Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs Ember-1
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL took 6 min 39 s and $0.035 at list price, Ember-1 took 25 min 56 s and $1.78 at list price. Ember-1 took 3.9× as long and cost 51× as much.
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL
NVIDIA · $0.50/M out · free route · 11 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.
Patchbay is a three-person studio in Rotterdam dedicated to bringing vintage synthesizers back to life. We started with a shared obsession for the circuits, keyboards, and sonic quirks of the instruments that shaped electronic music, and we turned that obsession into a careful, hands-on repair practice. Every synth that comes through our door is treated as its own project—diagnosed by ear, opened with care, and restored using a mix of original components and thoughtful modern solutions where needed. We work with collectors, studios, and musicians who value the character of older gear and want it to keep sounding its best. Based in Rotterdam, we combine technical precision with a deep respect for the history inside every chassis. At Patchbay, repairing isn’t just about getting a machine working again; it’s about preserving the voice of an instrument and keeping it ready for the next recording, performance, or moment of inspiration.
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
| Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | Ember-1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | NVIDIA | Fireworks |
| Made in | US | US |
| Released | 15 Oct 2026 | 24 Sep 2026 |
| Price in, per M tokens | free route (list $0.15/M) | $3.00 |
| Price out, per M tokens | free route (list $0.50/M) | $15.00 |
| Context | 1,048,576 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Weights | open | closed |
| Hacker News points | 11 | 589 |
| Time for the six prompts | 6 min 39 s | 25 min 56 s |
| List price of the six prompts | $0.035 | $1.78 |
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL was cheaper: $1.75 less at list price, and less on each of the 6 prompts. Nemotron 3.5 Super VL was faster: 19 min 17 s less in total, and faster on each of the 6 prompts.
In the recording, both Breakout games play.
Rebuild this screen experiment: Ember-1's rebuild matched the screenshot at 67%; Nemotron 3.5 Super VL was not in it. Tea Garden experiment: Ember-1's game passed 5 of 5 checks; Nemotron 3.5 Super VL was not in it.