Pre-orders open
Play incircles.
Rondo is a palm-sized instrument with four aluminium rings. Tap one to place a note, turn it to change the groove. Your first song takes ten seconds. The rest take years.
- Free to join
- One email a week, at most
- No subscription, ever
- $49 deposit, refundable until it ships
- 100-night trial
- No subscription, ever
- Nothing charged until it ships
- 100-night trial
- No subscription, ever
- Ships in 2 working days
- 100-night trial
- No subscription, ever
Tap the rings. Tap the sun to play.
The whole manual
is three moves.
- 1
Tap a ring to place a note.
Each ring is a loop. Tap anywhere on it and a light appears; when the sweep passes, it plays.
Tap a ring on the Rondo
- 2
Turn a ring to shift the groove.
Same notes, new rhythm. The rings turn on steel bearings and click into place like a watch bezel.
Drag around a ring
- 3
Tilt to open the sound.
Rondo knows which way is up. Tip it towards you and the sound opens like a window.
Move your pointer up and down
That's everything. The rest is taste.
Four rings that never quite agree.
Each ring loops at its own length. Pulse plays drums over sixteen steps, Root plays bass over twelve, Glow plays chords over eight and Spark plays a melody over seven. They drift apart and fall back into line, so a loop keeps changing without you touching it.
Change Spark's length:
Together they repeat every 336 steps, which is 21 bars before the same moment comes round again.
Five voices. Zero samples.
Every sound is synthesised as you play it: a string modelled in software, bells made of frequency modulation, warm tape chords, a round bass and a dusty drum kit. Nothing is a recording, so nothing sounds quite the same twice.
And it is very hard to play a wrong note: every ring is locked to one of twelve scales, from bright Lydian to moonlit Hirajōshi.
Built like a watch.
Played like a toy.
- Unibody aluminium, bead-blasted, then anodised in four colours.
- Four turned rings on stainless bearings, with magnetic detents you can feel.
- 384 micro-LEDs under frosted glass, so any rhythm fits any ring.
- A sapphire sun. Press to play, turn to change tempo.
- A 28 mm driver with a passive radiator. Big sound for a pocket.
- A 14-hour battery held in by four screws, not glue.
- Diameter
- 108 mm
- Weight
- 238 g
- Battery
- 14 h
- Ports
- USB-C · MIDI in/out · 3.5 mm
- Wireless
- Bluetooth MIDI
Built for the next ten years, not the next upgrade.
- No subscription. Ever. Every sound and every update is included in the price.
- No account, no app, no cloud. It works on a mountain, on a plane, in 2037.
- Open firmware. If we disappear, Rondo doesn't. The code is yours to keep.
- Made to be opened. Parts at cost, repair guides online, a battery you can swap in five minutes.
- Updates until 2037, promised in writing, on the receipt.
$449, once.No subscription, no expiry: $3.74 a month over ten years, then still yours.
— Ines & Theo, who made it
Everyone plays it differently.
All loopsProof you can check
You can play it right now.
Tap any ring on this page. That's the real sound engine, not a recording, and it plays the same on the instrument.
Read every line.
The code for this site and its instrument is public, and Rondo OS will be open source (MIT) from day one.See the source
Every promise, in writing.
Updates until 2037, parts at cost, a battery you can change: it's printed on your receipt.Read the promise
Rondo, for $449.
or $112.25 × 4, interest-free · Ships spring 2027
- Rondo, braided USB-C cable, wrist loop and a printed field guide
- Free engraving on the base, up to 24 characters
- 100-night trial, free returns, 5-year warranty
Questions, answered straight.
I'm not musical at all. Will I actually use it?
That's who we designed it for. Every ring is locked to a scale, so there are no wrong notes, and the polymeter does the arranging for you. You can find out right now, before spending anything: the rings on this page are the real sound engine.
Does it need an app, an account or a subscription?
No, no and no. Rondo works on its own, out of the box, forever. Updates arrive over USB-C and are optional.
Can I use it with my music software?
Yes. Rondo is a class-compliant USB audio and MIDI device, with 3.5 mm TRS MIDI in and out and Bluetooth MIDI. It sends and receives clock, so it can lead or follow anything with a tempo.
What happens if it breaks?
For five years, we fix or replace it for free. After that we sell parts at cost and publish repair guides. The battery comes out with four T5 screws.
When will it ship, and what if I change my mind?
Rondo is revealed on 17 November and ships in spring 2027. Joining the list costs nothing and commits you to nothing; when it ships you have 100 nights to return it.
Founders Editions ship first, in March 2027. The $49 deposit is refundable in full until yours ships, and you have 100 nights to return it after it arrives.
Pre-orders ship in spring 2027, in order, and nothing is charged until yours ships. Cancel any time before then, and you have 100 nights to return it after it arrives.
Orders ship within two working days. You have 100 nights to return it after it arrives, for a full refund.