Reliq Review & Demo: The Ultimate Hybrid Control Surface?

video upload by Starsky Carr

"Gear featured in this patch:
Reliq hybrid control surface/sequencer/mixer
Erica Synths Black Wavetable VCO
Erica Synths PolyVCF (multi-mode filter)
[Knobula] Drum Farm percussion module"

"Reliq review & full demo: the hybrid control surface that's a 16x16 analog patch matrix, mixer, sequencer and two-way Ableton/Bitwig controller all in one box. Here's exactly how I use it in my rig.

Reliq calls itself a "hybrid control surface" because it's really four or more machines built into one unit: a 16-in/16-out analog audio & CV patch matrix, a mixer, a deep polyphonic sequencer with per-track LFOs and envelopes, and two-way DAW integration with Ableton Live and Bitwig. On top of that there's Song Mode, which lets you snapshot entire patch/matrix/sequencer states into blocks and chain them together for a full arrangement.

Rather than trying to cover every single feature (it's genuinely as deep as trying to demo all of Ableton or Logic in one video, and it keeps getting free updates - v1.8 just dropped), I'm showing you how I've actually used it to build the patch and track in this video, so you can see how the pieces fit together in a real-world workflow.

Timestamps:
0:00 What is Reliq?
2:46 How I'm approaching this review
3:24 Hardware tour - screen, encoders, joystick, I/O
6:11 The 16x16 patch matrix
9:28 The mixer
11:00 The sequencer (tracks, automation, ratchets, probability)
17:08 Chord mode deep dive
21:00 Clip follow-up modes
21:38 LFOs & envelopes (128 per track)
24:41 DAW control mode (Ableton/Bitwig integration)
28:50 Song mode - blocks & snapshots
33:26 Settings menu
35:09 Full Demo Performance with Description"