My Sonicake Pocket Master Experience — Songwriting on a Gadget the Size of a Stack of Index Cards

I bought the Sonicake Pocket Master as a quiet birthday gift to myself — something I could hide from everyone, including my own conscience.

I wasn’t expecting it to change anything about how I write music.

Honestly, I thought it would be a novelty gadget for noodling on the sofa.

But man… I didn’t expect how it would end up shaping my songwriting process.

It May Be Pocket-Sized But it Sure Can Provide Full-Sized Inspiration

The first time I held it, I laughed.

It’s tiny.

Like, “Is this a toy?” tiny.

But once I paired it with the app and started flipping through the amp sims and effects, something clicked.

It felt like having a real rig in my hand without the cables, pedals, and the entire crate worth of gear I usually drag out when I’m trying to write which usually makes me not want to write at all.

Because the Sonicake Pocket Master makes it so simple and hassle-free, I can focus more on just writing and not lugging and connecting stuff here and there.

The Moment It Became a Songwriting Tool

Where it truly earned its place in my workflow was when I started using the built-in drum machine.

There’s a lot of built-in patterns through the app and  all of them surprisingly usable.

Suddenly, I wasn’t just aimlessly noodling — I was jamming to my own little drummer that never complains, never gets tired, and never asks for a budget for snacks. I’d set a beat, jump between presets, and riffs would start forming without me even trying.

That’s when I realized:

This little thing isn’t just for practice. It’s a songwriting machine.

The BandLab Connection

But the real “Aha!” moment hit when I plugged it into my cellphone and tried using it as an audio interface for BandLab.

I wasn’t expecting much. I just wanted to test if it would register.
But it didn’t just work — it worked cleanly.

Zero noise.
Zero hiss.
Zero drama.

I was tracking guitar parts straight into BandLab with tones that were, for me, already 90% “mix-ready.”

No bulky interface.

No complicated setup.

I literally plugged in the Pocket Master via USB-C, armed a track, and just played.

Suddenly my whole songwriting workflow shrank into:

1. Pocket Master
2. USB cable
3. Smartphone
4. BandLab

That’s it.
No pedals, no amp, no playing at whisper-volume because there’s a kid sleeping beside me.

A Nighttime Songwriting Routine

Here’s where this thing really surprised me:
It made me want to write again.

I’d sit on the bed at night, put on headphones, scroll through the drum machine patterns until something clicked.

The Pocket Master’s clean tones made chord progressions sound bigger than they had any right to be, and the mid-gain amps were perfect for writing riffs that sounded “complete,” even before any mixing.

It became my nighttime creative ritual — a pocket-sized escape.

Portable Gear. Portable Creativity.

The more I used it, the more I realized the real magic of the Pocket Master isn’t just the tones. It’s the fact that it removes friction.

No setup.
No amp noise.
No worrying about waking anyone.
No excuses.

Just pick up the guitar and write.

And because it doubles as an audio interface, every idea I create with it has a clear path straight into a finished demo.

Could This Replace My Live Rig?

I’m still not sure — but I’m very tempted to try.

If I can build songs, record demos, jam with a drum machine, and create gig-ready tones with a device the size of a stack of index cards… what’s stopping me from using it as a backup rig onstage?

Probably nothing.
And honestly, I kind of want to push it to the limit when the band starts gigging again.

The Sonicake Pocket Master was supposed to be a small birthday indulgence — a toy. But it accidentally became part of my songwriting routine. Between the drum machine, the surprisingly good tones, and its smooth BandLab compatibility, it turned into a tiny music workstation that I can slip into my pocket.

It didn’t just fit in my gig bag — it fit into my songwriting life.