The small Japanese company Sonicware continues to expand its portfolio with the Smpltrk, staying true to its tradition of packing extensive features into a compact and affordable device. It all started with the ELZ-1, inspired mainly by the now cult object Teenage Engineering OP-1, followed by various other grooveboxes, such as the Liven XFM, which specializes in FM synthesis. And now we have the SmplTrek, which was originally financed via Kickstarter, here for testing. It‘s missing a few vowels in its name, but otherwise really presents an impressive variety of functions in a small space.
Mobile sampling groovebox
The mobile device combines simple sampling at the touch of a button via the built-in microphone, instrument and line input or USB with a flexible sequencer and direct streaming via smartphone. Resampling, auto-slicing, time-stretching and pitch functions are available for post-processing. More than 500 high-quality sample sounds and over 100 drum kits should provide additional inspiration.
