📊Compare all Playtronica devices

Playtronica makes five MIDI controllers. Every one turns a different physical thing — skin, fruit, a plant, a rotating disc, a weight — into MIDI. They are designed to be played together as much as alone. This page is the long, honest comparison.

💡 Not sure which device you already have? That is a different page. See Which Playtronica do I have — it identifies the device from a photo. This page is for picking which one to buy or play with next.

One-line comparison

Pick by what you want to do

"I want to play music with my hands the first time I plug it in"

→ TouchMe. Touch the pads, it makes sound. No clips, no patches, no plant. The fastest cold-start in the line-up. Often the right gift.

"I want to use real-world objects as instruments"

→ Playtron. Sixteen alligator-clip pins map to sixteen notes. Clip them to fruit, water, foil, drawings made with conductive ink, your sister's hand. A workshop favourite.

"I want music that plays by itself"

→ Biotron if you want a living source: bio-signals from a plant become MIDI, light shapes the result. Generative and slow.

→ Orbita if you want a mechanical source: a motor spins a magnetic pattern around a ring of "steps" and triggers MIDI as it rotates. Loop-based and rhythmic. Needs a synth or DAW connected.

"I want a gestural, sculptural instrument"

→ Scales is the newest. Place an object on the plate; heavier objects play higher notes. Five modes turn that gesture into chords, arpeggios, tempo, or a tuning pad.

"I want all of the above to play at once"

→ The All-in-One bundle has every active device in one box. Or start with the Orbita + Biotron Duo — Orbita as the rhythm, Biotron as the melody, no human input required.

Full spec matrix

What is in each box

⚠️ Biotron and Scales do not ship with a cable. It is a deliberate choice — most owners already have a USB-C cable and we did not want to add the cost. If you do not have one, the USB-C to A 1 m cable (€9.98) is the matching part.

Software it works with

Every device is class-compliant USB MIDI — they appear as a MIDI device to any operating system without a driver. The "specific software" column is where each one shines.

Detailed software notes live on the dedicated pages: Ableton, Logic and GarageBand, FL Studio and other DAWs, iPad and iPhone, online synths, hardware synths.

Price at a glance

Prices are live at shop.playtronica.com and shown in EUR. Conversion to USD happens at checkout for non-EU buyers. See Pricing and discounts for codes and bundles.

Bundles — getting more than one device

For installations and education, see B2B and institutional.

Still picking?

The shortest correct answer to "which one should I buy" depends on one question: do you want the music to happen because you touched something, or do you want the music to happen on its own?

• Touched something → TouchMe, Playtron, or Scales.
• On its own → Biotron (organic, generative) or Orbita (mechanical, loop-based).

Write to [email protected] with the subject Which device should I buy and tell us briefly what you want to do — workshop, gift, installation, home studio, classroom. We reply within 1 business day with a recommendation.

Ask the community

🤝 Other Playtronica users have probably hit this before. The Playtronica Friends Facebook group has 4,400 members and is the fastest source of creative and technical help. Search the group's history first. If your question is not already answered, post a new one with a [Device] prefix in the title. See the community page for what to ask there and what to email instead.

Still stuck

Write to [email protected]. We aim for 24 hours, but a reply may take up to 3 business days.