August, 2012 - update

One full year has passed since our last progress update, and we are sorry about the lack of any new information during that time. We made this page to give you some insight into what has happened in that period and what we are working hard to achieve in the not too distant future. The first organic one prototype (M1) did not reach a finished state because of two main reasons; Lack of proper funding to create a fabrication ready unit, and several serious issues that needed to be fixed which required us to go back to the drawing board...

To address the main problems discovered through rigorous testing and real life use, we decided to do the following:

  • Design our own DSP architecture from scratch allowing us to have full control of the audio signal path at all the most critical stages.
  • Build a new single unit speaker cabinet that will be simpler, have more output power and a lower cost.

We are still working on how to get the resources needed to construct production prototypes and/or fabrication ready units, but we hope to get this task done before we reach that point in the process this time around.

Ultrafunk DSP platform

The M1 prototypes were built using the integrated amplifier DSPs for audio signal processing, it was deemed an acceptable compromise back then since we needed a simple and available product to get started. Over time, because of the rather severe limitations that architecture has, it became more and more clear to us that it was not possible get the level of playback quality we wanted, and so the Ultrafunk DSP platform was born.

Engineering our own DSP platform might seem a bit overkill, but it has always been a part of the overall plan, and after about 6 months of intense work selecting components, designing the circuit board, assembling and soldering (all done in-house), we got the two first working prototypes up and running without any major issues a few weeks ago. Our main goal with it is to make a common software and hardware base for all our products that will give us a lot of creative freedom combined with a high degree of quality control.

Organic one prototype model 2 (M2)

We're not afraid to admit that the first organic one prototype (M1) is flawed, although we are very proud of how it looks and sounds! During the past year, we have identified several problem areas that needs fixing based on our own testing and listening to first hand experience from several performers:

  • More output power and control is required for both bass and mid/high to get optimal volume levels and playback quality.
  • Lowering the cost of entry by using more efficient speaker/driver combinations without sacrificing audio quality.
  • Lowering the cost of entry by making a simpler single unit cabinet that is easier to manufacture.

Designing and building new enclosures (M2 and soon M3) combined with the Ultrafunk DSP platform will hopefully allow us to address all these issues, and we still believe that we are very close to creating the best portable and dedicated high fidelity stereo monitoring system for keyboard players.