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A complete studio that fits in your pocket.
The PGB-1 from French boutique maker Wee Noise Makers is a genuinely pocket-sized groovebox, smaller than a smartphone, built to craft entire tracks on one device. Eight sound channels cover the whole arrangement: six synthesis tracks for kick, snare, hihat, bass, lead and chords, plus two sampler tracks for everything else, fed by the onboard mic, the line input or your own samples.
The sequencer runs deep: sixteen tracks with sixteen patterns of sixteen steps each, conditional steps, ratcheting, chord sequencing, per-track arpeggiators, live sequencer effects and a song mode. And it does not stop at the internal sounds. The same sixteen tracks can drive external MIDI gear, turning the PGB-1 into a pocket brain for an entire hardware setup.
The kicker is the firmware: fully open source and hackable in CircuitPython, C/C++ and Ada, with regular updates that keep adding engines and features. Battery powered, USB-C charged, and ready to play out of the box.
Very simple in a beautiful way. Size, functionality, number of patch points, normalization, layout – all of it feels just right 🙂
I use it in a small synth and guitar setup, and it opens up a whole new world of building interesting effect chains on the fly, even for live use.
My only critique: the jacks are quite inconsistent (a mix of 3.5 mm and 6.3 mm). Some feel a bit janky and almost wobbly, while others are so tight that you really have to force the cables in, some even slightly angled. I might eventually fix some of them myself if it keeps bothgering me.
I also hope the MiniBay gains the popularity it deserves so the price can come down a bit – it’s quite steep for what’s inside IMHO. I could easily see this becoming a top seller at thomann. This is not only for the fancy syth connoisseur, it is for everyone!
