1010Music’s new portable, “sampling production lab” Bento Box, is now available. 1010 asserts that Bento brings together flexible sequencing, expressive performance tools, and pro-level connectivity.
What’s interesting about this release is that Bento showcases a new form factor for 1010Music, which is known for cramming an insane amount of features into impossibly small chassis. (See our 1010Music Lemon Drop review. —Ed.)
While it’s amazing to see 1010 flex their technical prowess, the super small, cigarette pack size can limit the usability, interface and workflow. Bento is still small, but takes cue’s from Ableton’s Push and even Polyend’s tracker products to provide more real estate for buttons, and a much better display.
1010Music Bento
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With 24-bit sound quality, a 7″ touchscreen, 16 pads, and control over samples, MIDI, and effects, Bento offers a new workflow in a compact and portable form. Sequence one-shots, build multi-sample instruments, and chop loops using Bento’s tracks, scene-based sequencing, and modulation.
The effects engine features pitch-shifted reverbs with spectral bursts, sliced loops with tape echoes, or granular fragments with analog-inspired drifting delays.
1010 claims you can create evolving sounds that aren’t possible with other devices. Dial down tempos, as slow as 1/16th of your tapped tempo, and let your sound drift, blur, and dissolve at any speed.
Bento showcases a new form factor for 1010Music…
Designed to replace laptops, simplify cabling, and integrate with your other outboard gear, Bento features multiple stereo inputs and outputs, USB-C host and device ports, dual TRS MIDI I/O, and a built-in battery for up to 3 hours of mobile creativity. 1010 even solved the idiotic Type A/B TRS MIDI issue by allowing your to choose which standard you want to deploy in the Settings Menu.
1010Music also spent some time developing Bento’s onboard recording functionality. You have the ability to capture loops quickly with the option to synchronize the start and stop times to the clock; you can trigger recording via audio level threshold; you can create perfectly sized loops by setting the recording length; enable immediate playback after recording for live looping capabilities; make recordings up to four hours in length; resample the master output without patching; and store recorded samples as WAV files on the micro SD card.
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1010Music Bento Features:
- 7″ touchscreen display
- 16 pads and 8 endless encoders for hands-on control
- Per-pad control of level, pitch, pan, FX sends, and modulation
- 8 flexible tracks – support for sample banks, loops, granular, multisample, slicer, or external MIDI
- Scene-based sequencing with step, piano roll, probability, and real-time loop launching
- FX section featuring delay, reverb, chorus, flanger, phaser, overdrive with per-track routing
- Modulation system with LFOs, envelopes, and step sequencers
- MIDI integration: 2 MIDI in / 2 out (TRS), USB host and device
- Resample internally to layer effects or capture ideas
- Sample external gear and stream long WAVs from microSD
- VESA Mount Compatible
- 3 stereo inputs, 3 stereo outputs, and headphone output
- Battery powered for mobile jamming and portable performance
- Unlimited number of projects stored to microSD cards
