’re not exactly designing the next techno banger for Berghain in Berlin here.
But who knows what Tembo will do for a child? Maybe they’ll be the next techno star.
The very playful, direct sound setting allows quick pattern manipulation, whereas with large tech drum machines, menu diving is necessary. The Musical Beings Tembo is both a toy and a real instrument with many features of larger tech-focused machines.
Sample & Sequence It
As mentioned before, there are 5 tracks, each with an 8-step sequencer. The sound engine is sample-based. You can either use the sounds built-into the device.
Alternatively, you can use the built-in sampler in the Tembo hardware with the built-in mic or the line-in, allowing you to bring in any sound possible. This is also very direct and immediate. No menus, no finger acrobatics with button combinations…
Simply press the button, and record your sound into the device. This way, even children can incorporate sounds from their play area without parental assistance.
Even though there are no deep sound design options, you can polish any sequenced sound with an effect or modulation controlled by the knob in each row.
On top of that, you can easily add backing track loops to your rhythms
Take It Further
If your mom or dad is a musician and likes to take the rhythms further, they can easily export the sounds at any time.
Musical Beings Tembo offers both a line and MIDI connectivity for connecting to your favorite DAW. It also ships with a companion VST plugin for deeper integration in your existing setup.
Yes, it comes with a plugin, but Tembo is a standalone instrument that doesn’t require a computer. It has a built-in rechargeable battery and a loudspeaker, allowing you to create anywhere.
Plus, it has a headphone socket with its own volume control and ear-protection limiter to help safeguard your hearing.
Musical Beings Tembo First Impression
I find it exciting that more companies are making the world of electronic music more accessible, including to children and people who aren’t particularly familiar with it.
Tembo looks very fun and intuitive, and I can imagine it’s a great way to teach people a feel for rhythm. We’ll have to see how much all this fun costs.
Musical Beings Tembo price and availability are TBA. It will be available soon to support on Kickstarter.
More information here: Musical Beings
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