Our algorithms must all be feeding us the same things, I was about to buy one of these yesterday. I've been excited by the various Groovebox firmwares in particular.

I play music by sight (poorly) and can improvise a little bit on guitar, and would love to understand music theory better but so far do not.

Is this a useful device to get a feel for creating music, or is it only really useful if you already understand music theory or improvisation?

I have an FM-1, and it's definitely a fun device for the price and worth having just to putz around while sitting on the couch. However, I don't think it's the easiest way to get started creating music. I personally have gotten much more value out of a DAW like FL Studio. I've tried to go DAWless (groove boxes, samplers, trackers, etc), but I always end up back in FL Studio.

Grooveboxes can't really do anything that you haven't been able to do for 15 years with internet resources and pirated FL Studio (other DAWs are available). The main value is having a break from the computer & physical knobs to twiddle. If you value time away from the computer, something like Korg M01[D] on the [3]DS might be worth trying since you can't spend hours tweaking synth parameters (and I imagine it's much easier to sequence on).

In general, all synthesizers are distractions from the essentials of music: listening and performing. They replace that with poking around at knobs and setting modes and it does give results, but it can feel really ungrounded when you haven't trained to get any of it to go through your hands directly. I have an FM-1 and yes, it's fun. But I would say the grooveboxes are roughly equal to DJing as a practice, which is to say, they definitely can inspire ideas and awareness, they just don't lead you to go really deep most of the time.

The thing to do for theory is basically to work on paper more, take careful notes and look for connections between one kind of theory and another, because often something that seems complex one way is simple in another. A groovebox can do this by presenting you with a palette of stuff that sounds good, and then you can go about breaking it down and studying it by hand.

> Our algorithms must all be feeding us the same things

Two days ago I watched a YouTube video about this and went to AliExpress to check prices. Tech nerd information bubble!

It's all over YouTube for me too. The firmware hacking for this thing has got people hyped.

https://thefirmwarehub.com/

If you want to buy one, use Ali Express.

Everyone else is just drop shipping them.

Even without all the alternate firmware, they can be pretty inspiring because the DX7 can make awesome sounds and the FM1 has a better interface (a very very low bar).

There are more beginner friendly grooveboxes. The original Novation Circuit for example. But there aren’t (m)any cheaper ones.

I'm not your demographic - committed amateur muso mostly acoustic (saxophone) with a side interest in electronic music. My seemingly sudden better understanding of the structure and uses of the diminished scale (have been looking into it on and off for a couple of years) may well coincide with the ease with which the Sloop firmware allows me to easily make interesting-to-me musical sequences. However most of my musical activities involves playing sax in medium sized or big bands. Mind you I can not understand song mode and how to save stuff yet, but that's a permanent problem I've had with every groovebox type thing I've tried.

I haven't used an FM-1, so I can't speak to the specifics of it, but you absolutely do not need to understand music theory and improvisation to make music on something like this.

Additionally, understanding theory and improvisation is certainly a great thing to know if you're trying to make music, but you can understand a ton of things in the abstract and also be pretty terrible at applying it in the moment.

So if you want to get a device you can throw some hacked firmware on and have some fun, I'd say don't let your lack of theory hold you back.

Honestly, just get a midi controller and download Reaper (or Ableton Lite if it come with the controller you purchase) and you will have ten times the functionality with one percent of the hassle. That said if you want to learn how to actually play music just get a real musical instrument and take some lessons.

Just bought one last week of Aliexpress, totally worth the $70! Very hackable too!

> Is this a useful device to get a feel for creating music, or is it only really useful if you already understand music theory or improvisation?

"Useful" is a really subjective word when it comes to making music in general. Some template groove on a shit keyboard could be the base for a hit song (like Gorillaz' Clint Eastwood) while others don't make stuff unless in front of a modular synth with 100% control of everything.

Any instrument can be fun without knowing music theory, as long as you're willing to trial and error for a bit, until you find what sounds good :)

hello fellow youtube addict.