Midicake ARP was one of our 2025 Top Picks, so a follow-up from the same team gets my attention. Midicake UNA is a different animal, though. The ARP was a parametric arpeggiator you steered. UNA wants to be the band: hold a chord and three tracks start up around your hands.
What Midicake UNA Actually Does
UNA is a hardware MIDI performance-sequencer for keyboard players. It makes no sound itself. Plug a keyboard into one side, a synth into the other, and it plays the gear you already own.
Hold a chord and three tracks start: Rhythm, Melody and Bass. Change the chord and everything follows. Rhythm plays chord patterns or a drone. Melody arpeggiates and steps through its patterns. Bass improvises, locked to the harmony.
That’s the pitch, and it’s a good one. Anyone who has tried to build a harmonic backing from separate arps, sequencers and a chord-memory gadget knows how fiddly the sync gets. Here the chord is the master clock for the harmony, and the three parts listen.
On the back you get three TRS MIDI jacks, USB-C and USB host, so it can sit between a keyboard and a couple of synths without a pile of adapters. On top, eight parameter knobs and performance buttons handle the hands-on side.
Parametric, Not Programmed
Sequences are parametric. Mutes, steps, direction and probability are all knobs, and 32 modulators keep a part evolving as it plays. Patches recall instantly, so you can move between songs without missing a bar.
I like the thinking, and the approach will feel familiar to anyone who has spent time with rule-based sequencers. Still, probability and modulation cut both ways. A machine that “can take days to repeat” is lovely for ambient sets and a headache when you need the same bridge to land every night. How easily you can pin a patch down is the question I’d want answered before the money leaves my account.
Three Ways to Play It
Midicake pitches three modes of working:
- Play it. Split the keyboard. Your left hand holds the chord, your right hand solos, always in key.
- Conduct it. Eight knobs reshape the tracks as they play. Hold CONTROL, push it, let go, and it snaps back.
- Let it play. UNA plays and evolves while you shape the sound.
The split-keyboard mode is the one I’d test first. “Always in key” is reassuring for a quick jam, but it also means the right hand is guided by the chord. Fine for hooks, less so if you like to wander outside the harmony on purpose.
Pricing and Availability
Midicake UNA is on pre-order now through an Early Bird Edition limited to the first 150 units, at £399 / $519 / €479. The Standard Edition will cost £429. Taxes and shipping are included, and Midicake says prices for the UK, EU, US, Canada, Switzerland and Australia cover all duties, so there’s nothing further to pay on arrival. The optional black aluminium Angle Stand holds UNA at a playing angle, with a cradle for a phone or tablet running Midicake CONNECT. It ships in the same box, and Midicake says that adding the stand to an Early Bird order costs the same as the Standard Edition.
Dispatch is planned for December 2026 to January 2027. Payment is taken at checkout, with a full refund available any time before your UNA ships. That refund promise takes some of the sting out of paying months ahead for hardware, but dispatch dates on small-batch gear have a habit of slipping. More details and pre-orders are on the Midicake UNA product page.
