How much does it cost?

A 7-day free trial with every feature, then a one-time purchase — the price in your local currency is shown in the App Store. No subscription. You can also unlock it from the app's Settings during the trial.

Why do some things need a USB cable?

The Orba 2's Bluetooth connection is a Bluetooth MIDI link built for playing: it carries notes and settings well, but the instrument does not complete file writes that arrive over it. Saving a loop, sending a beat or a song, and uploading a sound therefore ask for the cable. Playing, settings, browsing the library and building beats all work over Bluetooth.

Does Timbre Dock overwrite anything on my Orba 2?

No. Every save and every send creates a new song with a fresh identifier on the instrument, and factory content cannot be deleted by the app. It never touches the instrument firmware.

Can I use my own recordings as Orba 2 sounds?

Yes. Record with the iPhone microphone or import a file from GarageBand, Files or AirDrop, build a nine-pad drum kit or a single-note Lead, Chord or Bass sound, then upload it to the instrument as a real, playable sound.

What does Save as music record?

It records the Orba 2 playing the active song for exactly one full loop and writes an M4A file into Files → On My iPhone → Timbre Dock → Music. The recording is taken from the phone's current audio input — the microphone, or a USB audio interface if one is connected.

Does the app collect any data?

No. Songs, samples, cover photos and the diagnostic log stay on your iPhone. There is no account, no analytics, no advertising and no network access.

Timbre Dock — iPhone Companion App for the Artiphon Orba 2

New in 1.0

Beats — a drum loop editor for the Orba 2

Beats opens the drum loop of the song that is active on your Orba 2 and puts it on a step grid, so you edit exactly what you are hearing. Rows are the instrument's eight pads plus the side tap, in whichever kit is loaded — including kits you recorded yourself.

Six starting rhythms — Rock, Funk, Disco, Blues Shuffle, Swing and Waltz — then change anything.
Tap a cell to place a hit, hold it to cycle velocity: Soft, Normal, Accent.
1, 2, 4 or 8 bars; quarter, eighth, sixteenth and triplet grids.
Quantize a loop you played by hand — hits that sit off the grid are shown with a dashed outline and can be pulled onto the nearest step.
Preview on the Orba 2's own kit when it is attached, or on the phone when it is not — and change tempo while it plays.
Send the loop as an ordinary song, then overdub bass, chords and lead on the instrument.

Building and previewing a beat work over Bluetooth. Sending it to the instrument needs the USB cable — see what runs over which connection.

The Beats step sequencer in Timbre Dock, showing a drum pattern on a step grid

Features

Everything on your Orba 2, from your phone

Connect over USB or Bluetooth MIDI and work with everything stored on the instrument — without ever touching its firmware.

The Play screen

A live mirror of the instrument: the active song, the sound on each of the four parts, key, scale, octave, tempo, metronome, the pad ring lighting up as pads are played, looper transport and the mix.

One library

Every song on the instrument and on your phone in a single list with cover photos, plus the factory sound packs and every individual sound. Mix sounds across packs; delete the ones you made, from the phone, the instrument or both.

Keep the loop you just played

The Orba 2 holds a fresh loop only in memory. Timbre Dock saves it as a complete song — tuning, sounds, mix and every part — with a name and a cover photo, on the instrument and on your phone.

Record your own sounds

Turn the iPhone microphone into a sampler, or import from GarageBand, Files or AirDrop. A nine-pad drum kit, or one note for a Lead, Chord or Bass sound with automatic pitch detection — and Play scale to hear it across the pads before you save.

Twelve built-in TD sounds

Original sound sets that ship with the app: a synthesised kit, sub bass, glass lead and keys, plus real instruments played and recorded for Timbre Dock — acoustic guitar, electric bass, kalimba, handpan and a classic drum set. Upload any of them in one tap.

New

Beats step sequencer

Edit the drum loop of the active song on a step grid, quantize a hand-played take, preview it on the instrument's own kit, and send it back as an ordinary song to overdub on.

See what it does →

Save as music

Backing music for your videos, in a couple of taps

Anything you play on the Orba 2 can become the soundtrack of a video. Timbre Dock records the instrument playing a song for exactly one full loop and writes it to your phone as an M4A file — a normal audio file that iMovie, and any other app that reads the Files app, can import directly. No cables into a computer, no export dance, no third-party service.

1

Make the loop

Record a loop on the Orba 2, or build a drum pattern in Beats and overdub on top of it.
2

Tap Save as music

In the Library, on the song's row, tap the waveform icon. The instrument plays one full loop while the app records it.
3

Find it in Files

The M4A lands in Files → On My iPhone → Timbre Dock → Music.
4

Drop it into iMovie

Open your project and choose + → Audio → Files, then pick the recording. Because it is exactly one loop long, it tiles seamlessly under a clip of any length.

Files → Timbre Dock → Music

Sunset Loop 0:08 · M4A
Kalimba Bed 0:16 · M4A
A1 Beat v2 0:04 · M4A

The recording is taken from the phone's current audio input — the microphone, or a USB audio interface if one is connected. Works over USB and Bluetooth alike.

Orba 2 compatibility

What runs over USB, and what runs over Bluetooth

Playing and browsing work either way. Anything that writes a file to the instrument needs the cable — here is exactly what that covers.

Timbre Dock features by connection type
Action	USB	Bluetooth
Playing, pad ring, sounds, key, tempo, metronome, mix	✓	✓
Browsing the library, picking songs, packs and sounds	✓	✓ 20–40 s to read the list
Building and previewing a beat	✓	✓
Save as music (M4A for iMovie)	✓	✓
Saving a recorded loop	✓	✗ cable required
Sending a beat or a song to the instrument	✓	✗ cable required
Uploading a sound or a sampled kit	✓	✗ cable required

Why: the Orba 2's Bluetooth connection is a Bluetooth MIDI link built for playing. The instrument does not complete file writes that arrive over it — a song sent over Bluetooth is not finished, and a loop saved over Bluetooth comes back without the loop. This is a property of the instrument's hardware and firmware, not something an app can work around, so Timbre Dock asks for the cable at exactly those steps.

Inside the app

A closer look

The Beats drum sequencer with a two-bar Rock pattern on a step grid, one colour-coded row per drum — Beats — the drum sequencer

The Play screen with the pad ring, the four parts, tempo and the looper transport — Play — a live mirror

The Sample screen with the nine pad slots, sample type selector and the record and file-import controls — Sample — your own sounds

The Sounds tab of the Library showing built-in Timbre Dock kits marked with a TD badge — Library — built-in TD sounds

Screenshots from the iOS Simulator; shown without a live Orba 2 connection.

Requirements

An Artiphon Orba 2. Tested on instrument firmware 1.1.17 and 1.3.1.
An iPhone or iPad running iOS 16 / iPadOS 16 or later.
For file transfers, USB: a USB-C cable on an iPhone 15 or newer. On older, Lightning iPhones a Lightning-to-USB camera adapter is needed — a plain Lightning-to-USB-C cable is not enough, because the phone has to act as the USB host.
The Orba 2's USB Charging setting turned off for mobile use.

Good to know

Over Bluetooth the instrument can occasionally restart while playing. If it happens, the app says so — reconnect and carry on.
If the instrument stops responding after an interrupted transfer, switch it off and on again; the app tells you when this is the case.
Nothing on the instrument is ever overwritten: every save and every send creates a new song.

Questions

How much does it cost?: A 7-day free trial with every feature, then a one-time purchase — the price in your local currency is shown in the App Store. No subscription. You can also unlock it from the app's Settings during the trial.
Why do some things need a USB cable?: The Orba 2's Bluetooth connection is a Bluetooth MIDI link built for playing: it carries notes and settings well, but the instrument does not complete file writes that arrive over it. Saving a loop, sending a beat or a song, and uploading a sound therefore ask for the cable. Playing, settings, browsing the library and building beats all work over Bluetooth.
Does Timbre Dock overwrite anything on my Orba 2?: No. Every save and every send creates a new song with a fresh identifier on the instrument, and factory content cannot be deleted by the app. It never touches the instrument firmware.
Can I use my own recordings as Orba 2 sounds?: Yes. Record with the iPhone microphone or import a file from GarageBand, Files or AirDrop, build a nine-pad drum kit or a single-note Lead, Chord or Bass sound, then upload it to the instrument as a real, playable sound.
What does Save as music record?: It records the Orba 2 playing the active song for exactly one full loop and writes an M4A file into Files → On My iPhone → Timbre Dock → Music. The recording is taken from the phone's current audio input — the microphone, or a USB audio interface if one is connected.
Does the app collect any data?: No. Songs, samples, cover photos and the diagnostic log stay on your iPhone. There is no account, no analytics, no advertising and no network access.

The full user guide

Nine chapters covering connecting, the Play screen, the Library, sampling, saving loops and the Beats editor — the same guide that ships with the app.

Read the guide

Get in touch

A question, a bug, an idea?

Write to us and a person reads it. Bug reports are especially welcome — tell us which iPhone and which Orba 2 firmware you are on, and what you were doing.

support@timbredock.app

Follow along

Play it, sample it, sequence it.