Minijam Studio Is An Affordable Hardware Drum Machine, Synth, Analog Filter & Speaker For Everywhere

Now here's something in the vein of Korg volcas and Teenage Engineering Pocket Operators that might get you very, very excited. The boys behind Patchblocks have come up with this aptly named collection of standalone hardware modules, Minijam Studio. 

These music machines are truly portable (battery powered), and truly affordable (the analog filter is £40, the entire collection of four devices can be yours for just £130!!) Minijam Studio launched on Kickstarter on 2nd April and within less than 24 hours is nearing 50% funding!!

They don't connect to your mobile phone... because they don't need to. And frankly I'm glad these are self-contained music machines :)

Visit the Minijam Studio Kickstarter.

It looks cool, and it's something we defintiely want to get hands-on with and play. Here's what our friends at Patchblocks have told us about Minijam Studio:

The project started in early 2016 with the idea of creating something that still follows the Patchblocks philosophy in terms of accessibility, affordability and fun. Feedback from customers and retailers pointed to something more hardware, less software. The result was not just one single unit, it ended up in a whole product line, which combines a lot of different studio hardware in a small size. 

Is Minijam Studio the ultimate portable music hardware collection?

minijam is based on the idea of what happens when you boil down a hardware studio or live performance setup to very compact and affordable products. Maybe compromising pro features, but not compromising the enjoyment of noodling and jamming with such machines. 

The studio includes a drum machine, a wavetable synthesiser, an analog filter, a mixer and a speaker. It gives you the feel of jamming with hardware equipment, all bundled in a ready-to-use set with impressive sound.
Each device is powered by a rechargeable battery and can be used standalone or as part of the set. You don’t need any software or mobile phone. The mixer keeps all connected devices synchronised and also allows for the integration of other hardware with its sync triggers on the second channel of the stereo connectors. (e.g. Pocket Operators, Volcas,etc.)   

tek.drum - Drum Machine:

• 8 Drum-Synthesis tracks with 4 parameters per track
• 8 Patterns with 16 steps
• automation and parameter locks of all 32 parameters
• pattern chaining up to 128 steps
• global delay send effect
• save patterns and automation to flash
• up to 12h battery life (rechargeable via Micro USB)
• Dimensions (l/w/h): 15.5 x 6.5 x 3.2 (cm), Weight: 100g
• Kickstarter price 45.00 GBP (MSRP 60.00GBP) 

tek.waves - Wavetable Synthesizer

• 16 fully automatable sound parameters divided into 4 pages
• 3 wave table banks (vowel, classic, harmonic)
• arpeggiator with hold, octave range and arp mode settings
• 4 patterns with up to 128 steps per pattern
• scale select, and 2 octave keyboard within selected scale
• global delay send effect
• save patterns and automation to flash
• up to 12h battery life (rechargeable via Micro USB)
• Dimensions (l/w/h): 15.5 x 6.5 x 3.2 (cm), Weight: 100g
• Kickstarter price 45.00 GBP (MSRP 60.00GBP) 

tek.filter - Analog Filter

• audio input and output
• 2 pole resonant low-pass / band-pass filter
• up to 40h battery life (rechargeable via Micro USB)
• Dimensions (l/w/h): 11.5 x 6.5 x 3.2 (cm), Weight: 65g
• Kickstarter price 40.00 GBP (MSRP 50.00GBP) 

.hub - 3 Channel Mixer

• 3 mono channel input with sync trigger output per channel (stereo cable) • digital encoder and display to set tempo
• 44.1kHz 16bit .wav recording to micro SD card
• up to 8h battery life (rechargeable via Micro USB)
• Dimensions (l/w/h): 14.0 x 6.5 x 3.2 (cm), Weight: 95g
• Kickstarter price 45.00 GBP (MSRP 60.00GBP) 

.boom - Portable Speaker

• small, battery powered speaker
• integrated 3.5mm audio cable
• Dimensions (dia/h): 5.0/7.0 x 6.0(cm), Weight: 130g
• Just included in the set 

The whole studio will be priced with 130.00 GBP on Kickstarter (MSRP 170.00 GBP). Double Studio, one for you & one for a friend 250.00 GBP on Kickstarter.
All units will be shipped by September 2017.
There are also 100 limited Early bird Kits for 99.00 GBP and 40 pre-production sets for 150.00 GBP (shipping in May 2017). -- These early bird kits have already been snapped up!