Intro to 1010Music And How Their Bento Will Change The Way You Create Music

1010music quietly slid into the music tech scene, looked at all the beige, black and red gear cluttering studios, and said, “What if we made this smaller, smarter and portable?”

Born from the mind of engineer Brian Funk, 1010music has carved out a niche as the cool nerds of electronic music hardware since their debut Bitbox in 2016. They’re the ones who decided that modular synths didn’t have to take up half your flat, and that samplers didn’t have to come with a 400-page manual which users see no shame in consulting Dr Google in how to do something. 1010music really did slide into the music tech scene, took one look at all the beige, black and red gear in studios, and said, “What if we made this smaller, smarter and portable?”

They brought us sleek, colourful boxes with touchscreens, deep features and a wealth of inspiration, Bluebox and Blackbox units have already become stables in a lot of modular and dawless rigs, now Bitbox, Lemondrop, Fireball, Razzmatazz, and Bento seek to do the same.

What is Bento?

Bento is a standalone music production monster. If you’ve ever stared at a sea of USB cables, various MIDI keyboards, and that dusty Audio interface but missing that crucial component of music making, “an idea”. Fear not, Bento has arrived to make sure you can jam wherever you are. It’s as if someone at 1010music thought, “What if we put Ableton Live, an Akai MPC, and a very smug octopus into a lunchbox?”

This isn’t just a sampler. It’s a “compact performance studio sampling production lab”, which sounds like the sort of thing Q would hand to James Bond before he takes it on a mission to remix Moby.

DAW-less, Flaw-less:

Bento kicks your laptop to the kerb and lets you enter the wild, expanding world of DAW-less workflow, which is music speak for “No thank you computers!” With eight tracks, clip launching, scene sequencing, and more bells and whistles than a steampunk parade, it lets you compose, perform, and jam all in one gloriously compact musical powerhouse, truly another take on recording your ideas.

Details:

• A crystal clear and responsive 7″ touchscreen allowing you to see parts even mid set.
• 16 backlit velocity and pressure-sensitive pads.
• An onboard granular digital synth, meaning you can now mangle sounds into shimmering oblivion.

Build Quality:

Let’s talk design. It’s about the size of a tea tray and built like it could survive both a gig and your toddler’s worst tantrum. The sort of premium build that whispers, “I could survive a drop or two.” Not that you should, but being built like a tank does bring peace of mind.

As for connectivity, the Bento offers three stereo ins, three stereo outs, Multiple MIDI in and outs via TRS adapters (yes, they are included), USB host and device support, a headphone jack, and an integrated battery so you can make beats in a park somewhere, up a tree or even in your local. Truly the lab for the mad musician on the go.

Smarter Than the Average Groovebox:

It’s powered by a brain that borrows heavily from its Nanobox cousins, Fireball (the synth) and Razzmatazz (the drum machine). If you already own those colourful little gems, Bento becomes the big sibling who isn’t afraid to whip you into shape for that big recital.

What sets it apart is the scene-based sequencer. Here you can arrange clips, trigger chains, and feel like a conductor in a techno opera. There’s probability, randomisation, and real-time control, all designed to help you produce something that sounds intentional, even when it isn’t, the electronical version of, “keep going, the crowd won’t notice if you make a mistake” and then ends up sounding incredible.

Creativity on the Go:

It’s portable. It’s battery-powered. It fits in your bag. You could genuinely whip this out on a bus and drop a grime set between Brighton and Croydon. Not just a production monster, but a musical notepad, the rickety click clacks of the train? Rhythmical bleeps of the bus payment system trigger a musical idea? Get it down! Back in the day musicians would leave themselves voice mails, or use a dictaphone. Now you can actually bring the idea to life on the go, the future is amazing.

Final Thoughts on Bento:

So here it is: the Bento. A proper standalone performance studio with more features than your mate’s modular rig and fewer crashes than your ageing laptop.

If you’re the sort of person who’s tired of software updates, cable spaghetti, and asking “what driver do I need? Where’s that hum coming from? Why don’t you work!?” well, the Bento might just be the DAW detox you didn’t know you needed.

Micro Instruments, room for more?

1010music have a cool selection of little nugget sized units that pack some serious heat.

• Bitbox
  The OG of 1010music’s touchy-feely sampler range, Bitbox is the polite librarian of your Eurorack dreams, quietly powerful, ruthlessly organised, and capable of triggering more loops than a 2000s trance set. It’s the go-to for modular heads who want sample playback without needing to check Google.
• Lemondrop
  A granular synth that sounds like a citrus fruit being disassembled by lasers. Lemondrop takes tiny slices of audio and turns them into shimmering pads, glitchy textures, or full-on alien invasions. Ideal for people who think “regular” synths just aren’t weird enough.
  
• Fireball
  A digital wavetable synth that sounds like it was raised in a nightclub and has never known rest. Fireball serves aggressive leads, chunky basses, and ear-searing wobbles with an interface so slick, it practically dares you to touch it. Perfect for dance producers who want big sounds in a small box.
  
• Razzmatazz
  Part drum machine, part sampler, part chaotic goblin in a pink shell. Razzmatazz spits out punchy, glitched-up rhythms and lets you twist them into sonic pretzels in real time. Think of it as a very tiny drummer and a love of distortion.
  
• Tangerine
  Basically, Tangerine is what happens when 1010music builds a groovebox that respects your time and your carry-on luggage limit. It keeps things tight and tidy with a focus on quick sample triggering and performance sequencing, perfect for people who think “less is more, unless we’re talking about kicks per second.” It’s got that signature 1010 touchscreen workflow.
  

Round Up:

The synth community didn’t just like 1010music, they practically adopted them as their own. The Blackbox became a cult favourite among DAW-less live performers, the Lemondrop was hailed as “granular for mortals,” and the Fireball gave lead synths enough sauce to start a street food business.

On forums, YouTube, and Reddit’s synth underworld, you’ll see phrases like:

• “Game changer.”
• “Perfect for live sets.”
• “If Nintendo made grooveboxes.”

People love these things because they work, and not just in theory or under perfect studio conditions, but on your lap in a café at 2am after three coffees cause you just played a midnight show and we’re proud to stock them.