Muse Ember vs MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Muse Ember took 3 min 48 s and $0.065 at list price, MiniMax M3.1 Flash took 23 min 37 s and $0.095 at list price. MiniMax M3.1 Flash took 6.2× as long and cost 1.5× as much.
Muse Ember
Meta · $0.50/M out · 346 HN pts
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
MiniMax · $0.60/M out · 552 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.
Patchbay is a three-person studio in Rotterdam repairing vintage synthesizers. We work carefully, one instrument at a time, because old machines deserve patience. Our bench is crowded with test leads, spare knobs, tired capacitors, and service manuals held together by tape. Every repair begins with listening. We power up the synth, play a few notes, and trace the fault by ear before opening the case. Perhaps the filter drifts as it warms. Maybe a voice cuts out, or the envelope behaves strangely. We clean contacts, replace components only when necessary, and keep original parts wherever possible. We believe repair is a form of preservation. These instruments were built to be played for decades, not replaced when something small fails. Rotterdam has a long history of making and fixing things, and we are proud to continue that tradition. Bring us your beloved keyboard, and we will see what can be saved.
Patchbay is a three-person studio in Rotterdam dedicated to bringing vintage synthesizers back to life. We repair analog and digital instruments that shaped the sound of music, from classic drum machines and polyphonic synths to quirky, characterful machines that rarely leave a musician’s side. Our work combines technical knowledge with respect for each instrument’s history, because a synth is more than a circuit board: it carries the decisions, compromises, and personality of its original design.
We diagnose faults, restore unreliable voices, and carefully service aging components without erasing the character that made an instrument worth keeping. Whether a machine has been silent for years or simply needs a thoughtful tune-up, we treat every repair as a careful act of restoration.
Based in Rotterdam, Patchbay works with musicians, studios, collectors, and anyone who believes electronic instruments deserve another chapter. We restore them to sound as they should, preserving the details that make each one unique.
Specs and numbers
| Muse Ember | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Meta | MiniMax |
| Made in | US | China |
| Released | 9 Nov 2026 | 19 Oct 2026 |
| Price in, per M tokens | $0.10 | $0.15 |
| Price out, per M tokens | $0.50 | $0.60 |
| Context | 1,048,576 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Weights | closed | open |
| Hacker News points | 346 | 552 |
| Time for the six prompts | 3 min 48 s | 23 min 37 s |
| List price of the six prompts | $0.065 | $0.095 |
Muse Ember was cheaper: $0.029 less at list price, and less on 4 of the 6 prompts. Muse Ember was faster: 19 min 50 s less in total, and faster on each of the 6 prompts.
In the recording, both Breakout games play.
Rebuild this screen experiment: MiniMax M3.1 Flash's rebuild matched the screenshot at 78%; Muse Ember was not in it. Tea Garden experiment: MiniMax M3.1 Flash's game passed 5 of 5 checks; Muse Ember was not in it.