Gemini 4 Carbon vs Ember-1
Gemini 4 Carbon took 18 min 40 s and $1.05 at list price, Ember-1 took 25 min 56 s and $1.78 at list price. Ember-1 took 1.4× as long and cost 1.7× as much.
Gemini 4 Carbon
Google · $10.00/M out · 308 HN pts
Ember-1
Fireworks · $15.00/M out · 589 HN pts
Pelican
Generate an SVG of a pelican riding a bicycle
Watch
Draw a mechanical wristwatch that shows the current local time, with a sweeping seconds hand and a date window. Make it look expensive.
Landing
Build the landing page for Lumen Cycles, a Copenhagen workshop that builds custom cargo bikes to order. Make it look like a real brand you would trust with 4,000 euros.
Breakout
Make a Breakout game I can play right now with the keyboard or the mouse. Give it several levels, a score and some juice.
Logo
Design a logo for Night Heron, an independent bookshop that only opens after dark.
About
Write the opening of the About us page for Patchbay, a three-person studio in Rotterdam that repairs vintage synthesizers. About 150 words.
Tucked away in a bright workshop near the Rotterdam docks, Patchbay is a three-person studio dedicated to keeping electronic music history alive. We repair, restore, and calibrate vintage synthesizers, drum machines, and outboard gear. Whether it is a temperamental Juno with failing voice chips, a road-worn Minimoog drifting out of tune, or an obscure polysynth needing a complete overhaul, our benches are built for machines that make noise.
Between the three of us, we combine decades of experience in electronics, sound design, and obsessive troubleshooting. We do not view classic synthesizers as fragile museum pieces meant to sit behind glass; they are working instruments built to be played, patched, and pushed to their limits. Armed with original schematics, precision test gear, and a deep respect for analog circuitry, we bring tired hardware back from the brink—ready for another forty years in the studio or on stage.
Patchbay is a three-person workshop in Rotterdam dedicated to keeping vintage synthesizers alive. We work on the machines that shaped electronic music — analog polysynths, temperamental drum machines, early digital oddities — replacing tired capacitors, rebuilding keybeds, and coaxing silent oscillators back into tune.
Between us we bring decades of experience in electronics, instrument design, and music-making, but what unites us is simpler: we believe these machines were built to be played, not displayed. Every repair happens by hand at our benches, with period-correct components wherever possible and thoughtful modern solutions where reliability demands it. We test everything the only way that matters — by listening.
Whether your Juno has lost a voice, your 808 has lost its kick, or a flea-market find needs a full restoration, we treat each instrument as if it were heading back to a studio, a stage, and a long life of making noise. Because it is.
Specs and numbers
| Gemini 4 Carbon | Ember-1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Fireworks | |
| Made in | US | US |
| Released | 10 Nov 2026 | 24 Sep 2026 |
| Price in, per M tokens | $2.00 | $3.00 |
| Price out, per M tokens | $10.00 | $15.00 |
| Context | 1,048,576 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Weights | closed | closed |
| Hacker News points | 308 | 589 |
| Time for the six prompts | 18 min 40 s | 25 min 56 s |
| List price of the six prompts | $1.05 | $1.78 |
Gemini 4 Carbon was cheaper: $0.73 less at list price, and less on 4 of the 6 prompts. Gemini 4 Carbon was faster: 7 min 16 s less in total, and faster on 3 of the 6 prompts.
In the recording, both Breakout games play.
Rebuild this screen experiment: Ember-1's rebuild matched the screenshot at 67%; Gemini 4 Carbon was not in it. Tea Garden experiment: Ember-1's game passed 5 of 5 checks; Gemini 4 Carbon was not in it.