Does anyone have a good list of small, handheld, battery powered mini synths, grooveboxes, effects and other noise-makers?
I've preordered a Dirtywave M8 which seems like an awesome piece of gear and it's got me really excited at the prospect of using interesting dedicated hardware machines that I can take to the park or mess with on the sofa.
The obvious ones I've come across so far are:
Korg Volca range
Roland mini synths and aira compact ranges
Teenage Engineering OP and POs
But these all seem a little uninteresting to me and just rehashed tiny versions of older gear and/or aimed at lo-fi producers.
Some less obvious ones that have my attention are:
Monome Norns
1010music lemondrop, fireball & razzmatazz (not battery powered but easily powered by a USB powerbank)
Bastl microgranny and kastl
Korg NTS-1
Korg Monotrons
Audiothingies Micromonsta 2 (again not battery powered but can be via powerbank)
Modal Skulpt is my go to mobile synth. Battery powered and comes from the factory with a lid to protect it. I've beaten the crap out of mine over the last few years and it never misses a beat. Even took it to 12,000 ft on a backpacking trip.
It's the only piece of gear I own that I don't worry about how I handle it. I'll jump in the front seat of the car and toss it in the back seat over my shoulder. It was designed to be mobile rather than just a synth that's small enough to be mobile.