Syncussion SY-1 - Walkthrough and extended demo

video upload by Richard DeHove

"The Behringer Syncussion clone is a simple beast. It creates mighty bass drum hits with no effort and has beautiful noise. That in itself is something I find puzzling: If this cheap clone can so easily create big hits why are cheap drum machines always so dinky and gutless?

Here I do some lengthy noodlings with the SY-1 Syncussion with one channel through the Zen delay and the other through the Echolocator. This duo is really growing on me. The Zen has some good grit and saturation, while the Echolocator has various tricks with its freeze, shimmer and filter.

About halfway through I digress into a basic overview of the controls, then it's back to noodling. The DB-01 does a good job with sequencing although the original plan was to drive everything with the LXR-02. But horrors! I discovered that the MIDI out functionality on the LXR-02 is totally broken - confirmed by Erica Synths. Hoping for a fix on that soon. In the meantime the DB-01 will have to battle on as my sequencer.

If there's one thing I could change on the SY-1 it would be to add clock sync to the LFO. For me unsynced LFOs are a huge miss. Otherwise it's an excellent little synth. Two of them mounted in a Eurorack case could easily make for a powerful drum voice solution.

As usual, no DAW processing of any kind, it's all what you see.

0:00 Setup explained
2:01 Noodle soup
2:58 Elephant song
4:44 Tin shed
6:29 Weather system
8:08 Interface walkthrough
18:05 Robot bird
19:40 Corky
21:46 Trainride
22:36 Punching bag
26:19 Subby McSub

Many thanks to my kind patrons who keep this channel ad-free
My website: https://richarddehove.com/"

Layered Drum Machine Hats by Goldbaby

video upload by GoldbabySamples

"Layered Drum Machine Hats. Available now: https://www.goldbaby.co.nz/ldmh.html

Another pack in my very popular Layered Drum Machine series. This time, hi-hats are getting some love.

Using over 50 drum machines layered in different combos with multiple layering techniques.

These hats are production-ready and can be used in a variety of genres.

Some of the drum machines used: 808, 909, 707, 626, 505, R50e, MFB-522, LXR-2, Machine Drum, Nord Drum 2, Model Cycles, DMX, PO-32, Microtonic, Metasonix D1, Tempest, MRX-185, PB-300, 4 In The Floor, Pulsar23, ADX1, XD5, Ritmo, RZ-1, RPM40, Syntakt, RX5, CrashPad, DDD-1, Tanzbar, Linn 1 and 2."

Complexification of LXR-02 drums with Echolocator & the Zen

video upload by Richard DeHove

"Complexification is a perfectly cromulent word to describe 'A drum machine with two delays; since this is no mere everyday serial setup. Here we have two stereo delays in alternating parallel mode embiggening a single drum pattern. In fact 'chronocomplexification' would have been more accurate but I thought the Youtubes would punish me for being stupid.

The aim is to take a simple single pattern and create variations and interest while having fun. I think everyone knows the feeling of having a single pattern and trying to expand it into something greater. Depending on what machines you use it can start to feel like you're fighting to advance. Here it's all just knob twiddling fun.

In the video I describe the routing of the stereo outputs: One to the AB pedal which is then manually switched to either the Zen or Echolocator; and one channel direct to the DAW 'dry'. In this demo I didn't use any of this dry signal. If this were a "real" finished track I'd probably mix in some of the dry bass drum just to keep things coherant. For the video I thought it more useful to just have the two delays' sound. For a more nuanced routing setup you could change the left-right balance of various voices and use the 'dry' channel to instead go to a third pedal effect which could also be manually switched on and off. Putting a looper somewhere in the chain could also be interesting.

With all this I'm increasingly feeling that moving up to a higher tier in the drums or synth department is perhaps not as significant as investing time and attention to effects.

The video is all one take with no DAW processing - even though I was extremely tempted to EQ the Zen parts to bring out the crunch and distortion. The couple of cuts in the track are from me trying to find slice points to bring it down from 30 minutes. The samples are from a couple of 1950s sci-fi movies just for a little variation.

0:00 Routing and setup info
1:08 Dry pattern
1:25 All tweaking, no talk

Many thanks to my kind patrons who keep this channel ad-free
My website: https://richarddehove.com/"

Echo Fix EF-X3 - Five Synth Sketches with Tape

video upload by Jay Hosking

"Please support my work on Patreon: / jayhosking
Five song sketches featuring the EF-X3 tape delay, chorus, and reverb.

00:00 - Ambient, with Take 5
02:57 - Drums, with LXR-02
05:47 - Brooding, with SH-101
07:20 - Acid, with TT-303
09:41 - Ambient, with MS-20

Fair warning: MAS Distribution sent over the EF-X3 for me, not quite for free (I had to pay some significant customs/duty/taxes from the border) but for far less than the full retail price.

Here, I explore the Echo Fix EF-X3, a real tape delay with analog chorus and spring reverb. My favourite feature of the EF-X3 is that it has discrete outputs for each of the four tape heads plus another output for chorus/reverb, which means you can get some incredibly stereo tape delay mixes with it. Here, I usually panned two heads full left/right, and two heads 50% left/right, with the dry out and chorus output slightly panned and near centre. Ages ago, I had an Akai Headrush and I always loved having such a ludicrous amount of outputs; it's exactly the same delight here.

But I have to say, using a real tape delay is unlike any digital emulation I've tried. It's less behaved and has more texture than I had expected. And while it shouldn't matter, seeing the tape running is a thrill. It's an incredible physical presence on the table, super solid and with beautiful wood on the sides.

No one needs a real tape delay, of course, just like no one needs an analog synth and no one needs hardware. But for someone who has loved those records with long, cascading tape delays, for someone who loves the physicality of hardware, I've felt incredibly lucky to have the EF-X3 up on the table.

Thanks for listening.

Recorded to a DAW as a multi-track (dry channel, chorus/reverb channel, and channels for each of the heads) and mixed afterward. No external effects on the sound. EQ, compression, and limiting on the master.

https://jayhosking.bandcamp.com"

Good news for LXR-02 owners (now let's list bugfix & feature requests)

video upload by Richard DeHove

"Although the recent 1.07 firmware update was just a maintenance release it's far more significant than an assortment of bugfixes. Instead of having to wait for the Great Eye of the original LXR developer to fall upon the LXR-02, Erica Synths can now do updates in-house.

So rather than feeling this wondrous little machine has been forgotten, this is a reason for great optimism for more development. Erica Synths surely wouldn't go to the effort of taking over development just to then shelf it all again.

Here I look at the main new feature which is parameter lock value display, which is an excellent excuse to look at how parameter locks work in general.

For the future I'd like to see song mode fixed; the delay effects get proper tempo sync options; and the lighting changed on the buttons so you can see which patterns are empty and which have data.

Perhaps this may be a good place to put your bugfix and feature requests...

0:00 Background
0:46 The good news
2:12 Parameter locks
5:12 Per step FX
6:10 Easy saving

Many thanks to my kind patrons who keep this channel ad-free
My website: https://richarddehove.com/"

Summer 😎 (Moog Minitaur + Boum // LXR 02 // Nymphes + S 1 + Timeline // Streichfett // Keystep Pro)

video upload by 2-Minute Warning

"Last 'long' video before a summer break (I'll be eventually uploading some 'Shorts' during July 😉)

It's been quite some time that I didn't make a "from scratch" video, so here we go again! (See all my "From scratch" videos) [embed below]

On the setup side on the sequencer (Keystep Pro), before recording:
I defined the tempo and number of bars of each track
I setup the scale (Dorian)
I setup the tracks I wanted to be transposed in real-time (tracks 2 = Minitaur and 3 = Streichfett).

The video starts with the recording on Track 2, of the BASS line (Moog - Minitaur), then on Track 3 the CHORDS/STRINGS (Waldorf - Streichfett), on Track 1 the DRUMS (Sonic Potions x Erica Synths - LXR-02), on Track 4 the ARP (Dreadbox - Nymphes + Strymon Timeline delay).
I recorded part of the DRUMS in real-time, and the KICK in step mode (hence being able to setup randomness on some steps and conditions too, i.e. the step plays on the fourth time it's triggered only...)"

From Scratch by 2-Minute Warning

Unity ♥️ (LXR 02 + Boum // Nymphes + S 1 + Timeline // Moog Minitaur // Streichfett // Keystep Pro)

video upload by 2-Minute Warning

"Hardware used

// DRUMS
Erica Synths x Sonic Potions LXR-02 v1.7 (digital drum machine an integrated sequencer, 6 different instruments) + Oto Machines Boum (full analog stereo warming unit)

// ARP
Dreadbox Nymphes through Roland S-1 through Strymon Timeline delay

// BASS:
Moog Minitaur (analog mono synth)

// STRINGS Waldorf Streichfett (Digital string synth with dual sound engine: 128-voice string section and 8-voice solo section)

// SEQUENCER Arturia Keystep Pro sequencing all the instruments (including the DRUMS of the LXR-02)

Recorded in one shot and mixed in Ableton Live."

Lux 🔆 (Erica Synths LXR-02 + Oto Boum Compressor // Ableton Move 1.5 // Arturia Keystep Pro)

video upload by 2-Minute Warning

"2 minutes, no warning! 🥳
In this video, I really wanted to make use of the 1.5 new features of the Ableton Move like sequencing the different tracks of the Move from another sequencer (Keystep Pro here) and its new Auto Filter effect 🤩 (I was really waiting for these 2 updates!).

So the track starts with DRUMS played and sequenced by the LXR-02, through the Oto Machines Boum stereo analog compressor.
I then introduce the Move by opening the new Auto Filter effect.
The Move is playing some secondary percussions (Track 1), the BASS (Track 2, sequenced by Track 2 of the Keystep Pro), the ARP (Track 3 of the Move, sequenced by Track 3 of the Keystep Pro) and the CHORDS (Track 4 of the Move, sequenced by Track 4 of the Keystep Pro).

So with this setup, I was able to transpose in real-time the instruments played by the Move 😃

Hardware used *

// DRUMS
Erica Synths x Sonic Potions LXR-02 v1.7 (digital drum machine an integrated sequencer, 6 different instruments) + Oto Machines Boum (full analog stereo warming unit)

// BASS, CHORDS, ARP, secondary DRUMS
Ableton Move v1.5

// SEQUENCER
Arturia Keystep Pro"

Echolocator delay: Tape vs BBD plus weirdness (no talk)

video upload by Richard DeHove

"This video was the result of a comment by @lextron-audio noting that there was no clear comparison of Tape vs BBD mode for the Echolocator. Yes, fair enough I thought, I can fix that. I imagined a snappy three minute video switching between modes as a dry technical comparison. Not exciting, but useful in a nuanced nerdy sort of way, and that's how things started. Yet here we are, 20 minutes of twiddlings co-starring the LXR-02, DB-01 and Acidbox III that gets weirder as it goes along. And everything is unsynced. I wouldn't call it music, I just enjoy the textures and frequencies. That's what comes of spending too many hours playing with shortwave noise as a kid.

'Dirty On' is BBD mode; and 'Dirty Off' is the default Tape mode. I randomly flip between them trying to show the differences in various situations. Sometimes there's not much between them, othertimes especially with pitch shifting on, the differences are huge. In the end though the result is more an experiment in real-time Echolocator playing than a straight mode comparison. Even so I never touched the compressor setting which was at a constant 50. That variable also make a big difference so that's for another day.

Come for the technical comparison stay for the industrio-ambient grit :D

0:00 Basic drums
3:38 Noise drums
5:08 Acidbox weirdness
13:17 Pitchy synth keys
17:33 Sweep effects

Many thanks to my kind patrons who keep this channel ad-free
My website: https://richarddehove.com/"

Echolocator delay on synth, drums, voice and shortwave (no talking)

video upload by Richard DeHove

"First up Erica Synths sent me the Echolocator. That's particularly good of them because I know and I'm sure they know that I would have bought it anyway. After all, I'm the man who bought the Zen delay three times. For delay pedals in general I'm up to about 25 delays bought in the past few years and about 22 sold :D

Here I use the Echolocator with the DB-01, Acidbox III, LXR-02, Tecsun PL-660 radio and the US War Department training film number 471 on triodes and tubes.

No presets are used on any of the examples, it's all live twiddling. The idea throughout is to show the range of real time 'playing' with the delay. Just like the Nightverb I haven't used the presets or programmed any myself, it's so fast to dial in the sound you want it seems better to match things exactly to whatever you happen to be playing. The only thing I think is missing (at least I can't see it) is a WYSIWYG mode where the machine instantly reverts to the current knob positions. The only 'second layer' functions you need to remember are BACK+FREEZE to mute the delay, and BACK+TAP TEMPO to sync to an incoming clock.

Despite the length of this video I've only touched on some of the interesting effects. For example adjusting the compressor makes a huge difference to the feedback; whether the filter is in series or in the feedback loop; playing with the freeze function, and modulation with pitch shifting. So more on all that in later videos. If there's anything in particular you think I should cover please let me know.

Finally, if you notice a slight difference in the video color and position between takes it's because I had to change cameras halfway through.

0:00 Basic synth
3:09 Sparse drums
5:28 Beam me up
6:07 Filter options
8:39 Blippy drums
12:38 Freezy drums
13:34 Long feedback synth
15:11 Drum jam
16:34 Shortwave
18:36 Human voice

Many thanks to my kind patrons who keep this channel ad-free
My website: https://richarddehove.com/"

Modor DR-2: A solo jam @180bpm

video upload by Richard DeHove

"Some drum machines are built for real-time tweaking, others you program and hit 'play' while you tweak something else. The Perkons drum machine is a real-time tweaker; the LXR-02 is more a playback machine. Where does the DR-2 sit? It certainly has enough knobs and if you can remember some of the (many) shortcuts then there's lots of available functions on the front panel. Then there's the six little knobs above the faders that can be assigned to any parameter per voice. Yet I've never come up with a parameter that I can't immediately access by the front panel anyway so I've never used them.

Here I'm doing pretty basic stuff. There's a single four-bar pattern and two drumkits. I swap between kits, mute various voices and change the overall bar length. It's also very easy to change the step length per voice (just hold down the voice letter and press the step number) but I didn't want to get too tricky since you can't just reload the pattern to reset the length. The pitch drifting synth sounds come from the portamento amount.

In terms of functionality it all works very smoothly. The only thing I find troublesome is that any drumkit or pattern above the first 16 can only be accessed by holding down the 17-32 button and then pressing the step number. That makes fast changes outside the first 16 patterns and kits much more prone to error. It would be much more logical imo if just selecting the number grouping (eg 17-32) meant that's what you automatically get.

If it all sounds a little gritty to you then good! I used plenty of distortion on most of the voices and even applied some compressor which can be quite vicious and I'm not even sure how to turn it off once it's on!

As usual there's absolutely no other processing than what you see. No compression, EQ or any other DAW effect.

Many thanks to my kind patrons who keep this channel ad-free
My website: https://richarddehove.com/"

Erica Synths Introduces x 112db ECHOLOCATOR

video upload by Erica Synths

"Echolocator is a unique stereo delay with an algorithm developed by 112dB, the Echolocator is a hands-on precision tool that lets you take manual and very musical control over small nuances. Like a bat navigating its environment in the dark, you can feel your way through your live performances and shape the delay response and character on the fly.

Timeline:

00:03 - Take 1 / Simple Nanoloop sequence through the Echolocator
01:27 - Take 2 / Drone with monotribe through the Echo
02:36 - Take 3 / Electric guitar though the Echolocator with footswitch assigned to freeze
03:06 - Take 4 / MC-303 through the Echolocator in "dirty" mode
05:07 - Take 5 / Lapsteel freestyle through the Echolocator with footswitch assignet to Magic (patch randomisation)
06:16 - Take 6 / Moog Subharmonicon through the Echolocator
07:44 - Take 7 / Electric guitar through the Echo with pitched down shimmer
08:18 - Take 8 / LXR drummachine with MIDI synced Echolocator
09:39 - Take 9 / Casio SK-1 throught the Echolocator with pitched down shimmer
10:48 - Take 10 / Bassline DB-01 through the Echolocator
12:10 - Take 11 / Electric guitar through the Echolocator
12:38 - Take 12 / Motorsynth thought the Echolocator"



The Echolocator is a hands-on precision tool that lets you take manual and very musical control over small nuances. Like a bat navigating its environment in the dark, you can feel your way through your live performances and shape the delay response and character on the fly. Featuring 12 parameters for detailed sound design, save/recall functions for all parameters, MIDI control over all parameters and a sleek aluminium case to match our lineup of compact desktop units, the Echolocator will let your setup take flight in any live show, studio or sonic experiment.

Features

A unique stereo delay algorithm developed by 112dB

Selectable delay, filter, and shimmer modes

12 parameters for detailed sound design

|Freeze function

A configurable footswitch input

30 factory presets and 70 user preset slots

Preset export via USB

Full MIDI implementation

Dimensions: 23cm x 14,5cm x 7cm (including knobs)

Echolocator is now available for 490 EUR.

Check with dealers on the right for availability.

Fermi Paradoxon II — They’re here (Drum Version)

video upload by Mars Machine

"This is an alternative version of my first Fermi Paradoxon Jam with added drums from Erica Synth LXR. I chopped up the drums in Ableton added glitchiness.

You can find the version with no drums here:"

Fermi Paradoxon I — We’re alone — Modular Synth Performance

video upload by Mars Machine

[previously posted here]

Boss SDE-3 delay fully cranked on synth and drum machine

video upload by Richard DeHove

"Yet another delay pedal bought in hope of finding the perfect balance between size, sound and features. I'm still feeling good about this one: It's black, it's small, it has enough features to make it interesting, it takes line level easily, and it can bite hard.

So here's more audio noddlings than anyone might reasonably want. There's a short bit of blather at the start and then it's all audio with the DB-01 and LXR-02. The levels get maxed out a few times but I've kepy everything as is rather than using a limiter. Panning mode begins at 13:10 and continues for the rest of the video. In the drum machine examples the SDE-3 takes the right output and gives it a stereo output. The left side is centred in the mixer as a "dry" out. At times various drum sounds are panned left and right to varying degrees which means there's usually not an entire output going through the delay.

0:00 Blah blah about features
2:35 No more talk, basic sounds
3:30 Deep modulation, stereo
5:00 Heavy feedback, stereo
10:20 Offset knob, stereo
12:15 Wet-dry output
13:10 Panning mode
15:16 Terminator
17:26 Drone fun
20:48 Drums 1
21:59 Drums 2
22:58 Drums 3
23:28 Drums 4
24:35 Drums 5

Many thanks to my kind patrons who keep this channel ad-free
My website: https://richarddehove.com/"

Drum Elixir - Erica Synths LXR-02 Sound Bank!

video upload by Electronisounds Audio

"GET THE BANK HERE► https://www.electronisounds.com/erica...

Trouble installing? Questions? Email me: junebug(at)electronisounds(dot)com

Whatever kind of music you are making - KEEP IT UP, Friends!
Don't stop making *YOUR MUSIC*!! ---
▼CONNECT with me / SUPPORT creativity and good content▼
WEBSTORE ► https://www.electronisounds.com/
PATREON ► https://www.patreon.com/DeanDaughters"

0:00 Intro
0:30 Kits & Patterns 1-16
3:28 Sampling Into Digitakt II
4:54 Kits & Patterns 17-32
8:18 Kits & Patterns 33-48

Erica Synths LXR-02 Digital Drum Synthesizer

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this listing

Additional SYNTH CITY Listings

"Gently used Erica Synths LXR-02, includes factory packaging and power supply as shown."

CLICK FOR MORE »

Erica Synths LXR-02: a noisy experimental jam

video upload by CALUTRON

"The Erica Synths LXR-02 drum synth might be a useful box for techno. But does it deliver in more experimental, weirder territory? Let's have a try.

00:00 odd meter jam in 11/8
01:48 slow jam
03:10 8-bit jam
04:44 dark ambient jam"

Nightverb automated by the Midicake Arp (no talk)

video upload by Richard DeHove

"Here's a somewhat chaotic collection of MIDI CC automation experiments using the Midicake Arp to generate the data. The Arp feeds the Nightverb synced data which affects the sounds coming in from the LXR-02. The Arp and LXR-02 are running from an external clock.

Originally I was blathering over the top about how it was all done but perhaps just seeing some of the twiddlings, especially toward the end of the video, may get the idea across just as well. I tried to give a wet and dry example of what's happening but this is all pulled from about a dozen or so meandering noodles so forgive me if they're not all perfectly structured. Headphones reveal some of the finer modulation timings. There's also a lot of unpleasant oddities but I thought them worth keeping to show the range of modulation.

The real star here is the Midicake Arp. The new v7 firmware is what opens up synced MIDI CC automation. Unless you've got a good dedicated sequencer, or take feeds from your DAW, chances are this hasn't been easily available. I remember looking into devices which would allow simple synchronized MIDI CC automation a few months ago and there weren't many choices. It's why I ended up selling my El Capistan. I bought that specifically for its "degrading loops" functionality but that only available by MIDI CC. In itself that's not too hard, but if you want it clock synced then that's another story.

Sending four channels of automation to the Nightverb, sometimes with extremely fast LFO-like modulations, did sometimes overload the Nightverb and require a power cycle. This usually happened if I flipped between intense presets while running.

If you have any high-end effect units chances are there are all sorts of interesting things available via MIDI CC. With Arp is very easy to access them in real-time sync. So congrats to Midicake for adding this excellent functionality!

0:00 Tippytap
0:40 Heavy gate
1:21 Distortomax
2:27 Bathroom War
3:30 Synth Mutant
5:08 Squarewaves

Many thanks to my kind patrons who keep this channel ad-free
My website: https://richarddehove.com/"

Techno jam with LXR-02 🔴

video upload by Yan Cook

"A wild digital beast with a lot of features for the price.
My first impressions:
• Cool design
• Solid build quality
• Love the faders
• Sounds very good
• Deep sound design capabilities
• Doesn't feel like a toy
• I wish it also had reverb
• Couldn't figure out a way to get rid of trigger clicks when using longer decay
• Couldn't figure out how to retrig synced LFO from same position every time I press play

🔥 Raw Techno Sample Pack:
https://yancook.bandcamp.com/album/ra..."

Erica Synths x mki DIY BBD sound demo

video upload by Erica Synths

"The mki x es.edu new BBD module - learn the basics of bucket brigade delay and enjoy true analog audio delay effects!

Timeline:

00:00 - Take 1 / DIY BBD through the BBD Snare
01:06 - Take 2 / LXR Drum through the BBD
01:46 - Take 3 / VCO2 through the BBD modulated with LFO emulating detuned VCO stack sound
02:44 - Take 4 / DIY Snare through the BBD modulated with LFO
03:27 - Take 5 / Rimshot through the BBD with SAW from LFO patched into the 'inhibit' input
04:03 - Take 6 / VCO2 through Black LPG sent through two hard panned DIY BBD modules to create a stereo delay"