Orchid ORC—1000

Orchid is a brand new type of instrument. Which means there’s going to be so many interesting and unexpected ways to play it. Ways that we couldn’t anticipate ourselves. That's why we're starting with a small number of units and users so we can get feedback on the software, and iterate accordingly.

Software updates based on user feedback will be posted regularly on a secret URL, and typically take about 1-3 minutes.

Please note that Orchid will be shipping as a fully realised hardware product. There will be no changes to the hardware for the foreseeable future — the units we’ll ship to the wider public in Summer 2025 will be exactly the same... they’ll just be a little less exclusive. They’ll still be great though. Totally great.

Prior to the instrument’s wider release next year, the first 1000 owners will have the chance to shape and refine it as part of The Garden—an online beta program in partnership with media and community platform Patreon (http://patreon.com/telepathicinstruments).
To better understand how the first users are playing Orchid, the first 1000 users will have direct communication not just with members of the Telepathic Instruments team, but with other Orchid players. It’ll be a place to offer feedback, get, and share advice on how to use the Orchid, write songs, and more. These conversations will help shape and refine features, performance modes, sounds, and future iterations of the Orchid product.

The Garden will be:

• A place to share content and compositions made with Orchid
• A forum for feedback on features and improvements
• A channel for exclusive behind-the-scenes content and insights from the creators
• A place to conduct user testing that will shape the evolution of Orchid

Of course, any content uploaded by the community will be the property of the author. Telepathic will not post or use anything without express consent.

Great question. The answer is yes.

Orchid offers valuable utility for songwriters, who are driven by exploration and experimentation; producers, who can benefit from the ability to quickly pivot to different genres, sounds and styles; and gear heads, who revel in the unconventional approaches enabled by this kind of cutting-edge technology.

But Orchid is for everyone—from seasoned professionals to those discovering music for the first time. It frees musicians of all skill levels from muscle memory, chord maths and technical constraints, helping them find inspiration without getting bogged down by music theory or needing the dexterity of a trained jazzy pianist.

Nope. This is more like an... Ideas Machine.

Sadly, yes. While this might seem like some sort of Machiavellian plot by bloodless capitalists, the reason is actually infinitely more boring. It’s mostly to do with having electrical equipment like batteries and chips pass certain radiation emissions testing and then getting certified for lots of different international jurisdictions with hundreds of different individual criteria which are, let’s face it, largely the same, but also subtly different in that kind of pedantic bureaucratic that feels positively Kafkaesque. See? Boring. Also setting up international supply chains with all of their tariffs and duties and stuff when you’re a brand new company and only making 1000 of something is kind of a nightmare too. And while some of us do kind of get off on solving those sorts of problems, we mostly just want to make instruments.

So anyway no it’s definitely not ideal and we wish it were easier to send stuff around the world like this, but we thought everyone would quite like the speakers, and that sending to the USA is better than nothing.

Yes, you can. Perhaps you already have. Music theory is a deep and wonderful rabbit hole, and we respect anyone who dedicates time and energy understanding how something works.

But what’s the Right Level of music theory? How much technique do you need to practice before you can really play? And if you know enough about music, do you automatically write great songs?

We’ve all been listening to arguments about the Goldilocks zone of music mastery for about as long as we’ve been listening to music. We’ve valorised and vilified the maestros and misfits alike. Some argue that deep musical knowledge gives artists a richer vocabulary, and more tools for nuanced expression. The other believes that too much theory can trap musicians in predictable patterns, self-indulgent showboating, and playing too perfectly. Technically correct, and totally wrong. All brain, no soul.

Telepathic understands this question a little differently. There’s no “right” way or “wrong” way. There’s just whether or not you’re creating something that feels new and relevant to you and your audience. There’s a time for a sitting down and learning your craft. And there’s a time for trying something totally different. It’s not just how much a songwriter or performer does or doesn’t know, it’s the patterns we all get stuck in that inhibits exploration, expression, and ultimately, creativity.

So Orchid isn’t about avoiding theory or getting around practicing your craft. It’s not about creating a “better” system, or replacing practice or knowledge. It’s about shaking up your creative process by learning something entirely new. It’s a tool for anyone who wants to step outside their musical comfort zone, to experiment, and to find what’s on their mind.