Hey,
anyone of you come across the U-create music? I found it a while ago in this Blog: http://nomeist.com/ucreate-music/199/comment-page-1#comment-584 (read the comments, too, this is where the real informations are). Needless to say, I immediately bought one and to say the least, this thing frelling ROCKS! Well beyond any toy I ever bought for about 10 pounds before, or any proper instrument i got for an equal amount of money, for that matter. I would even go as far as saying it beats the dren out of quite a few so called “pro” pieces of gear for prices waaaaaay beyond that. The effect section alone is unbelievable for a unit this cheap, and yes, you can use it as a standalone fx unit. Apart from the somehow quite average flanger/phaser/distortion/delay/filter it has those amazing looper and pitch fx --instant aphex twin! It’s no KP, but amazingly close when it comes to controllability and fun factor. Only one effect at a time, but, well you could just buy another one. 
There’s no comfy way to add your own samples yet, apart from the two sample slots, which is why I’m trying to spread it around the DIY community a little.
Perhaps some of you know how to write an alternative frontend for it, or how to reverse engineer it or whatever…
Oh, and I don’t work for Mattel. I’m just very impressed with that thing. It’s just too cool to not be hacked to its full potential.
der Warst