Orchid

Your main loudness knob. Push it in and turn to change only the bass level, or just push it once to see how much battery is left.

tip: If your chords sound loud but you can't hear the bass, hold this dial while turning it up — that's the separate bass volume, and it's easy to leave turned down.

The master speed control for anything rhythmic — arpeggios, delay echoes, loops and the built-in drum grooves. Tap it for a click track, or hold it to reach the drum beats.

tip: Hold it and scroll past the time signatures to find the Beats — press to start a groove, then turn to change its tempo.

Scroll through all the instrument voices here. Push it in first if you'd rather browse by name than by number, and long-press to save your own tweaked version.

tip: Lock your Performance and FX settings (long-press those dials) first, then spin the Sound Dial — your groove and effects stay put while only the tone changes.

Turns a static held chord into movement — strumming like a guitar, arpeggios, rhythmic patterns, or a fast harp sweep. Press to open the list, turn to choose, then turn again to dial in the speed or amount.

tip: Crank the BPM until an arpeggio blurs into a texture, or pick 'Slop' for human-feeling loose timing instead of robotic precision.

Your one-knob effects control — reverb, delay, chorus, phaser, drive and more. Just turning it adds more of whatever the sound's main effect is; push in to pick a specific effect to adjust.

tip: Push and scroll to Drum FX to add reverb or saturation to the built-in Beats without affecting your chords.

Switch this on and every single key you press plays a chord that fits the chosen key — no theory needed, and wrong notes get nudged into tune. Push-and-turn shifts everything up or down in pitch to match a singer.

tip: For a minor key, long-press until 'select key' appears, then hold the Min button while pressing the root note on the keyboard.

Adds a deep bass note under your chords from a separate bass engine. Tap to turn it on, turn to change the bass tone, hold to choose how the bass follows your playing.

tip: If you're hearing bass but no chords, long-press this and check you haven't left it on Single Notes or Solo mode.

Record a phrase and layer more on top of it in real time. Choose free-form or a fixed number of bars, then build up loops layer by layer; you can save up to 10.

tip: Overdub one note of a chord per pass to hand-build complex voicings, and use Undo to remove just the last layer if a note was wrong.

Your settings menu. Everything about how the Orchid behaves — how it displays info, how chords respond to your touch, unlocking extra 'Secret Chords', and updating the firmware — lives here.

tip: Set View to 'Geek Out' to see the keyboard, chord name and exact notes at once, or turn on Secret Chords for extra-spicy voicings.

Slides the chord's notes up or down one at a time so progressions glide smoothly instead of jumping. Push it to switch between keeping everything inside one octave (Octave) or setting a keyboard point where notes flip octaves (Split).

tip: Small adjustments between chords give elegant, connected-sounding progressions — this is the secret to not sounding like blocky beginner chords.

Sets how low or high the bass note sits. Turn down for a deep sub rumble or up to keep it closer to the chord.

tip: Long-press this and press the Loop Dial as an emergency 'stop everything and leave Loop Mode' shortcut.

Hold this and press a key for a bright, cheerful chord. It's the starting point for happy, uplifting sounds.

tip: Maj + m7 gives a dominant 7th (written like C⁷) that wants to resolve to the chord 7 semitones down the keyboard.

Hold this for a sad, moody chord. The go-to for emotional or darker music.

tip: Min + M7 makes a haunting minor-major 7th that mixes darkness and brightness for dramatic tension.

Hold this for an unresolved, floating chord that feels like it's about to move somewhere.

tip: Great as a passing chord before landing on a Maj or Min — it builds anticipation.

Hold this for a tense, edgy chord perfect for suspense or drama.

tip: Dim + m7 gives a diminished 7th, packed with tension but still staying in key — useful for cinematic unease.

Hold this alongside a chord-type button to add a gentle, sweet extra note. It won't do anything by itself.

tip: Try the 'subtractive' approach: hold all four extensions then remove them one at a time to hear which note is spoiling the sound.

Hold with a chord type to add a soulful, jazzy seventh on top.

tip: Min + m7 softens a sad minor chord into something warmer and more soulful.

Hold with a chord type to add a classy, slightly mysterious seventh.

tip: Maj + M7 turns a plain happy chord into something jazzy and sophisticated without sounding dark.

Hold with a chord type for a lush, expansive extra note that adds richness.

tip: Stack enough extensions and the screen just says JAZZ (three) or WTF (four) — turn on Geek Out mode to see the actual notes.

Your on/off switch. A quick one-second hold starts it up; a long ten-second hold is the emergency restart if it's misbehaving.

tip: If the Orchid won't power on at all, try the 10-second hold before assuming the battery is dead.

The little screen that tells you what chord you're playing, your tempo, menu choices, and where you are in a loop.

tip: Switch View modes in Options to match how you work — 'Chord' for big readable chord names on stage, 'Geek Out' for full detail.

A little light that flashes quicker the lower your battery gets — your cue to plug in.

tip: Push the Volume Dial for an exact battery percentage rather than guessing from the flash rate.

Lights up to confirm your groove/performance settings are frozen and won't change when you switch Sounds.

Lights up to confirm your effect settings are held in place across Sound changes.

Tells you Key Mode is on, meaning one finger now plays full in-key chords.

tip: If pressing single keys unexpectedly plays chords, this LED being lit is why.

The piano-style keys you actually play. How hard you hit them can change loudness and feel. In Key Mode, one key = one full in-key chord.

tip: If dynamics aren't responding, enable Options > Velocity Sense; some sounds don't yet have velocity assigned.

Plug in headphones or a cable to a mixer/speaker here. Doing so normally switches off the built-in speakers.

tip: If you plug in but still want the internal speakers, change Options > Audio Output from Auto to Both.

Connects the Orchid to other synths or MIDI gear so it can play them, sending chords, bass and performance parts on separate channels.

tip: Because the three parts go out on separate channels, you can record chords, bass and arpeggios to different tracks or instruments at once.

One port that charges the battery, connects to your computer for MIDI, and receives firmware updates. It can't charge and do USB MIDI at the same time.

tip: For fastest charging plug into a wall socket with a fast charger; a laptop charger won't revive a fully depleted battery.

The onboard speakers, so you can play with nothing plugged in. They mute automatically when you connect headphones.

tip: Set Options > Audio Output to 'Both' if you want speakers and headphones/line-out at the same time.